MEAA members at Opera Australia

 

Imagine an opera house without an opera company to perform in it.

It seems incredible, doesn’t it? But what if that opera company is so depleted it is no longer able to perform at the world class standard for which it is renowned?

That’s the bleak scenario faced by Opera Australia after management announced a plan to slash more than 40% of its permanent and contract workforce.

These unconscionable cuts would hit every part of the company, from the orchestra and choir, to hair and makeup, costumes, set construction, and stage and technical crew. Worse still, management wants to terminate the workplace agreements that set pay and conditions for those who would be left.

We need Arts Minister Paul Fletcher to step in with funding to save these jobs.

Take action

MEAA has taken Opera Australia to the Fair Work Commission because the cuts have been made with no consultation and no justification.

We have proposed an alternative emergency measures agreement, where workers would be prepared to take a temporary pay cut to ease the financial pressure and retain jobs. This has worked at other major performing arts companies like the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

But the problems at Opera Australia also reveals a bigger crisis in Australian arts.

For a start, how is it that a company that has been receiving JobKeeper is still allowed to make people redundant?

And where is the financial support that the Arts Minister claimed months ago would be provided to the arts industry during the coronavirus pandemic?

Act now

How is it that Opera Australia is intent on sacking huge numbers of its employees as well as terminating the contracts of just as many, when there is meant to be money to save these jobs and protect this hugely important, world-class company?

What will it take for the minister to act?

There are no creative arts without us. Who will make the halls of the Sydney Opera House reverberate if not those who sing, who make music, and who bring these productions to life behind the stage?

We need urgent financial assistance to the company and the intervention of the Minister to ensure the company maintains its responsibility as the producer of world class opera in Australia. Because otherwise, there will be no opera without us.

Please take action by adding your name to our petition to Arts Minister Paul Fletcher.

MEAA members at Opera Australia