Musicians and Airlines Are Squabbling Over Frequent-Flier Miles; ‘He Could Have Played the Flute, But No’

Wall Street Journal
3/13/2013

Renowned cellist Lynn Harrell travels the world on two airline tickets-one for himself and one for his beloved companion, his $5 million, nearly 300-year-old cello. “Cello Harrell” gets its own boarding pass and even collects frequent-flier miles in its own account. Many cellos do, even for high school musicians.

But two seats don’t always equal twice the miles. Delta Air Lines’ DAL -0.79% frequent-flier rules only allow people, not musical instruments, to collect miles, and Delta has been auditing accounts to catch frequent-flier scofflaws. Violating the rules can draw a severe penalty: Delta wiped out not only Cello Harrell’s SkyMiles account, but also Lynn Harrell’s personal SkyMiles account last year. Total loss: half a million miles. And Delta banned him from its loyalty program.
Read On

PledgeMusic.com
April 20, 2013

Markus Reuter is a German composer, musician and producer who originally landed on PledgeMusic as a part of the rock trio Stick Men and their successful campaign for their new album.

Then, on Valentine’s Day of this year, Markus joined forces with the Colorado Chamber Orchestra for an exciting and groundbreaking new campaign, the world premiere of Reuter’s original composition, “Todmorden 513,” orchestrated by the Orchestra’s Music Director Thomas Blomster.

The world premiere of this incredible piece took place yesterday in Denver, and it was absolutely phenomenal. Because this PledgeMusic campaign is already past 100 percent, these guys were thankfully able to record and document this event, and you can get it now by Pledging on their campaign.

Before the world ever heard this piece live, we shot some questions to Markus and Thomas, and here’s what they had to say: Read On

Saint Paul, Minnesota (April 20, 2013) – The Musicians of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) said today they have voted to use a U.S. mail option to decide whether to ratify the Society’s latest proposal. This will enable further clarification of language in that proposal and would also provide the opportunity for all Musicians to vote.

Musicians did ratify the American Federation of Musicians Integrated Media Agreement and its Addendum today, both of which were specifically negotiated for the SPCO.

The Musicians of the SPCO have been locked out for more than 24 weeks. Their contract expired September 30, 2012. Management imposed the lockout on October 21, 2012 following three weeks where the Musicians continued to “play and talk.”

For more information, go to their web site www.musiciansspco.org

For immediate release from the National Symphony Orchestra
Committee

March 20, 2013

The musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra stand in support of our esteemed colleagues, the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony, as they continue their courageous struggle for a just resolution to their labor dispute. After examining the facts available, it is very difficult for us in Washington, DC to understand what intentions the San Francisco Symphony management has that would be furthered by their hard-lined stance. It seems that those intentions are not artistic ones. We do fully understand, however, the intentions of world-class musicians to remain at the very top of their profession. We believe they fully deserve to retain and reasonably improve the compensation and benefits they have gained over decades of carefully measured progress, designed for the long-term healthy growth of the entire organization.

For immediate release from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Members Committee

March 19, 2013.

The Musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra express our support for the Musicians for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in their effort to achieve a fair contract. As has been shown in international tours, recordings, and in front of a loyal and expanding audience in northern California, the San Francisco Symphony is one of the great orchestras of the world, and deserves financial support equivalent to its success and stature. This contract negotiation echoes what has become a familiar story across the nation. Many orchestras, regardless of their financial condition, have faced lockouts, strikes, and devastating cuts in personnel, wages and benefits. The similarity in goals, methods, and language used by their employers, reflects an ideologically driven collusion to severely reduce the standard of living of many professional classical orchestral musicians. In recent years many orchestra boards seem more interested in construction projects and expanding staff than in supporting music and musicians.

Musicians claim symphony is disingenuous on finances

By Negotiating Committee Chair Susan Pardue, Andy Bruck, Kevin Casseday,
Anna Genest, Jorge Pena and Peter Wright

Florida Times-Union
December 21, 2012

The Dec. 4 Times-Union quoted Jacksonville Symphony Association Board Chair-elect Martin Connor saying, “It’s hard to exaggerate the seriousness of our problem.”

