Equity, the trade union representing the Welsh National Opera Chorus, has managed to obtain 1,000 signatures for an open letter to the Chair of the Welsh National Opera’s Board of Directors calling for support in its negotiations with the company’s management.

The letter asks Chair Yvette Vaughn Jones to “intervene with management to save jobs, livelihoods and a treasured part of Welsh culture.”

Per the letter, management is looking to cut 15 percent of chorus members’ pay and also reducing contracted hours. There will also be a cut to overall number of chorus members with a “real threat of compulsory redundancies.”

“Wales deserves world class opera with a full time, professionally paid Opera company, not a part time, understaffed, overworked chorus,” the letter continues.

In response to the support for the open letter, Equity official for Wales Simon Curtis said, “It’s phenomenal to see such a strong show of support for the chorus members of the Welsh National Opera. In under a week, over a thousand people have signed the open letter to the Chair of the WNO Board of Directors calling on her to oppose management’s damaging plans that threaten jobs, livelihoods and the future of opera in Wales. We hope that WNO management bear this in mind when coming to negotiations tomorrow.”

This comes a week after 93 percent of chorus members voted for industrial action over the proposed changes, including an action short of a strike. There has already been a call for strike action on Sept. 21, 2024, the season’s opening night performance of “Rigoletto” as well as subsequent strikes on Sept. 29 and Oct. 11.