ENO strike action cancelled

The Musicians’ Union (MU) has announced it has agreed to an offer in principle with English National Opera (ENO) for musicians in the orchestra meaning the strike (and action short of strike) planned for later this month has been cancelled. MU members in the music staff are now in the process of confirming details with ENO management

In a statement released yesterday (15 February), the union revealed that MU members in the music staff have agreed to an ‘offer in principle’ which will include seven months of guaranteed work, a minimum redundancy payment and ‘important improvements to the proposed contract’. The news follows last month’s announcement from UK performing arts and entertainment industries trade union Equity that it had reached an interim settlement with the ENO for its chorus, which prompted the suspension of strike action originally planned for 1 February.

MU general secretary Naomi Pohl said: ‘We are pleased to have reached an agreement with ENO for the orchestra, albeit a deal that our members have accepted with heavy hearts. It was clear that the current Arts Council England funding package and instruction to move out of London by 2029 did not provide for full-time jobs for ENO's performers at the present time. This is a tragedy and we are worried about how our members will make ends meet over the next couple of transition years for the company. Our deal has focused on the best package achievable to try to keep the orchestra together.’

The offer will be extended to every orchestra member (not just MU members) and the MU’s members in the ENO orchestra will be made redundant and then rehired as part of the process. In today’s statement the MU said: ‘The musicians want to make it clear that they have voted for the package because they want to see the company and orchestra contribute to make as much opera as possible.’

The MU is now calling on the UK government to: ‘provide specific funding for touring to cover increasing costs’, ‘make the orchestral and theatre tax relief extensions permanent’, ‘write off or delay repayment of Covid recovery loans’ and ‘reverse Nadine Dorries’ instruction to Arts Council England that led to English National Opera being asked to relocate’.

MU national organiser for orchestras Jo Laverty added: ‘Our members remain deeply disappointed that they have lost so much work and income when many of the other ENO staff have stayed full time. It is our intention to work on building up our members work with ENO so they can return to full contracts. An ideal long-term situation would see ENO making opera full time in both London and Manchester.’