As a retired lawyer/certified public accountant, I’ve had the honor and time to spend many hours on the CSO picket line. Countless times I’ve been greeted by plumbers, electricians, carpenters, structural iron workers, pipefitters, railroad works, UAW workers, AFSCME members, teamsters and others, proudly wearing their buttons and proudly offering to walk a circle with the sign. I don’t think many of them have attended a concert, but it is irrelevant. One’s taste in music (or spending priorities) should not affect the sincerity of a belief in the principle that workers have a right to bargain, to strike, and to preserve a defined benefit retirement structure. I see that support every day, and this is week five of the strike.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra is a cultural jewel of the world.
I would like to encourage the Board, the musicians, the public,
and the city of Chicago to resist any attempt that will reduce such status.
I offer my full support to the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.