President’s Message

Together with a robust delegation from the AFM, I attended the Fifth International Orchestra Conference (IOC) of the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), October 23-26, in Malmö, Sweden. In addition to myself, the delegation included Vice President from Canada Allistair Elliott, AFM Director of Symphonic Services and Special Counsel Rochelle Skolnick, International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) Chair Keith Carrick, Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) President Stephen Wade, Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM) President Bob Fraser, OCSM Vice President Ethan Balakrishnan, and Professor Christine Guptill of the University of Ottawa. Also in attendance was AFM Local 149 (Toronto, ON) Executive Director and AFM International Executive Board Member Dusty Kelly.

Previous iterations of the IOC were held in Berlin, Amsterdam, Oslo, and Montreal in 2017. The format of the conference includes a series of panel discussions featuring musicians and advocates for musicians. On the first day, orchestra managers participated, while the remaining days were dedicated solely to musicians and their representatives. This arrangement facilitated open and honest discussions about issues important to the participants. Attendees from across Europe, and as far away as Japan, Australia, and India, were united in a shared passion for their art.

Members of the AFM delegation participated as panelists or moderators in discussions on various important topics. These included environmental and climate issues impacting orchestras (Fraser), musicians’ health concerns (Guptill), bullying and harassment (Skolnick), and the evolving nature of orchestra musicians’ work due to changes in repertoire and audience demographics (Skolnick). I was part of a panel focused on fostering solidarity within orchestras and on an international level. Additional panels covered themes such as transparency and fairness in recruitment practices to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion; work-life balance for orchestra musicians; and the rights of freelance musicians.

In addition to the panel discussions, attendees were invited to a concert by Malmö Symphony Orchestra, held in their beautiful concert hall, which was conveniently attached to the conference hotel. The City of Malmö also hosted a reception at its historic City Hall. However, the most important aspect of the event was the lively exchange of ideas and information among orchestra musicians from around the world. While the challenges we face are remarkably similar, each country approaches these challenges slightly differently, leading to both success stories and disappointments. This diversity of perspectives makes an event like the FIM IOC a valuable forum for learning from one another and reinforcing the shared solidarity of orchestra musicians globally.

Early in November, our negotiations with the television networks for a successor to the Television Videotape Agreement continued; a second extension agreement was signed to carry the agreement through the end of January. Both parties met for a productive week at the AFM offices in New York City, where significant movement was made on structural issues in the contract. Though some issues remain open, including economics and new media, the process has been cooperative thus far. The parties will meet again for three days in early January.

I am excited about the substantial progress we’ve made at the negotiating table this year. Notably, the historic breakthroughs in streaming residuals, artificial intelligence protections, wage increases, and other improvements for musicians in the agreement with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), Pamphlet B negotiations, and our current Live TV Videotape agreement negotiations. These developments demonstrate the AFM’s commitment to advocating for the rights and interests of its members and securing a sustainable future for the music industry.

Finally, I hope you take the time to enjoy the remaining year-end holidays with your family and friends. Wishing all of you a happy holiday and a healthy, prosperous new year!

One of the many satisfying elements of my position in our union is the opportunity to meet every year with the officers of the various regional local conferences and officers and delegates of the player conferences. We just concluded another conference season. I want to bring attention to our conferences because they are important to our structure. They facilitate communication and provide an opportunity to share experiences with each other.

We live in an ever changing and evolving industry. It is critical that we speak with one voice to gain the leverage we need to overcome difficulties in the workplace, whether through collective bargaining or political action. The conference season is a chance for the union to report on internal issues, such as staffing needs and administrative changes.

Local and player conferences bring to light external issues that affect us and need to be addressed. This year was important for discussions of sexual misconduct in the workplace as well as the need for a more robust system of reporting egregious activity and better education programs to help meet the challenges we face as musicians.

There is no shortage of challenges, and one of the many ways we address them is through political action, whether on Capitol Hill or in Ottawa. One important issue is the ability of our Canadian members to cross the border to perform. Musicians are losing work, and venues are losing revenue, hurting all our communities. The strongest way we can address this problem is by taking advantage of the leverage we have: one union, two countries. We will coordinate our political pressure in the US and Canada by standing together as one union. Together, we can succeed.

Another critical issue is the two letters that have become anathema to the human creative process—AI, or artificial intelligence. We need unity to combat this threat. We cannot stand by and let our sound and style be stolen and used for the creation of artificial musical expression. This will require collaboration on the local, state, provincial, and federal levels. Working together, we can use our strength to influence legislative activity that will protect the rights of all performers and creators.

