“In their current proposal, management is demanding a 10 percent reduction in funding for the musicians, even though compensation for the orchestra is already among the lowest of our peers. To achieve this drastic reduction, musicians have been offered a Hobson’s choice: reduce salaries by 10 percent, potentially driving away our great younger players, or reduce our ranks, threatening the lushness that is a hallmark of the Philadelphia Sound. They also propose to slash our pensions by as much as 50 percent, and charaterized as a “waste” their legal obligation to provide pensions to working musicians over age 701/2. These proposals are the equivalent of selling Renoirs to fix a hole in the Art Museum’s roof.”