Now is the right time to become an American Federation of Musicians member. From ragtime to rap, from the early phonograph to today's digital recordings, the AFM has been there for its members. And now there are more benefits available to AFM members than ever before, including a multi-million dollar pension fund, excellent contract protection, instrument and travelers insurance, work referral programs and access to licensed booking agents to keep you working.
As an AFM member, you are part of a membership of more than 80,000 musicians. Experience has proven that collective activity on behalf of individuals with similar interests is the most effective way to achieve a goal. The AFM can negotiate agreements and administer contracts, procure valuable benefits and achieve legislative goals. A single musician has no such power.
The AFM has a proud history of managing change rather than being victimized by it. We find strength in adversity, and when the going gets tough, we get creative - all on your behalf.
Like the industry, the AFM is also changing and evolving, and its policies and programs will move in new directions dictated by its members. As a member, you will determine these directions through your interest and involvement. Your membership card will be your key to participation in governing your union, keeping it responsive to your needs and enabling it to serve you better. To become a member now, visit www.afm.org/join.
February 1, 2019
IM -On January 8, brass players from the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony and Opera Orchestras, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as musicians from Canadian Brass and Semper Fi, joined their brother and sister brass and percussion players from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to perform a free concert that was open to the public. The event, which took place at Baltimore’s Basilica of the Assumption, America’s oldest cathedral, raised more than $12,000 for My Sister’s Place, an organization that provides services for homeless and impoverished women and children in Baltimore City.
The concert was also a display of support for the Baltimore Symphony Musicians as they fight to retain their 52-week contract and other hard-won provisions gained at bargaining tables over decades of contract negotiations. As of midnight January 15, the four-month contract extension between management of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and its musicians, represented by AFM Local 40-543, had expired; BSO management said it is not interested in signing another extension.
The Baltimore Symphony Musicians are focused on maintaining a competitive compensation and benefit package that will allow the organization to attract and retain high caliber musicians, maintain and improve the health and safety language in the CBA, and empower the BSO to bring transcendent performances to audiences in Maryland and beyond.
In a statement issued January 16, musicians say they will continue performing on the stages of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the Music Center at Strathmore unless management locks them out or unilaterally stops respecting contract terms.
Baltimore Symphony Musicians remain committed to serving their community by improving people’s lives through music. Visit their website (BSOmusicians.org) and Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/BaltimoreSymphonyMusicians) for more coverage of the January 8 concert and for updates of their contract talks.