The fat lady hasn’t sung quite yet — now that the Metropolitan Opera has reached a deal with its two major unions. New York’s public-sector unions can learn from it.
Struggling under opera’s declining popularity, the world’s most prestigious opera company struck a deal with unions representing its orchestra and chorus members.
This, after it threatened to lock out the performers (who get an average $200,000 a year with 16 weeks paid vacation) and cancel part, if not all, of the upcoming season.
The unions came to accept that the company cannot sustain a $327 million budget in which nearly two-thirds goes toward personnel costs. They agreed to a 7 percent wage cut and no pay hikes until the tail end of their four-year contract.
Management agreed to accept $45 million in administrative cost cuts and to retain work rules that have driven costs further.
The compromise points up the huge difference between private- and public-sector unions. Private-sector unions have a stake in ensuring their employers’ continued financial health: If companies can’t afford to do business, they can’t hire workers.
Public-sector unions have no such worries: Government always continues, or so they believe. If revenues fall short, the unions simply demand (and officials too often agree) to hit the public for more taxes.
Which is why government workers for years have been able to accumulate pension and health-care benefits far more generous than what the private sector offers.
Truth is, that’s unsustainable, too — as cities like Detroit have proven. Enough case like that, and who knows? Public unions might also sing a different tune.