The musicians’ union of the National Symphony Orchestra reached a tentative contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, ending a four-hour strike that briefly canceled its season-opening concert gala.

“This 18-month contract will provide all parties time to come together to settle a longer-term agreement that demonstrates our respect for their artistic contributions and maintains the orchestra’s competitiveness in the field,” the Kennedy Center said in a statement.

“At this time, members of the NSO are beginning rehearsals for tomorrow’s gala,” the NSO added.

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The new contract will jack up the base salary for the 90-member orchestra from $159,000 annually to $165,268 in the first year and $171,879 in the second, with negotiations for future years scheduled for early 2026. It comes after both sides were unable to agree on a four-year contract.

The deal also includes expanded healthcare options with more than $1,000 annually trimmed from employee contributions, paid parental leave, and a new full-time librarian position requested by the musicians.

Members of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Federation of Musicians, Local 161-710 voted unanimously on Sept. 20 to authorize the strike after months of contract negotiations broke down. They complained that their six-figure incomes were no longer enough to afford rising living costs in the nation’s capital. 

“All across the country, we’ve seen employers agree to contracts with substantial wage increases in recognition of the impact that inflation has had on employees’ cost of living,” Ed Malaga, president of the union, said Friday. “The music world is no different.“

The union said the musicians earned less than orchestra members in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

In the final rounds of contract negotiations, Kennedy Center officials said they offered musicians a contract that would gradually raise their pay by 13% over the next four years.

It would have cost the center $8 million out of an estimated $50 million to $60 million annual budget for the NSO.

The musicians said that was not enough. They insisted on a 25% increase, pointing to a 15% decline in real wages over the past five years and income lost during 18 months of pandemic closures when the center paid them 65% of their salaries.

The tentative two-year agreement Friday afternoon does not resolve this tension, but kicks the can far enough down the road to allow the new concert season to start. It will boost wages by 8% by 2026.

In a statement Tuesday, the Kennedy Center pointed out that the venue “had zero earned ticket income” during the COVID-19 shutdown and said the musicians’ demand for a 25% hike was “not financially viable” in light of projected revenues through 2028.

The contract dispute comes as hundreds of thousands of unionized medical, entertainment, education, transportation and service industry workers have secured higher wages by walking off the job since the end of pandemic restrictions — examples that the musicians’ union has cited to justify their strike. 

Aided by pro-union policies from the Biden-Harris administration and favorable public opinion, most have cited inflation as their reason for demanding more money.