WNO chorus votes to renew industrial action

Equity members of the Welsh National Opera’s (WNO) chorus have voted to renew their mandate for industrial action in a dispute over proposed cuts to jobs, terms and conditions.

The chorus will continue to take action short of a strike from 9 April onwards.

The current mandate for action lasted for 6 months. Since the dispute is not yet resolved, a re-ballot took place, which closed last week.

On a 100% turnout, the union members voted 95% in favour of action short of strike and 91% in favour of strike action.

Equity said the singers are taking industrial action over the WNO management’s proposals to “cut the size of the full-time chorus, and make unsustainable cuts to their terms and conditions”. 

In action so far, the members have worn union T-shirts during performances, made speeches during curtain call, and handed out leaflets to audiences.

Equity’s Wales official Simon Curtis said that union had made clear from the start that “the chorus will not accept compulsory redundancies”, saying opportunities for professional singers in Wales are “virtually non-existent”. 

He urged the management to “reassess their business plan and budget” and “not make cuts that would harm the livelihoods of the workforce and quality of the WNO’s opera provision”.