From the Times:

Let's hope that this is enough to get them through this year.

And how much will the ED and AD reduce their salaries and benefits?

The article said - "The administrative staff has not been asked to cede vacation pay, but has also agreed to accept cuts in employer contributions to their pensions and to a sliding scale of salary cuts ranging from 1.5 percent to 10 percent."

The ED & AD must be on the high end, so I would think 10%. Isn't that what Peter Martins took?

I'm really glad they don't have to lay off dancers. It might slow down some promotions though.

Varying amounts:

QUOTE

The administrative staff has not been asked to cede vacation pay, but has also agreed to accept cuts in employer contributions to their pensions and to a sliding scale of salary cuts ranging from 1.5 percent to 10 percent.

It also makes me wonder how much up and coming dancers will be affected. There is a lot of talent in ABT II, and I hope they don't have to pass on moving some of them up to the corps for financial reasons only.

PNB had to absorb a very large deficit during the multi-season stint at the Mercer Arena -- ticket sales made up a whopping 70% of the budget -- and Francia Russell was very clear in Q&A's that promotions were put on hold because there wasn't money for them.

I would not be surprised to see the same thing happen across the country in this economic climate.

I feel extremely sorry for all the ABT dancers but there may be some members of the company who remember that they had to agree in early 1993 to have their guaranteed work for 36 weeks a year cut to 26 due to financial problems. I do not know if this was imposed upon them or not. In the topic "How's the ballet box-office doing nowadays?" begun by Bart, he and myself among others took the economic situation seriously adressing the problems ahead for arts organisation and I drew some comparisons between the UK and USA situation which two months ago was already hitting ballet companies. The economy of a ballet company has somewhat less to do with bums on seats as in the past because tickets sales often only meet something over a third of necessary income and in that topic I stated some of the problems that had already arisen in terms of funding to the NEA and corporate sponsorship. Of course ABT will survive and hopefully they will find the money to not only sustain there status but also that the dancers pensions and dancers' vacation pay will be returned to the status quo swiftly. I read two days ago the the Philly has cut its administrative staff by 20% and those staff left earning over $50,000 will be required to take a cut in salary. But those steps it reported will still find the orchestra more than $2000000 in the red at the end of the financial year. The recession in the US and the UK is now more than 3 months old and it seems to ne that Joffrey Ballet saw it coming when in the middle of last year, they made the company leaner by freezing hiring, go without a marketing director as well as other posts and genrally reducing administartive costs. The Lyric Opera Chicago has plans to set up an instalment plan for subscription tickets so that they can continuing to attend as in the past. In the UK we see tickets for ballet being discounted in a way that has never happened before. In London like New York I supect, the local population is not so worried about what is happening in Michigan or Bradford. If you prefer an American view of the arts, check this article that was written more than a month ago.
http://www.knoxville.com/news/2009/jan/27/...erforming-arts/

Most other companies do not even have vacation pay and there are no pensions. When the rep is over, you are off and you are intitled to go on unemployment. ABT dancers are well paid and are unionized. ABT will survive I am sure. I worry about the smaller companies. My heart just sank when I read about Nevada Ballet. Losing 10 or 32 dancers? Yikes.

Printcess, my thoughts exactly.

Wild A** guess...since I have no idea how long the paid vacation period is/was nor the amount of pension payment involved: guess is the reductions are probably equal to 9 dancers salaries on the low end of the estimate as many as 16 at the top end (4 weeks vacation and 5% pension). When it is equal to 11 - 18% of a company's roster -that's a pretty serious cost reduction. London isn't selling very well, Miami was canceled, a rumored trip to the Gulf didn't happen, no Chicago and no Orange County this season.

I remember the dark days of 1993 and the strike back in Lucia's last days. Too much is riding on the MET season for me to feel comfortable.

Are you sure dancers are eligible to take unemployment?

The full name of this benefit is normally "Unemployment Insurance". Many people don't realize that this is just what it is: insurance. The funds paid to someone who is laid off come from insurance premiums paid by employers. Contrary to popular belief, these benefits do NOT come from the tax payers in general (except in severe rccessions like now when the federal or state governments sometimes throw extra money in the pot). Most employers control unemployment claims since the employer's insurance rates will go up dramatically in future years until the paid out unemployment payments have been recouped. A ballet company whose dancers regularly claim unemployment every year would pay horrific premiums in future years.

Furthermore, you can't claim unemployment simply because you lose a job. It has to be for the "right reasons". I don't know the details, but I'm not sure a dancer under a defined contract to dance say 35 weeks would qualify for unemployment simply because their contract was over. (It may be however that if you are released after only 30 weeks in a 35 week contract, you might get unemployment benefits).

In any case, I'm not certain how this works in the world of ballet........I'd be very interested to know if dancers qualify year after year for unemployment benefits since they rarely work 52 weeks a year.

As a mom of a dancer at ABT I know that if they are off for more that one week they qualify to file for unemployment benefits. Now I do not know what the rules are or what it takes to qualify but I do know that my son has so far never been denied benefits.

Hope I am within the rules with this post but if not please remove

As a performer I can state with certainty that if your contact ends and you have worked the minimum required weeks you can collect unemployment insurance. At least in NY state. This is true of Broadway and off Broadway performers who's shows end as well.

Thanks everyone for the input.

As a small business owner I am quite familar with how unemployment insurance works from an employer's point of view (at least here in the state of Washington). Given that dancers regularly claim unemployment benefits, then the unemployment premiums a ballet company (the employer) pays must be quite high. I guess this is just considered a "normal" business expense in this industry.

P.S. In my experience most folks who collect unemployment insurance have no idea that doing so ultimately costs their employer. I certainly didn't until our small company once had to layoff a couple of people only to have our mandatory state unemployment insurance rates go up 500%. It took us years of no layoffs to get the rates back down.

I think most people who have been laid off, especially in this economy where NO ONE is hiring, probably don't really care that it costs their employer!

sorry for being a bit OT, but my sympathies are primarily with those who now have no jobs.

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Yes, dance co.s do pay the highest unemployment insurance rates. When I, as a new co member was reluctant to apply for unemployment during a layoff, the co. manager explained to me that he worked hard to make sure we had enough work weeks to be covered, the co. paid the highest rates, and I'd #@%&# better collect what I was entitled to!

I'd say freezing such things as vacation pay and pensions is absolutely a better option than having to layoff dancers.

As far as the unemployment benefits go. All the dancers I know depend on it. Even if they have teaching or guesting gigs during their off time, there are always a few weeks at least that you find yourself without work.

Laws vary from state to state, but in Texas we tell the TWC (TX workforce commission) about our contractual "return to work" date. You are then required to look for work, even temporary work, in your field at a specified slightly reduced rate until you are within 8-10 weeks of that date. (I'm not sure of the exact number of weeks because I think it has changed). But as long as you do your work searches and report any earnings you do make from working, you are entitled to that unemployment money (somewhere just over 40% of your weekly salary). Because as others have already mentioned, our employers are required to pay into it.

Even if it is a "temporary layoff", it is still a "layoff".