Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Musicians at Baltimore Chamber Orchestra Reach New Labor Agreement

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

After 15 months of negotiations, musicians at the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra (BCO) ratified of a new two-year collective bargaining agreement. The musicians are represented by the Musicians’ Association of Metropolitan Baltimore, American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 40-543. The new agreement has updated how the orchestra runs operations, including the creation of assistant principal positions within the orchestra’s string sections, more equitable practices to the orchestra’s audition policies, and standardizing the minimum number of players in each section of the orchestra.

“The BCO’s musicians are grateful for the collaborative spirit in which this contract was negotiated,” said BCO’s principal viola and member of the BCO Players’ Committee, Chiara Kingsley-Dieguez. “While there is still more work to be done, this agreement is an excellent first step toward our goal of ensuring fair and equitable treatment of our musicians. We believe our orchestra has a very bright future and we look forward to working together with BCO’s management and board in the years ahead to accomplish our shared goal of presenting concerts of the highest musical quality in an environment that is warm and welcoming to everyone in our community.”