In a move that the musicians union called “outrageous” and “blatantly illegal,” the Kennedy Center on Friday said that paychecks for members of the National Symphony Orchestra will stop this week. That was the same day that President Trump signed into law a stimulus package that specifically appropriated $25 million to the Kennedy Center to be used for operating expenses including employee pay. Ed Malaga, president of AFM Local 161-710 said the union has filed a grievance, saying that the union’s contract with the center “specifically requires that the Center provide six weeks’ notice before it can stop paying musicians for economic reasons.” Cellist Steven Honigberg, a member of the orchestra since 1984, said on Facebook “Thanks (NOT)” to Center president Deborah Rutter “for your compassion for the musicians of your National Symphony Orchestra in this time of unprecedented peril. This is not OUR fault.”
photo: Music Director Gianandrea Noseda leads the National Symphony Orchestra in September 2017. (Scott Suchman/National Symphony Orchestra)
photo: Music Director Gianandrea Noseda leads the National Symphony Orchestra in September 2017. (Scott Suchman/National Symphony Orchestra)