Strike forces La Scala to cancel 'La Boheme' shows

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

MILAN (AFP) — La Scala has been forced to cancel three performances of Puccini's "La Boheme" next week due to a strike, the famed Italian opera house said Friday on its website.

Opera unions are demanding pay hikes totalling 13 million euros (20.3 million dollars) over the next four years but the opera is only offering the Milanese theatre workers 11.5 million with conditions, the management said.

The statement said the unions had a duty not only to the public but to the opera house for the economic consequences of the strike and went on to threaten that their action would have "repercussions" on the ongoing pay negotiations.

Eleven performances of "La Boheme", under the direction of Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, had been scheduled for the...