The article continued: “He was talking about the operating deficits the symphony has been experiencing for years and the accumulated debt, which he says is about $3 million.”

Actually the Symphony Association exaggerates its problems with ease.

In November 2007, then-Board Chair James Van Vleck claimed that the “JSA has accumulated an approximate $3 million deficit since 2000.”

The number of years that the $3 million figure has remained constant has prompted an investigation of the audited financial statements.

The results reveal that in years it has to negotiate with orchestra
musicians, the association transfers out and restricts assets from the operating fund and inflates the draw on its line of credit.
Source: Florida Times-Union

South Florida Musicians Association Encourages Boycott of Palm Beach Symphony

With no explanation, The Palm Beach Symphony has replaced virtually all of the orchestra’s musicians for the 2012-2013 season. Many of the musicians had performed for the Symphony for nearly a decade or more. According to Symphony Executive Director Michael Finn, music director Ramon Tebar is in charge of the orchestra roster, and therefore would be responsible for the replacements.

These musicians have dedicated their time, talents and efforts for many years to building the Symphony, despite its offering much less than full-time work or the benefits of secure working conditions. The decision to replace nearly the entire roster of musicians is further mystifying in light of the musicians’ loyalty to the organization and consistent praise in the press.

Therefore, South Florida Musicians Association is encouraging patrons, donors, and musicians to demand an explanation from the Palm Beach Symphony management and Board and to boycott the Symphony until this obvious wrong is rectified.

The musicians of the SPCO need our financial support. We ask, and encourage, all the orchestras of ICSOM to consider making a financial donation to the cause. A donation from your treasury, or a collection taken by the members of your Players’ Association, would be of great assistance. We are confident that all of the musicians in our ICSOM orchestras are eager to stand with their colleagues in St. Paul.
Read On

Last weekend, the musicians of the Spokane Symphony overwhelmingly rejected a ‘last-best-and-final’ contract offer from the Spokane Symphony Society. The offer included a reduction in wages from $17,460 to $15,132, with further reductions applied to those who cannot be available for symphony work in the summer. Moreover, the attendance policy would be tightened, making it even more difficult for musicians to supplement their employment by performing elsewhere. Finally, concessions regarding work rules made in exchange for higher salaries would remain in place, despite the rollback of salaries to levels equivalent to those of 2002.
Read On

PETITION by the American Federation of Musicians

After raising almost $1.2 million for her new album and tour on Kickstarter, Amanda Palmer put out a call for “professional-ish” musicians to volunteer to rehearse and perform in her Grand Theft Orchestra. In return, Palmer says, “We will feed you beer, hug/high-five you up and down, give you merch, and thank you mightily.”

Let’s start with the obvious. Palmer raised $1.2 million in advance for her new album and accompanying tour, yet says that she can’t afford the $35,000 needed to hire musicians. That doesn’t pass the smell test.

With her request for volunteers — three or four saxes and brass and a string quartet that “gets to BE the opening act” — Amanda Palmer has shredded her reputation as a “groundbreaking” indie artist. She’s become just another musician that achieves commercial success and profits off the dreams and aspirations of others.

And besides selling her fellow musicians (and fans) down the river, she has established a dangerous precedent and degraded pay standards for the thousands of working musicians that are hired locally for touring bands.

As AFM President Ray Hair said in a NYTimes article, “If there’s a need for the musician to be on the stage, then there ought to be compensation for it.”

Or as commenter Chris Siebert put it, “Your request for free labor sounds like a promotional gimmick dreamed up by a corporate Republican who has no concept of the history of working people in this country.”

Amanda Palmer: pay ALL the musicians you perform with — and pay them a fair wage. Now.

