Links about the Strike:

Bach Plant Workers on Strike

Looking to save approximately $7 million a year, Conn-Selmer has taken action to reduce salaries and benefits of employees by as much as 40%, this after posting ever-increasing profits. There is also talk of moving production to China. As a result, some 230 workers at the Bach plant have been on strike since April 1, 2006. Stock trading activity of board members of Steinway (Conn-Selmer's parent company) was quite active the day prior to the announced strike.

According to one inside source, management has been scurrying about trying to complete some 800 instruments which were in assembly lines prior to the strike. There has been talk of hiring 150 new workers to finish the job. Meanwhile striking employees are hoping talks will continue and that their jobs won't be handed over to unskilled workers, or worse, sent overseas to China.

Conn-Selmer recently began importing some Chinese-made instruments for their student line. There are serious fears among musicians that the professional line, the Stradivarius, will be sent over to China as well. Some musicians have posted their displeasure online, calling April 1, 2006, "The day the music died."

There has been a lot of online discussion on the various trumpet groups and quite a few online news reports. What I will do on this page is post various links as I find them. As a disclaimer, I cannot claim that all the information posted on the various links and sites is factual, though most of the links are from news agencies. The online trumpet groups, on the other hand, bring about a varied assortment of individuals, those with credentials and those without. It is up to the reader to make his own conclusions.

All photographs used on my site are done so with permission granted from the original owners.