Boston Joins the Union

One of the longest struggles in U.S. labor history last week came to an end. Sergei Koussevitzky's superb Boston Symphony, only surviving major non-union orchestra in the U.S., finally knuckled under to Boss James Caesar Petrillo's Federation of Musicians.

Ever since it was founded in 1881 by aristocratic, union-hating Major Henry Lee Higginson, the Boston Symphony had rebuffed all efforts at unionization. A strike over the issue in 1920 was quelled by the management at great expense to U.S. symphonic music when some 31 strikers left. Conductor Koussevitzky managed to rebuild the orchestra to the highest level. Two years ago Boss Petrillo barred the Bostonians from radio and recording studios under a threat to pull all union musicians out of the studios. Like most U.S. symphony orchestras, the Bostonians had come to depend less and less on wealthy patronage, more and more on broadcasting and recording fees. After two years off the air, the Symphony's trustees threw in the sponge, signed a union contract. Petrillo had won again.

From Boss Petrillo the Bostonians wrung one special concession: Unlike other U.S. symphony orchestras, the Boston will be able to hire union musicians from outside Boston's Local No. 9 without special permission. One expected result of the union agreement is the signing of an estimated $75,000 broadcasting contract with Columbia Broadcasting System.

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