The Boston Symphony Orchestra – which oversees the Lenox, Massachusetts-based music venue Tanglewood – and the union that represents the orchestra’s musicians have agreed to a 48-hour extension of their current labor agreement, BSO President and CEO Chad Smith announced in a statement Sunday afternoon.
Union members will now vote on whether or not to ratify the extension. Their current contract is set to expire Sunday night.
The announcement comes just a day after the Boston Musicians’ Association – the union that represents BSO musicians – announced that its members had voted to authorize a strike, which would be the first in the orchestra’s history.
Leading up to the vote, the BSO had not agreed to a union proposal to bring in a professional mediator, Boston Musicians’ Association President David Rufino and Boston Symphony Players Committee Chair Todd Seeber said in a joint statement Saturday.
“In spite of the turmoil of the last six months caused by BSO leadership’s decision to terminate the Orchestra’s music director, they have failed to agree to a collective bargaining agreement that would begin to restore the trust that they have destroyed and offer a fair contract to the musicians who are the heart and soul of the BSO,” Rufino and Seeber wrote.
Rufino and Seeber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the BSO declined to comment beyond Smith's statement.
The Boston Musicians’ Association represents over 1,600 professional musicians, according to its website.
Located in the Berkshires, Tanglewood has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937.
