HOW THE COLÓN THEATER WORKS ADMINISTRATIVELY  

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The Colón Theater depends on the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, it has approximately 1200 permanent employees, that is, permanent ones, who develop their entire careers within it.

Just over a third are artistic, a third are technical, and another third are from ancillary and administrative services.

Since the autarky law was passed, the Colón Theater has incorporated a board of 5 directors, each with a cabinet floor and a budget for it.  Salaries come from one item while the production budget and contracts from another.

The budget of the Teatro Colón is very important because its productions must have the same level as that of the first theaters in the world, in addition, it can add resources from advertising, room rentals or events, and guided tours.

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When the situation presents some variation in the values of the currencies, the theater, if it is not foreseen, requests a reinforcement of the game that is traditionally granted. The management of resources has a political component and the directors  they defend international contracts that give the public and abroad an image of great international theater. Political efforts are usually respectful of the exorbitant differences that sometimes result from contracts in relation to salaries, but this characteristic has been tolerated except in times when it has been excessive, given outsourcing to the service of the  benefit of an executive who received returns from managers or artists.

The criterion prevailed for many years that, to come to Buenos Aires, you must pay more than in the whole world, which was proven to be wrong in several steps that, by necessity  u honesty, they defended public resources in an efficient and austere way.

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Each year's budget must be defended before the legislature, which is ultimately the one who approves it.

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Until 2005, the conduction was made up of:  

General and Artistic Director

Administrative Director

Technical director

Director of studies

Headquarters of each section.

Personnel director

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60 years ago, the artistic bodies had almost the same number of members and the administrative bodies were only 4.

Salaries were paid in the EATC and the hierarchies were clear,  The concertmaster was the most respected figure in the artistic bodies and the salary scales or grids were referenced to this figure, with his salary being 100%, then the soloists at 92% and so the others proportionally.

Relations were similar in the world and they continue to be, although in Argentina, since the 2001 crisis  ,  Negotiations for lump sums to favor those in the worst working conditions, such as lower wages, flatten relationships and generate inequalities due to expenses that only orchestra teachers assume.

During the management of D. Caballo, the concept of antiquity that is now discussed as a career was lost, but which, in all orchestras in the world, usually encompasses a difference since the experience of the orchestral musician is what achieves that the production be more efficient and of better quality, that experience is recognized as in teaching.

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The specificities of orchestral musicians are usually unknown but when time is invested and explained well, officials cannot help but understand that the effort of an orchestral musician is not the same as that of a technician or clerk.

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The entry of musicians to the orchestra is done through very demanding international competitions, and for this, they must prepare by investing in training and very expensive materials. There is no deans working from Tuesday to Sunday, on Mondays you must study at home especially if you have an exhibition position.

  availability includes night tasks but weekend or night work is not recognized.

A bassoon can cost $ 50,000, quality stringed instruments can cost over $ 100,000.

The supplies are not produced in Argentina, so in addition to being expensive, they cost twice as much when they arrive if they are not obtained in some other way or are brought by an individual.

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Ignorant discussions then faced by intolerant and resentful delegations where the number of delegates per section does not even reflect the existing regulations, incline the power of force towards the non-artistic sectors.

The union leaders find in the conformation of the delegations a problem that they cannot solve because, at the same time as the proposals of the non-artistic ones are unfair, they have a greater number of members because the musicians were never benefited by the union policies. As the years went by, they retired, leaving spaces for discussion empty and the voice of the one who shouted loudest prevailed and delighted in the speech of equality for all, while the only ones who invest and assume expenses for work materials are the musicians of orchestra.

Non-artists do not recognize, (mixture of ignorance and resentment,) the work of the musician  developed outside of their working hours.

Here is an example: a violinist must learn a score after hours, from a  day for the other.

Musicians alone must invest "obligatorily" in instruments, maintenance,

replacement and supplies. In no public activity this happens.

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ANTICONSTITUTIONAL, BREACH OF LAWS,

FAILURE TO PROMISE A PROFESSIONAL CAREER,

DISCRIMINATION, PROBLEMS. NON-COMPLIANCE WITH REGULATIONS

AND OF BARGAINING AGREEMENTS FOR 10 YEARS.

WORKPLACE ABUSE AND HARASSMENT BY EMPLOYEES,

MANAGERS, AND COMPANIONS.

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In the constitution, public employment laws, 471 that regulates employment in the GCBA, collective bargaining agreements and other documented international sources, ensure equal conditions for workers. The regulations of the Teatro Colón require musicians to provide their instrument in conditions. Today, symphonic musicians pay or invest more than they charge.

