| The professional singers who make up the Chorus of the English National Opera are starting a campaign of industrial action today. They're protesting drastic plans by ENO management to cut jobs and raise the hours demanded of the remaining singers, whilst also slashing their pay by 25%. The ENO's performances are critically acclaimed but its management is in free fall — recently losing its artistic director, chairman, executive director and a third of its public funding. The Chorus want management to negotiate with their union, Equity, rather than try to make the performers carry the cost of management mistakes. The ENO is an ensemble theatre, with a performing staff who work together closely, often over many seasons. The cast care passionately about their performances, and have a real concern that cutting the Chorus so drastically will cut the heart out of the company, sending it into a spiral of decline. Rather than damaging the experience for the ENO audience, the Chorus are staging the majority of their industrial action as protests short of a strike. However, the impact of the proposals is so great that they have taken the last resort of planning a strike for one act of the opera Akhnaten on 18 March. Can you please raise your own voice alongside those of the Chorus, and add to the growing pressure on ENO management to reconsider, talk to Equity, and help save the ENO? Please sign the union's petition, and share this as widely as you can online. Sign the petition now Thanks to everyone who's signed so far - it's great we've passed 5,000 people in support of the ENO Chorus. Things are moving on quickly now - with a lack of engagement from management, the Chorus have had no choice but to start a two week period of industrial action. Rather than damaging the experience for the ENO audience, the Chorus are staging the majority of their action as protests short of a strike. However, the impact of the proposals is so great that they have taken the last resort of planning a strike for one act of the opera Akhnaten on 18 March. Please help us raise the pressure on ENO management to come to the table, as this action gets underway. Sharing this petition as widely as you can will really help increase the profile of the dispute and get a better result for the Chorus and the future of the ENO. http://act.goingtowork.org.uk/page/m/1f11b230/3ab8b1c1/5472482e/5407d66b/3320611479/VEsF/ |