The Stage

Strike threat hits beleaguered ENO

Published Wednesday 7 December 2005 at 12:10 by Nuala Calvi

Exclusive: English National Opera has been plunged deeper into crisis as the troubled company faces the threat of strikes in the new year by technical and front of house staff.

Bectu members decided almost unanimously to reject a 2.77% pay offer following months of wrangling with managers and have now begun voting on industrial action. If a yes vote is returned, some 170 staff could walk out in January, bringing the company to a standstill.

The news comes just a week after ENO was left reeling from the resignation of its artistic director Sean Doran. His replacement by two insiders - Loretta Tomasi as chief executive and John Berry as artistic director - without the post being advertised led to calls for chairman Martin Smith to leave.

Commenting on the pay row, Bectu supervisory official Willy Donaghy said: “The dispute has been going on for months and this is not a snap decision. It comes on the back of concerns about the financial situation of the organisation, which lurches from one crisis to another, and what they try to do is to derogate the pay of our members.

“For years the salaries haven’t been keeping pace with settlements within London theatres and with the cost of working and living in central London. At the same time, there have been millions and millions of pounds of public money coming in [to the company]. There’s never a right time to ballot but there is only so much we can do. In recent years ENO’s industrial relations have been as bad as any theatre company in Britain.”

The union is calling for a 5% pay rise for stage managers, administrators, box office staff, production staff, electrical and sound staff to better reflect wages in West End theatre, where increases of 9% have been won over the last two years.

It also wants the company to bring workers’ pension payments more in line with those of senior managers, drop planned changes to working hours and address health and safety concerns at the Coliseum.

Anger has been mounting since 80 members of staff were sacked in 2003 as part of cost-cutting measures during the venue’s renovation. Strike action was narrowly avoided at the time but there have since been concerns that the workforce is being increasingly replaced by casual staff on short-term contracts.

Disputes over pay have also been provoked in the face of emergency grants of £19 million provided by the arts council to rescue ENO from financial crisis over the last eight years.

The company has endured a torrid time since the resignation of its former general director Nicholas Payne in 2002. He was replaced by Doran as artistic director, the former head of the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia, who came to the post with no previous experience of running a theatre or opera house.

The ballot, which opened on Tuesday, will close on December 28. The ENO declined to comment.