New York's Metropolitan Opera announced Wednesday it has reached an agreement with stagehands that will allow it to start its season on schedule. The opera said it had worked a new contract with the union representing company stagehands, following agreements earlier in the week with musicians and singers. Unions had become locked in a bitter dispute with the company's managing director, Peter Gelb, who had pushed to slash salaries by around 16 percent at the world's wealthiest opera company.
A deadline he set for a work stoppage, however, was repeatedly pushed back allowing for further negotiating. "Rehearsals and pre-season preparations will continue without any work stoppage," the Met said in a statement, adding that the season will begin on September 22 with Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.