La Scala's management recognizes that the theater's staff and performers, who have not had a pay raise in seven years, have greatly increased productivity, with the number of annual performances having grown by two-thirds during that time. But the house's administration maintains that it currently has no ability to offer a new contract, as Italian law now forbids any major opera house in the country to negotiate a union contract in the absence of a nationwide contract with the same union.
According to a report from Agence France-Presse, La Scala's lawyers have written a letter to the national culture ministry in Rome asking for permission to negotiate directly with union locals at the opera house and demanding that the ministry "open a discussion" on the law and on national contracts.
As for management's position regarding a new contract, a statement said that "La Scala confirms its willingness, as allowed by the law and economic possibilities, to recognize the work accomplished" by its staff.
If no progress is made in resolving the labor dispute, the opening of the new season — featuring a new staging of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde by director Patrice Ch_reau starring Waltraud Meier, Ian Storey, Michelle DeYoung and Matti Salminen — could be in jeopardy.