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The orchestras, as in the whole world, were ahead of the choreographers and dancers. Today there are choreographers who earn more than a violin, cello, viola or row bass, because they achieved a career at age 15 that orchestral musicians have been denied to date.

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In different administrations, salary grids were established where there was a relationship between the categories of artists and other sectors, but although a second or main technical manager of technical areas  or others charged the same as the soloists and alternates of the orchestras, only the musicians had the obligation to contribute their instrument, maintain it, replace it and pay for their inputs.

When salaries ranged from $ 2,500 to $ 3,500, setting aside $ 500 to $ 1,000 was possible, as well as being able to do other after-hours jobs or teach classes. Always other activities allowed the Colón orchestra musician to save for his materials since the requirement requires the highest quality materials (which must be imported) not to mention that there are instruments that cost the value of a department.

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Over time, the policy was incorporating personnel in non- artistic areas that, in addition, allowed the different delegates to incorporate their children, wives or siblings. These do not compete except in closed contests and the union guarantees their access.

In the case of artists, this is not possible, because the contests are open and have been increasingly difficult and demanding.

The orchestras are the only ones that do not have clauses that favor national artists, counting for 10 years with an HR department that convinced the directors that in this way access to the best musicians was guaranteed, but in In practice, positions were lost by people who came to test without intention to stay, or strangers without references whose behaviors were problematic, obscuring work climates.

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In no orchestra in the world this situation is reproduced.  

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International juries  demand levels, sounds,  instruments  and inputs of international level, but the musician does not have commensurate income, with which the policy  salary has left the Argentine musician at a total disadvantage against foreigners . But still, the foreign musician who decides to compete and enters and must rent and move to another city as well  it is unsustainable,  so many leave and those who stay  suffer emotionally  like the nationals the institutional mistreatment.

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I nformation  distorted  it reaches the dir. General in relation  to the behaviors of professionals,  achieving after a while the bad predisposition  of the directors believing  that musicians don't want  work  or they are hostile to its management .

RESPONSIBLE: the HR director.

These behaviors were not seen  during management  from the former personnel director Cristina  Pace , who was not exactly  a charismatic person  or friendly but knew about the activity, yeah  how severe it was  at the moment  to put things in their place,  do not  argued  obvious and kept  I respect  and balance  during  his 30 years in office.

Nor of driving  union  by Norberto Canela, who was nicknamed the madman, shoe store manager  with his temperament, which towards  numbers  in the  theater  with criteria  effective  Y  defended  the  terms  salary  of the  concertmaster  why 

I knew  that was undisputed  everyone already marked a reference  positive.

Currently no  delegate  technical  auxiliary services made only one number although  they preach  know how to do them, they have only resisted  the works of  Merenzon who volunteered  to make theirs. T he area  administrative has delegates who remain  of course they are deficient when doing numbers  or do they just pursue their personal gain and stop the musicians  with just one justification , the  resentment  of what  they believe they are benefits;  but on Saturdays and Sundays they rest and on business days after their 6 business hours  too,  while the musicians work from Tuesday to Sunday without family outings or rest when  they come  repertoires  difficult  or demanding directors.

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Some specialists indicate that the symphonic musician  is the second most stressful activity  in the world after  from pilot  of airplanes. Only someone who is unaware of the musician's work makes the complaints that are heard from delegates and HR directors.

An ignorant man does more harm than an evil  deliberate.

and against one who is both, there is no defense

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For 8 years, Merenzon told the 20 delegates from other sectors that only the concertmaster should be discussed and she would defend the historical hooks, which was always discussed by the artists, but she did not accept that they resist the expenses that the musicians have and the others sectors no.

There was no way they would accept, so it was that in 2018 when the direction of the Theater, the SUTECBA and the GCBA agreed that the orchestras begin to negotiate their career, because Merenzon had the advanced works that he only had to update, a wave of violence, having to denounce that the delegates stated that if it continued, they would hammer it down, which was repudiated by the secretaries of SUTECBA who urged an agreement.

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The orchestras decided to advance as agreed by all and the slander, shouting, threats and isolation were constant. The main bullies, who, in the orchestras and while Merenzon was negotiating, said, get rid of this crazy woman , an anti-union attitude condemned by any union. Others who play an intern at SUTECBA, began to gather resentful musicians who later repeated the same speech grotesquely with arguments  Like that Merenzon's negotiation is not such, that it will not prosper, that she works for the management, that if they run it, all together they would get a 200% increase, in reference to the speech of the administrative delegates who said they knew where it would come from the money.  

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Lies and more lies were confirmed by the  Director of HR and attempted a negotiation decided by MV Alcaraz, reconciled by her with the secretaries of the Guild and the HR department of GCBA.