SIGN PETITION

COMMENT

from Robert Goodlett, Indianapolis Symphony
September 7, 2012

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Musicians make last ditch effort to save the first two concerts of the season. Symphony Society last week threatened to cancel concerts.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Musicians (ISO musicians) announced today that after a series of negotiations to settle on a new contract, they have proposed a two- month contract extension to keep the music on the stage.
Read On

DENVER – June 25, 2012 – The Colorado Symphony today announces the appointment of Andrew Litton to the role of Artistic Advisor. Litton previously served as Music Director for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1994-2006 and is currently Music Director for the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, a post he’s held since 2003. He joins the Colorado Symphony’s current artistic leadership staff, including Resident Conductor Scott O’Neil and Duain Wolfe, founder and director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Litton’s three-year appointment as Artistic Advisor begins Sept. 1, 2012.
Read On

The Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra Musicians have been in negotiations with the new Management Team for our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which expired October 1, 2010. We have engaged in eleven negotiating sessions to date. We would like to inform the general public about some of the very serious challenges we are facing regarding extreme changes Management, (on behalf of the Board) wants to implement in key provisions of our CBA.

The new Glimmerglass Management presented their opening proposal to the Orchestra’s Union Negotiating Committee (NC) last August 2011. In an unprecedented and shocking move, Article IV.EE.1 was eliminated. This Article designates the number of players in the “permanent/core orchestra”, i.e., the minimum personnel of the Orchestra. (This minimum is still subject to the instrumentations listed in the composers’ original scores for a given Glimmerglass Festival season.) Of additional noteworthy importance, this minimum personnel list comprises our Collective Bargaining Unit.
Read On

By Jan Sjostrom
Palm Beach Daily News Arts Editor
Posted: 6:48 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Palm Beach Symphony hopes to hire The Juilliard School students and recent graduates next year to perform concerts and conduct schools programs.

Three residencies, each lasting a week or two, are planned, said Michael Finn, the symphony’s executive director. Finn’s background includes 20 years as associate dean and director of performance activities at the prestigious performing arts conservatory in New York.

During their stays, the Juilliard musicians would work in public and private schools, play recitals and cabaret concerts at venues such as the Norton Museum of Art and The Breakers, and join the orchestra as soloists, Finn said. Two classical and one jazz ensemble are being discussed.

Read On

With the approaching public launch of AFM Entertainment, now is the time to add your musical act to the AFM’s new booking service.

Sign up today!
http://afmentertainment.org

By Pete Vriesenga

The League of American Orchestras (LAO), formerly known as the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL) has ramped-up their anti-collective bargaining rhetoric lately. LAO’s latest publication: Fearless Journeys: Innovation in Five American Orchestras is yet another in a string of “new model” discussions that champion this message. The book claims to provide “hard evidence” through a small sample study that orchestras can become more “sustainable” by taking risks and modifying their collective bargaining agreements. Of course there is no mention of the established alternative, which is hundreds of amateur orchestras with no collective bargaining agreements that wander aimlessly to the public trough only to pay their administrators.
Read On

New York City—Saturday, January 7, 2012 – At 9 p.m. on Saturday, January 7th, New York City Opera management rejected the final wage concession offered by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians. The company told the mediators and the unions’ negotiating committees that all employees will be locked out of work on Monday.

A three-week mediation effort conducted by the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service centered on New York City Opera General Manager George Steel’s plan to dismantle the esteemed 68-year-old professional company and replace it with ad-hoc freelance musicians and performers. The proposals made to the unions would eliminate dozens of jobs andreduce the annual compensation of the remaining orchestra and singers from approximately $40,000 per year to $4,000 – cuts totaling 90%. By contrast, Steel’s annual compensation of over $324,000 plus benefits would far outstrip the pay of the entire orchestra.

After a more than four-year wait, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled in favor of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and affiliated Locals 294 (Lancaster, PA), 72-147 (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX), and 9-535 (Boston, MA) in determining that the musicians of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra are statutory employees, not independent contractors. The two-to-one decision announced December 27, 2011, is a reversal of the regional NLRB’s 2007 ruling to dismiss the orchestra’s union election petition, and clears the way for the orchestra to vote on union representation.

