Musicians with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra said Friday that they will not be voting on management's contract offer by Sunday's deadline, making a lockout almost an inevitability. No further negotiations between the SPCO and its musicians have been scheduled.

Stuck in a labor dispute, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has canceled its concerts through the end of the year. The SPCO locked out its musicians on Oct. 21, and the musicians on Wednesday rejected management's latest offer. Musicians have said they are working on a new proposal.

The orchestra lockouts in the Twin Cities are apparently being felt outside of the membership of the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. A University of Minnesota doctoral candidate in orchestral conducting says students "don't have a model right now" because of the lockouts.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra told its musicians on Wednesday that it would lock them out at 6 p.m. Sunday if they don't accept management's latest offer, the Star Tribune reports. If a lockout happens, musicians for both Twin Cities orchestras will be locked out for the first time ever. The Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis was locked out Oct. 1.

Musicians with the locked out Minnesota Orchestra said Friday they will play concerts in the Twin Cities in December in light of the news that management's announcement Thursday that it was cancelling all concerts at Orchestra Hall through Dec. 23. The orchestra members will play Dec. 15 and Dec. 16 at Ted Mann Concert Hall under the direction of Edo de Waart, who was the orchestra's music director from 1986 to 1995.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and its musicians have been negotiating a new contract without success, and now they are negotiating how to negotiate, MPR reports. The two sides are haggling over whether to continue a "play and talk" approach in which performances would continue as they settle the dispute.

Locked out musicians with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra were unanimous in their rejection of a four-year contract offer. Musicians say the pay cuts contained in the offer would reduce salaries by one-third, although management says they amount to only 14 percent. Concerts through this weekend have already been cancelled and more cancellations will follow Wednesday's vote.