美国大都会歌剧院重新开放在即,劳资纠纷亟待解决

The reopening of the Metropolitan Opera is imminent, but labor disputes need to be resolved

随着接种疫苗的人愈来愈多,美国的新冠疫情终于有了缓和的迹象,中断了一整年的表演艺术界,总算可以开始期待重新出发的时间表。但是这并不表示可以一切照旧般地回到疫情前,因为要让观众能放心回到密闭的剧院里(还要符合政府的防疫规定和保险公司的条件),剧院可能得要实施不少前所未有的防疫措施。

How to safely reopen the theaters in the post-Covid 19 world is a big challenge for all US performing arts organizations, but the Metropolitan Opera—the country’s largest—has another unique problem. It is facing an increasingly hostile labor dispute that could impede its timeline to reopen. The opera house, like most US theaters, has been closed for more than a year. During that time, it furloughed and/or laid-off many of its employees, which is common in the arts world. It is seeking to renegotiate contracts with its many unionized employees, which includes its world-class orchestra, a move not uncommon. But while many other orchestras continue to pay their players—albeit on a reduced scale—the Met has not. The management may be playing a bargaining chip, but it has greatly escalated the tension with the unions and made the negotiation more difficult.