About AGMA

Save The Chorus: Here’s How!

There are several ways you can stand with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and help ensure their voices continue to resonate across the Bay Area and beyond:

Send a Letter to Symphony Leadership

We have launched an Action Network letter-writing campaign, and you can send a pre-drafted email in under five minutes. Help us protect these choral jobs and the Arts in the Bay Area. Please send letters to the Symphony's leadership and Board, asking them to negotiate fairly and keep the choristers’ standards intact. Your support is crucial to ensure the San Francisco Symphony can continue to thrive as a world-class organization without losing the talent and dedication that have brought the Symphony international renown, soaring ticket sales, donations contributing to its enormous endowment, EIGHT GRAMMY AWARDS as well as dozens of nominations, and joy to so many. Together, we can Save the Chorus! PS. If you sent a letter before September 24, thank you! Please send another, as we have revised the messaging since then.

Follow AGMA and the Choristers on Social Media

Follow AGMA and the Choristers of the San Franciso Symphony on Instagram. Every like, comment, and share helps us amplify our message!

Donate to the SFSC GoFundMe

The AGMA Choristers were forced to take a work stoppage September 19 - 21, and future work stoppages are possible, too. You can help the singers by donating to their GoFundMe to cover their lost income. Every dollar goes directly to the Chorus members and helps them during this precarious time.

Join the SFSC Mailing List and Stay Connected

Receive updates and keep up with actions you can take to support the AGMA Choristers of the San Francisco Symphony by joining our mailing list.

Stay Informed (updated 10/9/2024)

Background

  • The San Francisco Symphony Chorus, now in its 51st season, is comprised of 32 paid regular Choristers represented by AGMA, and 120+ unpaid Choristers.
  • AGMA Choristers are currently paid less than half the hourly rate of their Orchestral colleagues’ base rate (no inclusion for seniority, benefits, or chair). Non-AGMA Choristers are not paid for their work.
  • The AGMA Choristers are contracted for 26 performances per season, meaning the Chorus performs on about 8 - 11 programs annually.
  • The Chorus won the Symphony its first Grammy in 1993, along with seven subsequent Grammys, an Emmy, and several award nominations.
  • The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which governs the Choristers’ contracts expired on July 31, 2024.

Bargaining History

  • On May 29, SFS proposed reducing the Chorus budget by 80%. This proposal included sample programming with as few as eight AGMA Choristers instead of the usual 32 per program. 
  • Since then, AGMA has requested vital financial and budgetary information to better understand how such cuts would compare to those Kim planned in other parts of the organization. To date, necessary parts of these requests have not been met, leaving us with no verification that these cuts are not disproportionately targeting the Chorus.
  • AGMA filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against the Symphony for withholding such necessary financial information. 
  • On September 16, the eligible AGMA Choristers voted unanimously to authorize a strike. AGMA leadership approved the strike authorization on the same day. 
  • Bargaining resumed, and on September 19, after the final dress rehearsal for the Symphony’s opening performances of Verdi’s Requiem, the Negotiating Committee presented reasonable terms to Symphony Management to avoid a work stoppage. The Symphony refused to meet those terms and a Strike was called that afternoon with the Union leaving the door open to continue bargaining so the Friday or Saturday performances could go on. Despite this, the Symphony immediately canceled all three performances of the Requiem, and did not offer or respond to requests for additional negotiating sessions during the concert weekend.
  • During the scheduled performances on September 19, 20, and 21, the Chorus, along with their colleagues in the Orchestra and supporters from
  • around the Bay Area, held a protest outside Davies Symphony Hall, concluding with a performance of one of the movements of the canceled Requiem on the street for the public. 
  • The Symphony Chorus has three more program engagements this calendar year, beginning with the Fauré Requiem on November 16. The Strike Authorization remains in effect, making future work stoppages possible.

Frequently Asked Questions (Updated 10/9/2024)

The AGMA Choristers are currently working under an expired contract. After the Symphony proposed a wage freeze for the 2024-25 season and a roughly 10% wage reduction in the 2025-26 season, AGMA countered with an offer for a 8.9% reduction in its economic package during 2024-25 season, with a return to the 2023-24 minimum base compensation in the second year, and continued discussions regarding year three to avert a strike. The Symphony then offered AGMA a wage freeze for the remaining nine months of the current season, which is economically identical to having no contract at all. Management’s refusal to consider this reasonable settlement offer, which gave them a financial reprieve sooner rather than later, led to the Union’s declaration of strike action during the Verdi Requiem. We were prepared to keep bargaining to avoid canceling all three days of scheduled performances, but Management chose instead to cancel the entire run immediately and to blame AGMA for its decision, costing the Symphony hundreds of thousands in lost revenue. This suggests that the Symphony’s proposals are not economically motivated but are an attempt to eliminate the AGMA Chorus altogether.

No.The strike lasted from September 19-21. The Chorus is currently neither rehearsing nor performing at the Hall, but is scheduled to resume soon. The Strike Authorization remains in effect though, making future work stoppages possible.

A strike is always a last resort. The Chorus wants to work but needs a fair contract. Until the AGMA Choristers have a collective bargaining agreement in place, they may picket or strike at any time.

Roughly 80% of the Choristers are unpaid for their work. Under the expired contract, the 32 AGMA positions are paid about $90/hour for their work, with a guaranteed income of just over $22,000/year. All must resort to other gigs, teaching, day jobs, and other work to make ends meet in the Bay Area.

The AGMA contract governs service conditions, minimum guarantees, audition protocols, and a host of other important facets of Choral labor besides compensation. The AGMA contract directly governs the number of performing opportunities for the unpaid singers. The contract also deters the Symphony from scheduling rehearsals during regular business hours, guarantees parking for Choristers, and governs rehearsal breaks, the conditions of scores, allotted warm-up time, dress and stage protocols, etc.

The Negotiating Committee has been extraordinarily flexible and creative in responding to the Symphony’s stated challenges and objectives, but Management’s proposals have been existentially threatening. AGMA requires a contract that (1) preserves the current performing minimums that affect the whole ensemble, (2) shows some degree of compensation growth to account for rising costs and the inequities faced by choral artists, and (3) contains multi-year guarantees that safeguard the future of the  Chorus.

The Orchestra players are colleagues of the Chorus but are members of a different union, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 6. The players have pledged not to cross an AGMA picket line (as AGMA has done for them). Their current contract with the Symphony expires on November 18.