First the teachers. Now the Chicago Symphony. Wealthy patrons of the CSO are furious. They forget. This is a union town.

Chicago Sun-Times:

More than 100 Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians went on strike Saturday, infuriating patrons who came to Orchestra Hall expecting a show and upsetting world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti.

The CSO canceled the 8 p.m. concert less than two hours before the scheduled start. It was the first Saturday night show of the 2012-2013 season.

“I think it’s despicable,” said subscriber Alvin Beatty, who came with his wife and a cousin who flew in from Florida. “. . . They are thumbing their noses at the people who pay them.”

Beatty, 80, of Evanston, said he was reconsidering his donations to the famed orchestra: “The CSO is the beneficiary of half of my estate. I’m going to tell you I’m going to rethink it.”

Good memories are forever
Said the dog on the tombstone
If you’re livin’ underneath a bridge, man
All roads lead to home
I gotta hidden flask and I’m paid in cash
Gotta cross above my bed
I hitchhiked from Chicago
And a man walked up and said

This is a union town, a union town
All down the line
This is a union town, a union town
All down the line
And if you come to strip our rights away
We’ll give you hell every time
This is a union town, a union town
All down the line

Today the policeman’s a union man
Brother firefighter’s my friend
And the kids locked in the Capitol
Are fighting ’til the end
And we’re not gonna break tonight
And we’re not gonna bend
Some say the union’s down
But I asked around
And everybody said

This is a union town, a union town
All down the line
This is a union town, a union town
All down the line
And if they come to strip our rights away
We’ll give ’em hell every time
This is a union town, a union town
All down the line

For every action, a reaction
Equal and opposite
That’s why, my friend, the blood tastes good
Every time I’m hit
I gotta will to win and a Cheshire grin
Yeah, the Nightwatchman is near
And you can’t get it where you’re at
But you can sure get it here

So, come rain or sleet or dark of night
Come wind or frigid snow
There’s 100,000 in the streets
And that number’s gonna grow
And when we put the governor on trial
I’ll be in the front row
Just take a look around
We’re a union town
One, two, three, four – let’s go!

This is a union town, a union town
All down the line
This is a union town, a union town
All down the line
And if they come to strip our rights away
We’ll give ’em hell every time
This is a union town, a union town
All down the line.

– Tom Morello