FIALS Puts on a Face Full of FAIL: Scary Unions At La Scala

Earlier tonight in Milan, Scala workers had a nice union meeting in the opera house, since the sold-out performance of The Merry Widow that was supposed to go on had been cancelled by them anyway -- strike, baby, strike! 

Anyway, to keep up with the theatrics, a few union members (the hardline union FIALS that comprises all of 80 people refused to sign the agreement for a benefit package accepted by the vast majority of the 800 workers of la Scala, thus effectively vetoing the deal) dressed up as ghouls and decided to expose a big banner to express their distaste with, one assumes, the several million euros bonus package already offered by management and accepted by most unions.

The banner reads: "Futuro incerto alla Scala" (Uncertain future at La Scala).

Of course la Scala itself is 44.1 million euros in the red -- and that's red ink the Italian taxpayers, who already fund most of the theater's budget, will have to eat (memo to our American readers: Italy's heavily subsidized opera houses -- some of them already in receivership -- have created in the last few years a total deficit of about 400 million euros. Nevermind that the government, badly hurting in a recession, is trying to slash funding to the arts, opera houses included. That red ink again will have to be taken care of, eventually, by Italian taxpayers. Especially since most opera houses don't seem to be able to raise independently from private donors more than a million euros a year on average -- La Scala raises a bit more, 1.8 mil, but they spend 66.1 mil euros a year on wages only. If you're an American unsubsidized opera administrator, read this and weep, baby, weep).

The Scala union's solution to this mess: more strikes, if they don't get the extra benefit package they requested (the 11.5 million euros in 4 years package that most workers had accepted is not enough for FIALS).

Are you scared?

If you pay taxes here, you'd better be. Whether you like opera or not.

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lol @ the bald d00d in the right.

Comments

[Miguel]

Clowns.

[MIchael]

Thank goodness I can't see this happening at the ROH. What a bunch of losers.

[Adi Schnytzer]

Is there any reason why the government does not simply shut down La Scala? If it is shut for a year or so and these j*rks get really hungry, it might be possible to open it again with non-unionized staff or at least with a union that signs a reasonable long-term agreement up front. I'm not a fascist, believe me; I just don't see why a tiny group ,,, should be permitted to screw the rest of society.

[Maria]

Dear Oc,

Please allow me to correct you: the guys dressed up as Dracula were actually protesting against FIALS… The message yesterday night was actually that this series of strikes has to stop…
Yesterday night the theatre was open to the all citizens (even the tramp who’s always in Via Filodrammatici was in the auditorium :-).

I don’t know if you were there, but if you were I’m sure you enjoyed the free recital performances of Furlanetto, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Filianoti… accompanied at the piano by Asher Fisher.

[Steven]

Way to gain public sympathy! Now we know for sure that Scala musicians are nothing but a bunch of bloodsuckers!

[pee wee barnum]

How could anyone think that the unions can run the theater? That's what management is for.

[nancygans]

are they supposed to look scary? because all i see is a bunch of flabby, nerdy losers in nonna's black cape and weird masks.

[number five alive]

Unfortunately for them, Halloween was almost a month ago.

[The Real Gay Divorcee]

What a circus, do they even care about music?

[melky p.]

I don't really care who is protesting who. We're dealing with a bunch of teenagers who went crazy with face paint and black bedsheets. How can anyone take any side of this argument seriously?

Uncertain future at La Scala, indeed. The music aficionados aren't going to waste their money anymore to risk a chance that one of their shows will be canceled due to strikes. Who wants the headaches and the drama? Not me.

[CrewMantle]

I have been unable to comment earlier out of complete and utter shock and mortification of what I am witnessing.

Regardless of who these rude, ignorant, individuals represent; we have here images of Teatro alla Scala being DEFILED.

What breathtakingly nauseating images to view.... and are being witnessed around the globe by ALL the other houses no doubt in horror thanks to this website.

I am embarrased to such a degree for Milan, I don't know where to look other than to the floor.

WHERE is august Corriere della Sera? Are they, the arbiters of culture in Milan, going to remain silent after this unspeakable public insult? Forget Little Mr Nobody Tenor, this is on a level of nothing I have ever witnessed in modern history and by their own citizens. What low opinion these individuals have borne for the great theater will stain this house indefinitely.

Who permitted this outrage?

What further degradations must La Scala endure under this disgusting, inept administration?

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[anna fan-na]

lol! lol! Did this seriously happen? Is this one of your clever photoshops, OC? I'm laughing myself to tears. I love how in the last picture one of those guys is wearing jeans.

[Les Mitchell]

I remember so well that in 1967, gutsy Carol Fox cancelled the entire Lyric Opera of Chicago due to a union dispute. There was no opera in Chicago that year, and the 1969 season had to be put together in a big hurry. It was not one of the better Lyric Opera seasons, but Carol Fox ended up saving Lyric Opera by refusing to buckle under the union demands. Granted, musicians are certainly entitled to a good wage, but the greed that has been so pervasive in the last forty years has been too much. Anyone remember what President Ronald Reagan did to the Air Controllers during THAT strike???? He literally broke the union.
I am a union supporter, and am a member of a union, but there are times when they can be absolutely ruthless.