Local 4 Organizes Another Bargaining Unit with Cleveland Institute of Music Faculty

October 30, 2024

IM  -  

The faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) overwhelmingly voted to approve Cleveland Federation of Musicians, Local 4 (Cleveland, OH), as their exclusive bargaining representative. The election was conducted September 25-26, under the rules and regulations of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“CIM, following Cleveland Ballet and Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, represents the third organizing success for Local 4 in as many years. We believe that our approach to organizing CIM can be applied to music schools across the Federation,” says Leonard DiCosimo, Local 4 president and executive secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor.

Local 4 negotiated for this election to be held off-site at a coffee shop near the CIM campus on multiple days. One hundred and six music teachers were mutually agreed upon by the parties as eligible to vote. No timely objections were filed after the ballots were tallied, and the NLRB certified the election on October 7.

Included in the new bargaining unit are all full-time and regular part-time faculty employees. Excluded are all deans, associate deans, guest instructors, and conductors; nonfaculty professional, office clerical, casual, confidential, and managerial employees; guards; and supervisors as defined by the NLRB.

The classifications of directors and division/department heads are neither included in nor excluded from the bargaining unit covered by this certification. Local 4 and CIM did not agree on the inclusion or exclusion of these classifications but agreed that they may vote subject to challenge. Resolution of their inclusion or exclusion was unnecessary for this purpose.

This agreement affects an additional 25 teachers. Their ballots were not counted because they were not determinative of the election results. It remains the position of Local 4 that these faculty members are to be included in the new bargaining unit. It will request a hearing before the NLRB to finalize the definition of the bargaining unit, if a voluntary agreement cannot be achieved with CIM.

“The institute is at a bit of a crossroads,” states Frank Rosenwein, principal oboe for The Cleveland Orchestra and a CIM instructor since 2006. “If you raise your voice in opposition to the administration, you are a target and could be subject to discipline or even firing. What unionization aims to do is to heal these divides and to show how much we care about the future of the school.”

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