1:55Using the power of the bully pulpit, Gov. Mark Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak urged musicians and management of the Minnesota Orchestra to settle on a contract.
"Get in a room and talk to each other," Rybak said at a Thursday news conference, echoing comments he made last week. "There is no excuse not to sit at a table and get this solved now."
Dayton revealed that he had met with each side separately last week and delivered the same message — that they must meet with mediator George Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader. Dayton said he has been in phone contact with Mitchell frequently in the last few days, but did not know whether negotiating sessions had been scheduled for this week.
"We're not going to take sides," Dayton said. "There are legitimate interests and concerns on both sides, but this has to be about more than self-interests."
According to musicians spokesman Blois Olson, "Both sides are talking through the mediator." Speaking after the news conference, Olson did not offer specifics. "The mediator's process is confidential."
Dayton and Rybak have grown increasingly frustrated by the labor dispute, one of the longest in state history.
"The future of the Minnesota Orchestra is at stake," Rybak said.
Musicians have been locked out for nearly a year in a contract dispute and the entire 2012-13 artistic season was canceled. Orchestra management estimates that musicians have lost $12.4 million in salary and benefits since being locked out last Oct. 1. The organization itself lost an estimated $6 million in concert revenue, according to the Minneapolis convention and visitors bureau. A report by the agency estimated the Minneapolis Convention Center, where concerts were to have been held last year, lost just under $900,000 in anticipated revenue from October 2012 to July 2013. Losses to dining establishments were estimated at $1.7 million and for parking revenue, $414,000.
![Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak left and Gov. Mark Dayton encouraged by sides in the Minnesota Orchestra to talk too each Thursday September 19, 2013, in ST. Paul, MN.] JERRY HOLT • jerry.holt@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/3ORVOBSEM4AJLVJXDVM64N4PCI.jpg?&w=1080)