By Pete Vriesenga

As much as they keep trying, resigned CSO board members Heather K Miller and Bruce Clinton are failing to show any evidence that the CSO “can’t sustain it’s business model.” As board members they were determined to cease operations and force bankruptcy rather than take the lead of this collaborative and resilient organization. Rather than accept their personal failings as board members they repeatedly tried to paint “union work rules” as their scapegoat, despite the simple fact that the musicians repeatedly yielded to their demands.

The first spitball was Miller and Clinton’s politically charged editorial, published in the Denver Post on November 13 – two months after they walked away from their responsibilities as board members. Their latest was a December 22nd interview with Mike Rosen on KOA (850 AM). The had initially hoped to have the show to themselves, but a CSO board co-chair arranged after the fact to call in during the later part of the show. It wasn’t until that moment on live radio that Miller and Clinton learned of all the good that happened since they walked away, including the CSO’s announcement of a new business plan that was vetted by an inclusive committee and broadly endorsed by the musicians.

In full disclosure, Mike Rosen admitted “I don’t like labor unions” and “haven’t gone to a symphony concert in probably 10 years, maybe longer.” Apparently this is the perfect forum for Miller and Clinton who chose to put themselves on public display with a talk show host who knows nothing of the subject matter except that he shares their political ideology.

The parallel in the wedding industry is to simply give the raucous family member the microphone and let their abusive behavior come to an abrupt, although embarrassing resolution.

By Pete Vriesenga

The sudden, September exodus of twenty CSO board members will be remembered as a fortuitous change for the better, creating a welcome opening for new and returning leaders who are committed to building the orchestra’s future and maintaining stature as a world-class orchestra. Our community is deeply thankful for this show of support and direction from true patrons of the arts. This was not the case in recent years while the orchestra was under the powerful grip of individuals in pursuit of personal agendas and pointless, anti-union ideology.

The latest twist in this sordid story is a vindictive, politically-charged editorial by resigned CSO board members Heather K. Miller and Bruce Clinton that ran in the Denver Post on November 13. Former board members Martha Clinton, Steve Holtze, Bernard Schotters, Kevin Duncan and Gary Lutz contributed to this editorial that lashes out at the very organization they were sworn to support only weeks ago. In an effort to cover their tracks and personal board failings, they go on to blame the Musicians Union that is “more focused on preserving an unrealistic labor contract than preserving the future of the symphony and their very jobs.”

Miller and Clinton claim that “Under the leadership of former president and CEO Jim Palermo, executive salaries were cut and creative programs were designed to expand the symphony’s audience appeal.” That would be an excellent point if it were true. But the facts show that from 2009 and 2011, costs for orchestra, artistic and chorus declined from 75% to 65% of total costs (decrease of $339,000) while admin/marketing/development increased from 25% to 35% (increase of $1,480,000) during the same period. At the bargaining table we repeatedly asked Palermo for any examples where management executives would be sharing the sacrifice that he was forcing upon the musicians. Palermo gave no example, and in fact responded by saying that he must reserve the right to give his top executives raises as he sees fit.
Read On

As we all know, the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra have been engaged in a lengthy negotiation with their management. They have repeatedly been threatened by their board with being replaced by other musicians. And now, after a final ultimatum, the Louisville Orchestra, Inc. has begun recruiting replacement musicians.
Read On

Our Musical Heritage, Inc. (OMH) a Colorado 501c(3) non-profit arm of the Denver Musicians Association (DMA) has set up a CSO Musicians Assistance Fund. This Fund will accept tax-deductible contributions from the general public who wish to assist Colorado Symphony Orchestra (CSO) musicians who are facing financial challenges due to a reduction in scheduled concerts for at least the next two months. Funds will be disbursed to the CSO musicians in consultation with an Assistance Fund Committee. Cash or checks will be accepted. Checks should be made out to Our Musical Heritage, Inc. (or OMH) and mailed to: Our Musical Heritage, Inc., 1165 Delaware Street, Denver CO 80204.

In moves that have led to confusion and the resignation of at least one board member, the Louisville Orchestra Inc.’s attorney has prohibited communication between the orchestra’s musicians, and its board members, administrators and board leadership. After a series of weekend communications between the board’s president and the musicians’ negotiation team seemed close to forming a deal to settle the institution’s continuing contract difficulties, the orchestra’s board members were told Monday that the musicians refused the contract proposal and that the institution will attempt to assemble an orchestra with pick-up musicians.

