A Simple Question
By Pete Vriesenga
Denver Musician, Spring, 1998
How can the AFM accomplish the greatest good for its members and grow into the strong, vibrant organization it needs to be? Unfortunately, finding an answer to this question is not as easy as it may seem. What is essential to one group of musicians is often meaningless to another. What may provide great benefit for one group of musicians may do little or nothing for another. Interestingly, all of organized labor is facing the very same dilemma, and many unions have managed to find answers. These unions are now leading a welcome resurgence in the labor movement that should benefit all union efforts if we look to their example. To study these efforts more closely I recently joined a group of fourteen musicians who attended a weeklong seminar at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Springs, Maryland. Owned and operated by the AFL-CIO, the George Meany Center is devoted to labor research, education and training.
At the Meany Center, we learned that there are two manifestations of trade unionism that have taken root in the labor movement over the last century, and as I suspected, these two opposing viewpoints are readily found in the AFM. The following examples will highlight their differences while clearly showing my preference for the latter.
Unions that protect
Many of our members, even “leaders,” view the AFM as a private club that must focus its energy and efforts exclusively on the needs and benefit of the membership. Some go further to suggest that the AFM’s financial resources should be compartmentalized so that one subset of musicians, i.e. symphonic, recording, etc. does not carry any financial burden of another subset (This was known as “dollar-in-dollar-out” at the last AFM Convention). Already a weak “union” model, they pretend that we can continue to establish scales and working conditions while ignoring a growing, unorganized workforce. They hope that our employers will agree to pay our premium because “we are the professionals,” and pretend that our union will remain strong because the benefits of union membership will be so apparent that nonmembers will be eager to join.
The primary flaw here is underestimating the AFM’s lack of member density. We simply do not represent enough of the workforce to command this type of influence with the industry. And with increased pressure from global competition, weakened labor laws, union avoidance, complacency and membership decline, a non-union workforce could ultimately dominate our industry. In that event, remaining union musicians may attempt to “circle the wagons” in a futile attempt to protect remaining work agreements, but prevailing wages and working conditions will be established by the employers and musicians who make up the larger, non-union workforce.
Unions that organize
“Organizing” is the new buzzword in the AFL-CIO and is slowly making its way through the ranks of the AFM. But organizing does not simply mean that we show up where musicians work and ask them to join, especially if they are to understand they must now play by our rules. Organizing and recruiting new members means that we must first accept our differences, our strengths and our weaknesses, which will be further amplified by expanding our membership. But this form of “inclusive” representation is what makes a union strong. And the fundamental principle of unionism - building collective strength while helping others - is most effective when helping those at the bottom. This way the AFM will gain the respect of all working musicians and then command sufficient union density to support the efforts of smaller bargaining units to push upwards.
There are thousands of issues that would unite and strengthen the AFM in a heartbeat, yet we often focus on the few that force disagreement. The diverse group of musicians who came to the George Meany Center believed that fair compensation, camaraderie, excellence and shared knowledge were the kinds of issues that are most important to professional musicians. Let’s unite behind those issues and avoid our tendencies for pattern agreements and broad policies that only incite disagreement among large segments of our membership. We then can build the AFM into an organization that our members, prospective members , and most importantly, the public, will respect and support. This can’t be that difficult.
A Report on the First AFM Seminar at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies
A group of musicians attending a seminar at the AFL-CIO’s George Meany Center for Labor Studies came to study the issues of trade unionism. Following our five-day learning experience, we came together to collect our thoughts ad to reduce to them to writing in order to share them with our colleagues. Hopefully we are now in better position to help strengthen the AFM and have come to believe that organizing musicians and education of our members and leaders is crucial to the survival of our union.
We present these ideas with the hope that we may promote constructive dialogue concerning the future of our union and all working musicians.
1. That there should be one international union that includes all professional musicians, regardless of style, genre, or location of employment. We must organize in order to bring the benefits of union membership and representation to encompass areas under-represented in the past, i.e., jazz, rock, Latin, country-western, and others.
2. That our union should be structured according to the democratic principle of “one musician, one vote.”
3. That both the international body and its subdivisions must be restructured effectively. The union must allocate sufficient resources to organize musicians in their varied workplaces and to represent their interests with employers. We must also build stronger coalitions with organized labor, educational institutions, and in the political arena.
We firmly believe that only by committing our resources to the above ideals will the AFM be able to effectively organize and represent musicians in the 21st century.
We encourage our colleagues and leadership to avail themselves of the educational resources of the AFL-CIO. We invite the active participation of all our friends and allies in achieving the goal of a stronger AFM.
In Attendance:
James Clute, Minnesota Orchestra, Governing Board of ICSOM
Dr. Art Davis, Executive Board, Local 47. Los Angeles
Mary Landolfi, Vice-President, Local 802, New York City
Frank Donaruma, Chairperson, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra Committee
Dennis Mackrel, Local 802 Jazz Advisory Committee
Jimmy Owens, Chairperson. Local 802 Jazz Advisory Committee
Mary Plaine, Chairperson, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Committee, Governing Board of ICSOM
Richard Simon, New York Philharmonic
James Sims, President, Dallas Theater Musicians Association
Blair Tindall, Broadway Theater Musicians Committee
David Titcomb, Chairperson, NYC Opera Orchestra Committee
Peter Vriesenga, President, Denver Musicians Association, Local 20-623
Sharon Yamada, NY Philharmonic Orchestra Committee
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