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In December 2019 Alcaraz  he got the resources for the career of the orchestra teachers and an advance for everyone else of 10 or 15% while they negotiated their own career.

An excellent management that was seen  frustrated by the violent people who took out posters without the endorsement of SUTECBA and went out to slander  on the street before the press without the control of the union delegate  Merenzon, who had already been lynched and isolated.

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A discussion  permanent of  ignorant i s compare  working hours, pretending that the musician  orchestral works 6 hours a day when rehearsals are  typified  in 3 hours and then add hours of study of  music  in its  address  since the theater does not count  with chord spaces. An elite musician does not study less than  4-5 hours a day if you have solo or leadership responsibilities . Every week the repertoire changes and the parts are,  the Mayori to the sometimes lengthy and difficult, but must come to the first rehearsal with the material studied and not make mistakes. This obviousness,  has been  resisted by ignorance  and resentment  growing, causing tensions and violence between  the different groups of the theater.

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Once again, the responsibility of being judicious and knowing the subject falls on the HR department, which for 10 years has been dedicated to provoking, mistreating, neglecting and quieting the few rights acquired by orchestra teachers, neglecting the justice of their claims and giving entity to the subversion of values.

Why? Out of ignorance and resentment and because he is in charge of almost 100 administrative workers who intend to charge the same as the artist  without having your preparation  nor expose  in the  stage much less without having an instrument to maintain .

No  country  the world has the labor relations of the EATC since the director joined  of HR ES , proof of them is that since she held that position, 5 directors changed, the decline in working conditions was permanent, no director managed to resolve them and she imposed unworthy conditions taking advantage of weaknesses that the musicians presented and for 10 years the promise of a career that the GCBA compromised but that she took care to lock.

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In 2018, the agreement not to force entrants to resign from their previous jobs was broken, since law 471 provides for the possibility of exceptions that can be granted by the executive (director of the Theater) and that they were more than founded on the basis that the Theater cannot provide the resources to maintain the instruments.

For two decades this difficulty was addressed and the consideration of the human being and artistic interest prevailed, that is, other works subsidized the Theater so that the musicians could maintain their operating expenses, all at the cost of the psychophysical exhaustion of the artists who had to spend the day studying and rehearsing in two or more orchestras.

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But when the last negotiations began and Merenzon stood firm and his investigations were undisputed, violence and psychological harassment towards artists and the complicity of areas that did not show efficiency or invested resources formulating subverted proposals worsened.

Today an administrator or technician yells at a multi-award-winning artist with 40 years of experience, 10 albums recorded and awards abroad, without HR intervening in the fact ensuring impunity, drafting complaints and slandering with mendacious information that brings the general direction. 

What does HR do? Any.

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What does the Teatro Colón do?

Since 2007 it has been claimed without obtaining answers and when the negotiations reached their final point  were sabotaged by the opposition sectors and the leadership  of HR

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  Today it is denounced  of constraints , poor performance of public officials, treason  of agreements without prior notice,  violation  of the law of associations  guilds  negotiating against  of the delegates who demand  justice and have  proven with hard data the veracity  of their arguments.

  The delegates  trade unions respected hierarchies  and at the moment  to negotiate  they always lined up behind  of the figure of the concertmaster. Over the years, the differences in preparation , training  and capabilities  they started  to feel and the union delegates defended  their perks  slowing down  the conditions  work of musicians .

In 2010, the delegation was in charge of A. Merenzon for the OFBA and R. Valle for the OETC, while of the other sectors 22 thin, mostly men, do not respond to a logic  proportional. This resulted in that when voting or shouting, the disproportion  of forces  imposed subverted criteria.

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They negotiated  fixed sums that achataron categories, priority was given to categories  lower  and resisted  the need for the musicians' expenses  were covered .

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The nearly 1000 employees  did not give an answer  coherent,  concrete and feasible in discussions  to the next  question.

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1- Does it seem fair that in  relationship  win  equal to an orchestral musician but that their net salary remains in full as long as  than the musician  you have a  40%, 10% or as in  the present,  if you kept your  instruments  I would replace it when necessary  and buy supplies according to the requirement, you must put your own money above your salary  resources if you are lucky enough to have them to cover your materials?

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Answer: no, the materials should  provide them  the theater knowingly  that that was impossible  to implement, it is like asking an orthopedist  orthopedic shoes  for 223 people. In the world this  it works  otherwise and the expenses are recognized.  

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What happened since 2019 could never happen without collusion of a sector of the management, the union delegation and musicians who negotiated their perks and created a hostile climate on purpose to stop the negotiation .

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