The AFM can be a clearinghouse of information for addressing these issues, but only if we band together with communication and resource sharing. Together, we can be the union we deserve to be and have the strength to make the changes to protect us for generations to come.

We are on the verge of electing a new US president. The American labor movement and our union depend on the outcome of this election. I want to encourage all of you to participate in the election and vote like your life depends on it because it does.

AFM Members Providing Aid: Emergency Relief Fund

As we go to press, some of our colleagues have been devastated by severe weather patterns. My heart goes out to the musicians and their communities affected by recent hurricanes that hit Florida and the southern states in rapid succession. As we continue to experience the real effects of climate change, large wildfires, tornadoes, and severe storms are becoming more common. The destruction they cause is sobering.

Each year, many of our musicians lose their homes, instruments, and livelihood because of natural disasters. During these times of crisis, it is more important than ever to come together and support our fellow members in need.

If you are able, I am asking for your solidarity, compassion, and generous contributions to help other musicians recover from disasters. Every donation, no matter how small, can make a difference and help provide much-needed support to those facing these crises.

On our AFM Emergency Assistance webpage (afm.org/emergency-assistance), you may donate to the AFM Emergency Relief Fund. If you prefer to donate by check, make it payable to “AFM Emergency Relief Fund” and send by mail to: American Federation of Musicians; 1501 Broadway, Ninth Floor; New York, NY 10036.

For those who need help, you can download an AFM Emergency Relief application and find other helpful resources for times of crisis on the Emergency Assistance webpage.

I am proud of how our members demonstrate support and solidarity toward each other in times of crisis. It is gratifying to see the generosity of our membership and the empathy they show for their fellow musicians impacted by these disasters. Thanks to all who have already donated.

On September 4, the Federation opened negotiations with the major television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) for a successor Live Television Videotape Agreement. During this first round, both sides exchanged opening proposals and returned initial impressions to the other side.

In addition to much-needed structural changes to some sections of the agreement, the AFM is focusing on advancements toward new media parity with agreements from other guilds. We are seeking protections against the encroachment of artificial intelligence (AI), increased health care contributions, and better compliance and enforcement procedures within the contract.

The parties will reconvene for a second round of bargaining in early November. (You can read additional details about these negotiations and our kick-off rally on page 11.)

Legislative Priorities

During mid-September, my focus shifted to our legislative priorities and connecting with our allies on Capitol Hill. I traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with Ben Kessler, our new director of government affairs. Together, we attended a Labor Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the impact of AI on musicians.

While in Washington, DC, we met with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond. We discussed many issues facing all workers, and especially AFM members. The most important outcome of such meetings is our work to strengthen relationships with other AFL-CIO affiliate unions.

We attended the Department of Labor’s Century of Service Celebration, which paid tribute to nine labor unions who, as of this year, have fought for worker rights for more than 100 years. (The AFM, founded in 1896, was inducted 28 years ago.)

Following the induction, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su led a panel discussion on the labor movement’s future and how to build on worker equity to create a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual, and multigenerational movement that benefits all workers. The discussion highlighted national and local union commitments to foster a diverse workforce and establish committees for underrepresented workers to encourage deeper involvement in their unions.

We attended a “For the Record” event at the Capitol Visitors Center, which was co-hosted by the Recording Academy, Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress. This provided an opportunity to speak with members of Congress, representatives from the Copyright Office, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and other stakeholders about some of our legislative priorities. Among those discussions:

• Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) expressed support for the Performing Arts Tax Parity Act (PATPA) of 2023. We discussed other tax proposals that benefit unions and how we can work together in the future.
• With Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME), we discussed a range of issues, including immigration and instrument handling at airports. She is chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus and lead Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the NEA.
• Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) is lead democrat on the Judiciary Committee, which has intellectual property jurisdiction. I thanked him for his steadfast support on copyright and AI issues. Nadler expressed his general support for human artistry and musicians.
• In our meeting with Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), we voiced support for her Arts Education for All proposal and discussed the importance of arts education and the harm it causes when its cut. We also discussed the Bipartisan Taskforce on AI and how it can protect musicians.

While in DC, I attended the NEA National Heritage Fellowship ceremony at the Library of Congress. The fellowship is known as the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts and celebrated 10 extraordinary artists who shape America’s cultural heritage. This year’s music honorees included rockabilly and country musician Rosie Flores, fiddler Trimble Gilbert, koto player and Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) member June Kuramoto, along with traditional Zuni dancers and singers Zuni Olla Maidens.

