An emergency motion to “provide whatever support is required” for a campaign to stop cuts and redundancies to the Welsh National Opera (WNO) chorus passed unanimously today (19 May) at the Equity conference.

The motion also reiterated that the performing arts trade union “will not accept compulsory redundancies, or the desire by WNO management to have the flexibility of a full-time contract with all the precarity of an unsustainable cut to their basic earnings.”

WNO has signalled it intends to put revised contract proposals on the table for those in the chorus who are members of Equity, the performing arts and entertainment trade union.

The union had previously said it was open to the process and believed that despite the challenging financial situation the company faces, they would protect the chorus as an integral part of what WNO describe as the “musical and artistic backbone of Welsh National Opera”.