DENVER—October 12, 2011 – The Colorado Symphony Board of Trustees announced today that it has appointed Jim Copenhaver as the association’s Interim President and CEO, replacing James Palermo.

Jim Copenhaver served as past Executive Director to the Colorado Symphony and is a Senior Partner with JC Enterprises, a management consulting firm. He recently served as Interim President/CEO of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in Washington, DC.

Over the next two months, the CSA board, under the leadership of newly elected co-chairs, Jerome Kern and Mary Rossick Kern, are working diligently with the staff and musicians to revise the existing budget and create a financially maintainable business model.

DENVER – October 5, 2011 – The Colorado Symphony Board of Trustees today announced revisions to the fall concert schedule of the 2011/12 season. During October and November, the orchestra will perform a schedule designed to control costs and restore financial stability. The musicians of the Colorado Symphony have agreed that in order to facilitate the new schedule, they will accept a further reduction in weekly pay during this period. No changes are planned for Colorado Symphony education programs such as Youth Concerts and Petite Musique. All December 2011 holiday concerts will also proceed as planned.

In addition, the Colorado Symphony announced that Jerome H. Kern and his wife, Mary Rossick Kern, have been elected to serve as co-chairs of the Colorado Symphony Association board of trustees. The Kerns served as past co-chairs of the board of trustees. The Colorado Symphony board of trustees is a volunteer board comprised of community and business leaders, CSO musicians, as well as performing arts advocates.

It is the Colorado Symphony’s goal to resume full operations on December 5, 2011. Over the next two months, the board of trustees, musicians and management will work diligently to revise the existing budget and create a financially sustainable business model. During this period, the administrative staff will continue to provide essential services and participate in creating an amended operational plan.

Now more than ever we come together at a moment that calls for the collective wisdom of those of you in this room, and now more than ever the world is aching to hear a positive message and a positive vision for the future that musicians can articulate uniquely. But also, now more than ever, we arrive at a time when there are many reasons to feel anger, and many obstacles to surmount.

Musicians also took a 24% pay cut in 2009

Denver, CO – Today, the Colorado Symphony Musicians voted to accept a proposal from management to take a 9% pay cut in the form of two unpaid furlough weeks and an additional 5% pay cut to base pay to save the symphony from shutting its doors. They also took a 24% pay cut back in 2009 in order to save the symphony then.

The Colorado Symphony Association Board will meet today at 1pm to decide whether to keep the Colorado Symphony Orchestra operating. The musicians hope the very generous gift they gave totaling $530,000 persuades the board to continue operations and find donors in the community to match the gift the musicians have given.

“There is a long road yet to sustainability but we the musicians believe we have made huge sacrifices along the way to ensure that Colorado has a top rated world class full-time professional symphony orchestra,” stated Susan Cahill a Double Bass player for the symphony.

“The musicians who play for the symphony love this city and love making music together. We don’t want to see the Symphony shut its doors so we stepped up in an amazing and generous way to help ensure the Symphony’s future,” added Justin Bartels the Principal Trumpet player.

The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has placed the Louisville Orchestra on its “Unfair List,” following the orchestra’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy without a collective bargaining agreement. At an August 15 court hearing, Judge David Stosberg approved the orchestra’s reorganization plan, effectively bringing it out of bankruptcy. The AFM had opposed the plan, citing the fact that it is not viable without employed musicians.

Chamber Music Tulsa (CMT) has been presenting award-winning ensembles of national and international renown to the Tulsa area since 1954. Each season, six visiting ensembles are contracted to perform a private, subscriber-only concert in a salon setting with wine and light buffet, a public concert, and a community outreach. This unique format and a focus on musical excellence and education have made Chamber Music Tulsa a highly desirable tour destination for performers.