Strategic Planning

At the end of September, members of the AFM International Executive Board (IEB) traveled to Washington, DC, for a strategic planning session, in accordance with AFM Bylaws, which require the IEB to formulate a three-year plan. To help us facilitate our plan, we worked with Susan Schurman, professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University and former executive director of the George Meany Center. Her research and teaching focus on leadership, organizational effectiveness, and labor-management relations.

Schurman serves as an advisor to many national unions and is no stranger to the AFM. She oversaw the creation of the AFM’s officer education program in 1999. In 2012, she helped guide the merger of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).

We are just getting started with this process, and we are optimistic that this strategic planning will help guide the future of the Federation.

As election day approaches, I would like to take a moment to recognize the importance of politics to our union, and the work of our own National Legislative Office. From this Washington, DC base, the AFM is able to build relationships with political allies and lobby for issues that are important to musicians and other union workers.

After dedicating nearly three decades to spearheading AFM’s legislative engagement, Alfonso Pollard has made the decision to retire. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation and heartfelt gratitude to Pollard for his unwavering commitment and tireless efforts in advocating for the best interests of our members. His leadership, dedication, and hard work have made a lasting impact, and his presence will be truly missed. You can read more about his career on page 9.

I am pleased to announce we have named Ben Kessler as our new legislative and political director. Kessler is an intellectual property lawyer with 10 years of federal government advocacy experience and a passion for live music. He most recently served as director of federal affairs for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

During Kessler’s tenure at NEA, he oversaw the organization’s largest annual appropriation increase, from $167.5 million to $207 million. He also served as the point of contact for the AFL-CIO Department of Professional Employees arts union affiliates and was instrumental in publishing the NEA and National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Prevailing Wage Fact Sheet.

After graduating from Amherst College in 2007, Kessler worked in the office of oversight and investigations in the United States Senate Committee on Aging. Following his time on the Hill, Ben joined Heather Podesta + Partners (now Invariant Government Relations). There, Kessler helped organize strategic outreach to the executive and legislative branches of government on behalf of a broad range of clients.  

With an eye toward combining his love for music and the arts with his expertise in advocacy, Kessler enrolled at the American University Washington College of Law, where he focused on intellectual property law. While in school, he fortified his passion for protecting creators, spending his summers working for the Future of Music Coalition and Copyright Alliance.  

Our Current Priorities

As he begins his work for the AFM, Kessler will be instrumental in lobbying for some of our core priorities: musicians rights, artificial intelligence (AI) protections, tax parity, the American Music Fairness Act, health care, NEA funding, and protecting our right to organize.

• NO FAKES Act of 2024—The Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act would protect musicians from AI-generated deepfakes and voice/image clones. Nonconsensual AI can ruin careers and traumatize victims. We need Congress to act to create clear laws that empower individuals to control their faces and voices while continuing to encourage innovation. Visit www.humanartistry-
  campaign.com for more.
• American Music Fairness Act—It’s long past time for musicians to get their fair share when their music is played on AM/FM radio. The radio industry uses the music of hard-working performers to attract listeners to their stations, but the artists do not receive any performance royalties.
• NEA and NEH Funding—NEA and NEH funds support the jobs of millions of workers, including musicians and other creative professionals. These funds uplift economies across the country. We need to ensure this funding increases annually and is never cut.
• Tax Parity—When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed, it eliminated the ability of entertainment workers to deduct necessary work expenses. We need to fix this injustice by raising the threshold for Qualified Performing Artists (QPA) to $100,000 for single tax filers and $200,000 for joint filers.

Remember, you can help as well. Tell others about these issues and message or call your representatives. Also, as November approaches, don’t forget to check your voter registration and vote early, if possible, to make sure your voice is heard.

In Remembrance

I would like to take a moment to recognize my friend and colleague David J. Jandrisch, who passed away last month. Jandrisch leaves a long legacy of dedication to the AFM and CFM and served as both a longtime president of Local 190 and vice president from Canada. I first met him when I was new to the AFM Executive Committee. He always had time to speak with me. He was a brilliant and dedicated officer and warm and friendly person. He will be greatly missed by many.

I am pleased to announce that our pension fund’s application for Special Financial Assistance (SFA), provided through the multiemployer pension rescue plan, has been officially approved. The American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) will receive the restorative funding this month. The funding ($1,440,137,839 of assistance, plus $87,701,535.81 in interest from December 31, 2022) ensures that our dedicated musicians can continue to rely on secure retirement income after years of enriching our communities with their talent.

Administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the SFA program—also known as the Butch Lewis Act—was part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. It provides security for roughly 200 distressed multiemployer pension plans to remain solvent, ensuring the sound retirement of around 2 million workers for the next several decades.

