Violinist Leila Josefowicz, due in town Jan. 22. (Photo by J. Henry Fair)

This week, negotiators from the labor and management sides are gathering to work out a new contract for the members of the Cleveland Orchestra, who are now working without an agreement just weeks before the group’s annual residency at the Knight Concert Hall.

The Clevelanders’ contract expired Dec. 31, after repeated periods of monthlong extensions from the defunction of the original pact at the end of August. Gary Hanson, the orchestra’s executive director, said in a news release that management welcomed the opportunity to return to talks.

“At this time we are not speaking publicly about the substance of our collective bargaining, but we are prepared to alert our patrons and the media should an imminent strike threaten upcoming performances,” Hanson said in the release. “In the meantime, we will be operating without a contract, and I am hopeful that with good will and good judgment at the negotiating table, a work stoppage can be avoided.”

The orchestra, under music director Franz Welser-Möst, has some good programs planned, including the first series set for Jan. 22-23, when the fine Canadian-born violinist Leila Josefowicz solos in the Violin Concerto of the contemporary British composer Thomas Adès. The Beethoven Third and Leonard Bernstein’s Second (Age of Anxiety) figure on the programs Jan. 29-30 (after a special Beethoven-plus-clubbing concert set for Jan. 28, which I mentioned last month).

The orchestra returns March 26-27 for the last series, joined by guest conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and pianist Ingrid Fliter in the Chopin Second Concerto; also on the program are pieces by Alexander Glazunov (Nocturne from Chopiniana, Op. 46) and the Romeo and Juliet suite of Sergei Prokofiev.

The Web is now awash in stories about the labor contract, with the Cleveland Plain Dealer laying out both sides in a piece that indicates how difficult the situation is overall. The economy has been tough on Northeast Ohio, but in order to keep a world-class orchestra in town — a real draw for investment when the economy one day recovers — salaries have to be competitive.

This fight reminds me of the labor dispute that led to the demise of the Florida Philharmonic back in 2003, which may have occurred in part because the orchestra itself was too new for its players and managers to know how to ride out union-and-management disagreements. They’ve been at it a long time up in Cleveland, and I would guess that the concerts scheduled for Miami will occur as planned.

But this is also a reminder of the perilous state of the arts when everything depends on a free-market economy. It enables innovation, but in a down cycle it means expendability. At some point, a steadier supply of money, impervious to economic quakes, might be worth seeking out so that at times like these, when we most need the arts, they’re hale and healthy.

A negotiating session between the two sides is scheduled for today, and those who have enjoyed the Cleveland Orchestra’s Miami performances in the past (as I have) will be watching the situation closely.