More Info

This year I attended the 73rd Western Conference of Locals in Vancouver BC along with our delegate Don Prorak. With 38 delegates representing 34 locals, new AFM President Ray Hair addressed the conference in his usual dynamic style. President Hair reported on settlements with the Recording Musicians Association and Disney productions. He went on to discuss the situation with the Detroit Symphony. A couple observations by President Hair stuck with me:

The Greeley Philharmonic (GPO) welcomes applications for the position of Executive Director, available in the early summer of 2011.

The Executive Director is responsible for the management of all human and financial resources needed to achieve the GPO’s mission. The Executive Director reports directly to the board of directors and implements policies set by the board of directors. The Executive Director is the chief fundraising professional for the organization. The Executive Director oversees and coordinates all artistic and production aspects of the performances.
Application Deadline: June 1st, 2011

DENVER – April 19, 2011 – The Colorado Symphony today announced that it has ratified a new three-year agreement with the Denver Musicians Association – Local 20-623 of the American Federation of Musicians in Denver, Colorado – on behalf of the musicians of the Colorado Symphony. The new agreement paves the way for the Colorado Symphony to finish institutional visioning work and launch an intensive long-range planning process. In addition, new community-focused concerts and educational programming will remain a focus, all the while continuing plans for the renovation of Boettcher Concert Hall and the search for a new music director.

April 12, 2011
The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) is pleased to announce that the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) returned to work last Thursday, rehearsing in Orchestra Hall in preparation for two free concerts this past weekend. The rehearsal and concerts were scheduled after DSO musicians and management reached a tentative contract settlement Sunday, April 3. The contract was ratified Friday, April 8, ending the six-month strike.

Congress and the President have finally reached a deal to fund the government through the end of FY2011, avoiding a government shutdown when the latest short-term continuing resolution expired on April 8. Although the budget deal implements an addition $38 billion in cuts, AFM is relieved to see that arts funding was not impacted as severely as expected:

The National Endowment for the Arts will be funded at $155 million, which represents a 7% cut from its FY10 appropriation of $167.5 million. The Arts in Education program, which had been eliminated in the short-term spending bills, was restored as part of the Fund for Improvement of Education and is expected to receive an appropriation of $25 million. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is appropriated two years in advance, will receive $430 million for FY11, and then $445 million for FY12 and FY13. Provisions to defund health care reform and to block the FCC from implementing net neutrality rules were both eliminated from the final bill.

Following action taken last weekend to suspend the remainder of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) season, DSO management has announced that it plans to create a new orchestra in Detroit. Current DSO members would be eligible to play in the new orchestra only if they were to accept unilateral terms, which are now harsher than those outlined in the proposed contract that was overwhelmingly rejected by musicians last week. DSO management’s commitment to staff the new orchestra with professional musicians rings hollow, given that nearly all professional orchestral musicians stand in solidarity as members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). The new orchestra would therefore have to be made up largely of amateur musicians.

After another round of unproductive talks between the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) musicians and management, and the DSO’s cancellation of this weekend’s concerts, it is clear that the orchestra’s struggle is far from over. The DSO Board of Directors agreed to postpone the decision to cancel the remainder of the season and meet again next week. As the strike enters its 18th week, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) continues to firmly support the members of the orchestra, and encourages all music lovers to do the same.

December 19, 2010

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This past week has brought hope and frustration as the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra seek to end an 11-week-old strike. Many people beyond the DSO are greatly concerned about the impact of the strike on the cultural and economic life of Detroit and Michigan. A group of business, political and community leaders calling themselves the Citizens Committee came together in October, and met several times with both musician and management representatives. They urged the two sides to resume bargaining, and indeed two sessions were held in November. Unfortunately, no progress was made, because management refused to significantly improve its financial offer or even to scale back its demands for other drastic concessions.
Read On

The Dallas-Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association, Local 72-147 of the American Federation of Musicians, has placed the name of the Richardson Symphony Orchestra on the AFM’s International Unfair List. At a management-called orchestra meeting on June 30, 2010, in which Union representatives were barred from attending, RSO Executive Board chairman, Jim Pierce announced that the RSO would refuse to recognize or negotiate a successor collective bargaining agreement with the musicians’ union.

