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Cape Town - Twelve singers who were dismissed from or stopped working with the Cape Town Opera (CTO) last month because of a feud over contracts filed a statement of opposition with the Labour Court on Wednesday in response to the company's initial claim against them.
Upon their return in July from performing Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Festival Aix-en-Provence in France they were found by the opera to have violated the terms of their contract, GroundUp reported.
Cape Town Opera performing 'Carmen'. (Photo from Cape Town Opera via GroundUp)
The singers had signed contracts with and were paid by the French festival, a move they say they were forced into despite the assurance by CTO's managing director Michael Williams that they did not need to sign such contracts.
The opera initially filed a claim with the Labour Court on August 17 on the basis that the singers, by accepting pay from the French festival, "breached the terms and conditions of their employment contracts and caused it damages, loss and harm in quantifiable amounts".
The dispute arose because the South African singers were contracted to be paid less than their European counterparts in the same festival.
Changing the system
In the statement of opposition, however, the legal advocates representing the singers ask the court to "consider the gross misrepresentation by [CTO], placing twelve young lives, careers, dreams and ambitions at great and real risk in a far off country".
In an email, CTO spokesperson Lesley Liddle said an independent chairperson found the singers had violated lawful protocol under their contracts with CTO and that their dismissal was an appropriate response.
"The singers signed additional employment contracts directly with and were paid by the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Due to this, the singers were deemed to be in breach of contract with CTO and a disciplinary process was enacted," she wrote.
Arline Jaftha, one of the singers who resigned before she was issued a dismissal, said she is confident that the court will help resolve the issue and potentially set a precedent for similar cases in the future.
"I feel very relieved," she said. "Finally the truth will come out. By settling, it would simply mean that everything gets swept under the carpet again and the same thing will happen over and over. We'll be abused and underpaid and we can't allow that to happen.
"We want to be the pioneers of the change that's going to happen in the system," said Jaftha.
The matter will be settled in the Labour Court once a date for the hearing is set.
