By CLAYTON PARK

The musicians who have been picketing Civic Light Opera's shows since last fall say they are doing so because it's their right to unionize.

Julie Young, a CLO musician who has chosen to cross the picket line, says the picketers' rights shouldn't include "the right to coerce or bully me into joining a union in order play my instrument."

Young says she and the other musicians who continue to play for CLO during the strike have had to endure more than just being called "scabs" and "amateurs" by angry picketers.

She and the other current CLO musicians have also been the recipients of threats and unwelcomed visits to their homes. "They've left us threatening letters saying things like we'd never work in this town again and that we'd be blacklisted," said Young.

Even more appalling, Young said, was what she heard when she attended meetings organized by the pro-union activists, where some suggested taking drastic measures such as disrupting CLO shows by pulling fire alarms and making bomb threats.

While such actions have yet to occur at a CLO show, the Fifth Avenue Theatre was the victim of a fake bomb threat in 1997 that happened, coincidentally, during a two-week-long musicians' strike of that establishment.

The union that organized the 5th Avenue strike, and ultimately prevailed, is the same group that's now going after CLO.

Young says she is saddened to see such examples of outright thuggery, even though she adds that she does not consider herself to be anti-union.

She says many of her former colleagues who have chosen to join the picket line are outstanding musicians for whom she has a great deal of respect.

"I have respect for them, but I don't agree that it (a musicians union) is needed at CLO," she says, noting that CLO, unlike larger musical theatre venues such as the Fifth Avenue and The Village Theatre, doesn't have a large paid staff - only three full-time administrative employees and one part-timer. CLO doesn't even own its own building. It rents space at Jane Addams School from the Seattle School District.

"One thing the union wants is for musicians to gain employee status and CLO is mostly still run on a volunteer basis," says Young, who worries that if CLO were to agree to the striking musicians' demands to become a "union house," that decision could jeopardize CLO's chances for survival. Her concern is underscored by the closing of several of Seattle's mid-sized theaters, including the Group Theatre and, most recently, the Bathhouse Theatre, which shut its doors last month.

When asked why Young, a professional musician for the past 20 years, isn't interested in joining a musicians union, she answers: "For what I do, I don't feel I need to join an organization that would dictate where I can work ... It seems to be a little more lax here in Seattle, but in the rest of the country, they wouldn't allow union musicians to be playing in a non-union house.

"And from what I understand, they (the union) would still want your union dues and a percentage, from what I've been told."

While Young, like most people, would never say no to earning more money, she says as an independent contractor she has no complaints about how much CLO has been paying her to play shows there. It's not like there's been any trickery involved, she says.

"Everyone knows up front what they are going to be paid and can say yes or no" before agreeing to a contract, says Young.

CLO's current arrangement for hiring musicians is pretty much the same it's been since the musical theater company's inception 21 years ago. Musicians are hired on a per-show basis, with the number and variety of instruments changing depending on the needs of each particular show.

Young is a keyboard player who has been signed on to serve as musical director for CLO's next show, a production of "Damn Yankees." It will be her fourth consecutive show at CLO.

Contrary to a recent P-I article that suggested that perhaps CLO may be having trouble recruiting musicians willing to cross the picket line, Young said that has definitely not been the case so far. "For 'Damn Yankees,' we'll be needing between 10-12 musicians and I'm not having any problems finding musicians," she says.

While some musicians have played for CLO for a number of years, the group is a fairly transient lot - as evidenced by a letter recently submitted to the Jet City Maven that was signed by a long list of striking "CLO musicians."

A background check of the people who supposedly signed the letter revealed that some had only signed up to play for "Rags," the musical that CLO was performing in November when the picketing began. (Some leafletting took place during the previous show, "How to Succeed in Business.") Others had not played for CLO in years, and several actually asked that their names be taken off the letter.

Young says the notion that those who are picketing CLO shows are the "regulars" while those, like her, who continue to play there are "scabs" is false. "They (the picketers) don't have a contract, therefore WE can't be scabs," she says. "Even during 'Rags' (when the picketing began), they had all resigned so they were no longer employed there."

As far as picketers' suggestions that THEY are the "professionals," while the musicians that have crossed the picket line are "amateurs" who are somehow inferior players is also not true, she says.

First off, not all of the picketers are full-time musicians. Many hold non-music related "day jobs," and no one, to Young's knowledge, are solely dependent on wages from CLO gigs for their survival.

Young, on the other hand, is among those - both picketers and picket line crossers - who ARE making their living solely from music. In addition to playing musical gigs, she teaches music, both at a local arts academy as well as at a private studio.

Has the level of musicianship dropped off since the picketing began? It's a matter of opinion, but Young, for one, doesn't think it has. "There are some very, very good musicians who are picketing, but conversely, there are also some top quality musicians in the pit. I don't feel the quality has been let down at all," she says.

That opinion is evidently shared by a number of CLO patrons as well, says Young, who has not noticed a dropoff in attendance yet. If anything, the strident actions of the picketers, with their relentless leafleting and verbal harassment of CLO theatergoers and performing musicians, may actually be shifting the sentiment of season ticketholders in favor of CLO.

"The patrons are not letting it scare them away," says Young, who notes that CLO has been performing for some fairly "big houses." And lately, the biggest, most emotionally-charged applause at CLO shows seems to be directed towards the musicians. "We're getting a lot of comments in the pit from audience members say they think it sounds great ... everything has been very upbeat."

Young adds that the cast and production staff have also been "very supportive of us ... and very appreciative."

Young doesn't have any predictions as to how this whole real-life drama will play out, with the exception of saying it appears unlikely that the picketers will let up on their demands anytime soon.

Likewise, CLO management also appears to be digging in its heels, with neither side sounding willing to sit down and talk at this point.

That's too bad, according to Young. "Unfortunately, I think BOTH sides have lost sight of any issues."

Clayton Park is a former CLO musician himself (violin) who played there back in the early '80s.