By Kwon Ji-youn
The KBS Symphony Orchestra’s (KSO) management and membership are once again striking discordant notes.
According to the KSO’s labor union, Monday, the KSO’s management has requested the members’ consent in having their affiliation transferred from the state-run broadcaster KBS to the KSO’s foundation.
The dispute comes two years and sixth months after the management and union crossed swords over the same issue, as the KSO was re-launched as an incorporated foundation in 2012. In September of that year, the broadcaster asked that the members resign from KBS and join the KSO as KSO employees. When the members refused, the management agreed to second them to the orchestra for the time being and to discuss the issue again two years later.
In September 2014, the management and union agreed to extend the dispatch period six months, during which they would try to reach an agreement.
But as of Feb. 25, all 67 dispatched members of the orchestra have refused to have their affiliations altered. These members are persistently demanding KBS allow them to continue working for the KSO as KBS employees. The remaining 32 members of the 100-member orchestra are employees of the KSO foundation.
“If we continue to refuse the change, they will force them on us,” the labor union said at a press conference, Monday. “Should this occur, we worry that the orchestra will not function properly.”
It said that if the members decline to switch affiliation, they will be subject to job re-training, after which KBS will re-appoint them to administrative positions at the nation’s largest broadcaster. KBS claims that as KBS employees, they no longer have reason to perform with the KSO.
The union’s refusal is rooted in the foundation’s lack of job security, and a reduction in financial aid.
It continued, “We should be communicating to reach an agreement or come up with an alternative solution, but instead, the management is threatening us.”
It added that the management is also postponing its contract renewal with conductor Yoel Levi, whose term ends this year.
“Discussions for contract renewal should have begun earlier,” the union stressed. “This is a dereliction of its duty to effectively run and cultivate the orchestra.”
The KSO’s management issued a rejoinder later Monday to stress that it is merely carrying through what had been agreed upon in 2012.
“We had decided on a ‘dispatch’ solution to settle the immediate dispute and to take into account the union members’ resistance,” the KSO noted. “But the union’s request is hindering the orchestra’s normalization. The affiliation of the 67 members will return to KBS as their dispatch period is terminated on March 11, which will in turn disallow them from performing at upcoming concerts.”
It continued, “The management will then have no alternative but to recruit more orchestra members.”
The friction has caused setbacks ahead of the orchestra’s “White Day” concert, set to take place on March 11 at the Seoul Arts Center, and its regular concert, set for March 27 and 28.
The orchestra’s Chamber Music Festival, set for April 4, may founder.
In 2012, conflicts between the conductor and members of the orchestra emerged when conductor Hahm Shin-ik decided to hold annual auditions to “upgrade the music” soon after he took the KSO’s helm in July 2010. This resulted in an unprecedented cancellation of the orchestra’s 666th regular monthly concert.
The KSO said it will do its best to make sure the regular concert goes off without a hitch.
Follow Kwon Ji-youn on Twitter @jennajykwon