“We’re asking the public to help save this orchestra every one of us loves — an orchestra that enriches our lives and makes us proud, an orchestra that brings us recognition worldwide. We want the people to continue hearing great symphonic music at the level of quality they are used to and deserve,” Thompkins said.

“We want them to know that management refuses to negotiate. Not budging from its demands but merely repackaging them is not negotiating. The musicians look forward to honest negotiations — not charades from management — to arrive at a contract that guarantees the eventual restoration of our status as one of America’s top ten symphonic orchestras.

The Richardson Symphony, Inc. has been placed on the International Unfair List of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada. Read On

Not Charlie Crist, though! This U.S. Senate candidate just blundered right in and grabbed Talking Heads band member David Bryne’s song “Road To Nowhere” for an advertisement and thus got himself sued for a cool $1 million. Meanwhile Crist’s opponent, Marc Rubio, stole a Steve Miller song for his own campaign. Gosh! Are there any Florida senate “contestants” who aren’t arts copyright crooks?

Many of you may be aware of the recent unfortunate events at the Richardson Symphony. After repeatedly waiting weeks and even months to be paid for concerts, the musicians decided to publicize management’s failure to pay them under the contract. They issued a press release and notified the public that they would engage in informational picketing at their May 8 concert. Orchestra committee chairman and Principal Trumpet, Bert Truax, was quoted in the press release – a suitable action for a union leader in the orchestra. The musicians’ attempt to deal with their workplace problem was protected union activity, and hardly surprising. But what happened next was shocking, indeed.

CHARLESTON, SC – The 34 musicians of the Charleston Symphony have overwhelmingly rejected the terms of an Interim Operating Agreement (“IOA”) that would have slashed salaries by 84% for the majority of musicians and substantially reduced the Symphony’s performances for the 2010-2011 season.

Many of our brothers and sisters in Nashville are facing devastating financial, property and personal loss due to the recent floods in the region. Many musicians have suffered significant damage to their instruments, recording studios, and homes. Some have lost everything.
AFM Musicians Disaster Relief Fund

On behalf of all the Honolulu Symphony Musicians, we would like to express our gratitude to all the ICSOM and ROPA orchestras, locals, and individual musicians who have stepped forward with donations and good wishes for us. The overwhelming response to the Call for Action has been breathtaking and deeply meaningful: as of February 25, 2010, we have received a total of $104,977 from 39 ICSOM orchestras, plus donations from a ROPA orchestra and various locals.

A new NEA report, Artists in the Workforce, details how Artists represent 1.4 percent of the U.S. labor force and constitute one of the largest classes of workers in the nation.

“The time has come to insist on an obvious but overlooked fact — artists are workers. They make things and perform services, just like other workers, and these goods and services have value — not merely in lofty spiritual terms but also in dollars and cents. Without denying the higher purposes of the artistic vocation, this report shows that artists play an important role in America’s cultural vitality and economic prosperity.”

Dana Gioia
Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

Please help Local 72-147 fight Texas Ballet Theater’s canned music policy. Please click here and add your voice to those who oppose the company’s use of recordings – some made in China – to replace live orchestral accompaniment. In addition, please be advised that we will demonstrate our opposition to TBT’s Canned Nutcracker performances at 12 noon and 6pm Friday, November 27 outside the new $350 million AT&T Performing Arts Center.
Additional information
Background & History

The NMSO management has resorted to unfair negotiations tactics. The NMSO management has canceled our work and we have been without a paycheck for six weeks. On September 10th, the NMSO musicians received notification their health insurance had been canceled, although their coverage would be extended through October. Last week musicians had to demand that management reverse their health insurance status to active after musicians were denied health care. That very weekend, the NMSO management presented a concert which replaced the orchestra with a 7 piece traveling group.more

A new study by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, released Monday, shows that the top pay at the nation’s largest nonprofits rose again last year, with some eye-popping results. But the survey also found signs that these high-dollar salaries may be starting to turn around.
Seven-Figure Salaries
Here are some of the more striking numbers: $2.1 million for the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York; $2.7 million for the head of a health care group in Boston; $1.3 million for the president of New York University.
Full Story