Background

You may recall the all-out Federation lobbying effort that included our National Legislative Office, player conferences, and rank-and-file members like yourself to push Congress to pass this legislation over the past few years. We are grateful and proud of the grassroots organizing and determination it took to succeed.

The Butch Lewis Act was introduced to Congress in 2017 and 2019, but died in committee both times. It was introduced in its current form in 2021 and passed by the House in February. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sponsored the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act in March 2021. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) fought to include the legislation in the American Rescue Plan—making pension solvency his very first major bill as majority leader. President Joe Biden signed it into law on March 11, 2021.

What the Law Provides

One of the most important pieces of legislation in a generation, the Butch Lewis Act provides financial relief to multiemployer union pension plans like ours that are facing financial distress, improving and securing the finances of millions of workers and retirees. These plans are essential to the dignity and welfare of workers and an integral part of the financial foundation of our communities. Beyond AFM-EPF, supported pension plans for union workers and retirees across industries include:

• 500,000+ Teamsters
• 120,000+ United Food and Commercial Members
• 110,000+ United Steelworkers and United Auto Workers
• 100,000+ Bakery and Confectionery Workers
• 50,000+ Communication of America Workers

Their pension plans will be supported with enough money to pay benefits for decades into the future (at least through 2051). To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered assistance to 83 pension plans, securing the retirements of more than one million workers and retirees.

These types of retirement plans, created through agreements between employers and a union, typically involve multiple employers in a single industry or related industries. The workers and their unions chose to take less wages in their working years to ensure they could have resources for a strong retirement.

A worker whose multiemployer plan became insolvent would have seen their expected pension benefits slashed substantially. Before American Rescue Plan assistance, workers and retirees participating in more than 200 multiemployer pension plans faced the prospect of not receiving the full benefits they earned and need to support them and their families in retirement.

These plans are insured by the PBGC, a federal agency that provides partial protection of the benefits of approximately 11.2 million workers and retirees in approximately 1,400 private-sector multiemployer, union-connected plans. Prior to the Butch Lewis Act, the PBGC’s multiemployer pension insurance program was itself projected to become insolvent in 2026.

Under the American Rescue Plan, pension plans were allowed to apply for assistance on a priority basis set by the PBGC, which administers the SFA program. That priority depends on how underfunded a pension fund may be, as well as other factors. For example, plans that were already insolvent or about to become insolvent were allowed to apply first, starting July 2021. Many of those plans have already received assistance.

The AFM-EPF is considered a priority plan because it is such a large plan. Our application window opened in early 2023. The AFM applied for assistance in March 2023. Now that the PBGC has approved our plan, we should receive our financial assistance in a lump sum this month. The money our plan receives through SFA is not a loan but a grant and does not have to be repaid.

Rules Regarding SFA Funding

Once the AFM-EPF receives the financial assistance, it must be invested in stocks and bonds. The law requires plans to keep SFA money separate from other plan assets. One-third (33%) of the SFA may be invested in “return seeking assets,” generally, publicly traded stocks, and at least two-thirds (67%) must be in investment-grade, fixed income securities, generally bonds. The plan currently expects to invest 100% of the financial assistance in investment-grade, fixed-income securities. All ongoing benefit payments and expenses can be paid out of the SFA money so that the fund’s other assets can continue to grow from contribution income and investment returns.

Under PBGC rules, plans that receive financial assistance are not permitted to increase benefits in the first 10 years after receiving help, unless the increase is for future accruals and is fully paid for with new contribution increases. After 10 years, a plan may request an exemption from this rule, if it can demonstrate that it will avoid insolvency, even with the benefit improvement.

A plan receiving SFA money will not be permitted to allow reductions in employer contributions. An employer’s contribution rate cannot be any lower than it was on March 11, 2021, the date that the American Rescue Plan was signed into law. These restrictions on benefit increases and contribution reductions will expire after 2051. Reductions or increases in contribution rates that took effect July 9, 2021, or later, are disregarded in calculating the amount of assistance. (Lower contributions wouldn’t have resulted in the fund receiving more assistance and contribution increases wouldn’t have resulted in the fund receiving less.)

The Federation remains committed to providing financial security for musicians in retirement. The fund will now be able to pay full benefits through at least 2051 without any reductions in participant benefits.

The AFM-EPF trustees worked diligently to preserve pension funding, which is a vital lifeline for countless musicians in their golden years. Together, we have lobbied and persevered through negative attacks to realize this solution. We are optimistic about the health of the pension fund moving forward.

For more information or assistance with questions, please visit www.afm-epf.org.