Secretary-Treasurer

Federation officers generally come into their positions after having served for a good while as officers of their locals, and in the old days—the really old days—Federation officers’ columns in this paper seemed to be speaking more to local officers than to the general membership. As the baby boomers started taking office in the 1990s, however, the officers’ columns shifted noticeably toward the rank and file membership as their intended audience, and
I have endeavored to maintain that perspective in my own columns.

This month’s column is different—I am speaking directly to local officers and delegates who will be attending the 103rd AFM Convention later this month and deciding the future direction of this union, now 130 years old. I invite rank and file members to read along and perhaps engage their local officers and delegates in a discussion about the choices to make at this June’s convention.

The Basis

Every decision made by the International Executive Board (IEB) has as its basis the following commitment, which affirms that if we are to have a union that effectively represents more than just symphonic and touring musicians, we must:

Organize to build power to enable members to attain fairness in the labor market and justice in the political realm by building membership in touring, freelance, recording, and local gig markets and developing power to achieve strong contracts.

When I joined this union, the AFM had 360,000 members. Today it’s around 60,000. It’s not because there are 300,000 fewer musicians in North America. They’re out there, just not with us. And why is that?

A smart member of my home Local 99 in Portland, Oregon, boiled it down to one simple, practical concept:

Musicians will join the union when they perceive that union membership will improve their economic bottom line.

Apparently, 300,000 musicians—most of them freelance/indie/general business players—concluded that union membership would not improve their income. Those of us who have spent time in this union know that’s an erroneous conclusion. But perception is everything. And perception must change if we’re to increase our strength. Refer back to the previously stated IEB’s guiding concept.

What’s in Front of the Convention

The International Executive Board has made two primary recommendations for the convention delegates’ vote, setting forth what we must do to find 300,000 musicians again. The first recommendation is to increase funding to the Federation via an increase in the per capita dues. Per capita dues are what each local pays the Federation each quarter based on a head count of each local’s membership. The IEB’s second recommendation is to set a realistic standard to which locals must adhere in order to approach effectively the job of representing musicians in their jurisdictions.

Recommendation No. 2

If we’re going to build power for better pay and a responsive government, we must engage in actual labor and community-based organizing, all across the Federation. For the last several decades, we’ve tried everything else besides organizing, and 300,000 musicians have shown us how well we did. It’s past time for us to do what every other successful union does: grow through organizing.

To that end, Recommendation No. 2 proposes that, as a baseline, every local must:

• Meet with the membership eight times a year
• Have an up-to-date website and an active social media presence
• Keep a list of venues, clubs, and lounges in its jurisdiction
• Keep a list of music education programs in its jurisdiction
• Do an annual workshop for musicians on indie and freelance musicians’ rights
• Participate in designing a Federation-
  coordinated multi-local regional organizing plan
• Utilize funding from the AFM and Music Performance Trust Fund to benefit the members
• Participate with their central labor council
• Budget 10% for organizing
• Send a newsletter or “e-zine” once a month to the membership
• Pay at least one officer at least the required minimum wage

None of the above is particularly radical nor out of reach for any local, but the list does set forth in writing what any local that wants to be a recognized voice for musicians in its area should do. That these basic things should even need to be set forth in bylaws at all is an indicator of the philosophical gap between us and those 300,000 musicians.

Recommendation No. 1

Raises dues—per capita dues specifically. For regular members, the IEB’s proposal would increase dues by $20 per year (or $5/quarter or $1.67/month).

Federation per capita hasn’t been raised since 2013. Judicious administration by the previous Federation officers made that possible by keeping expenses—particularly staff expense—down. The accumulated surpluses since 2013 may leave some wondering why an increase is even requested.

Those 300,000 absent musicians is why.

These two charts, covering the last 12 years, illustrate the relationship between economizing on staff and membership growth:

It’s a plain picture: investments in staff (the dotted line) remained relatively flat—which means staff was actually reduced after accounting for cost-of-living increases—and membership dropped by 20,000 in the same period (the solid line).

It takes people to make a union work.

The IEB’s commitment with Recommendation No. 1 is to:

• Build up the Organizing Department
• Deploy a unified Federation-wide master organizing plan, with emphasis on those 300,000 musicians
• Build the Freelance Services Department
• Develop the Communications Department
• Ramp up our lobbying in DC and Ottawa

There’s a piece in this recommendation for everyone, whether you’re a local officer or a local member.

Recommendations No. 1 and No. 2 Go Hand-in-Hand

Both these recommendations are about planning for the future, not reacting to the present. Reacting as we have for the last 130 years is a bad habit, particularly because it signifies not being in control of our destiny. Labor and community organizing is all about planning and taking action for the future, not doing damage control in the present.

Real organizing, however, requires people—organizers, supporting resources, lawyers, communications, and public relations—and all of that requires funding. Most AFM locals do not have the financial resources to deploy fully-functioning organizing programs in their areas. So, the IEB has determined to develop and deploy regionally-based multi-
local-coordinated organizing programs, initially in the five main regions of the US and Canada. They will work to the benefit of locals in each region—pooling and centralizing resources to achieve economies of scale.

That takes funding. At present, the Federation’s cash reserves are such that the IEB was able to initiate the program without new revenue. For 2026, the IEB plans to expend $1 million more than the projected income, all of it in support of organizing, and most of that for organizing staff salaries. That $1 million will repeat each year since it’s for ongoing salaries. But the staffing needs will increase as we get more active and engaged, so that $1 million deficit in 2026 will probably be $1.6 million in 2027 and over $2 million in 2028. That means by 2028, the Federation will have dipped into the reserves by almost $5 million without any new revenue. And make no mistake—organizing for any union is not an instant reward; it takes a lot of time and a lot of work.

The Federation can maintain that for a while, but not indefinitely—that’s where these two recommendations come into play. Ultimately, the 2026 Convention will be about choosing our future.

Delegates must be prepared to decide whether the status quo is satisfactory or whether together we take the first steps toward reimagining the AFM as something that 300,000 musicians will want to be a part of.

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The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) 31st Convention took place last month in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The convention kicked off with an International Solidarity Forum hosted by International Labour Organization Director Amber Barth, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Barbados Workers Union General Secretary Toni Moore, and Federation of Somali Trade Unions General Secretary Omar Faruk Osmun.

Throughout the CLC Convention, an action plan unfolded in several presentations. The priorities included fighting for democracy through international solidarity, building the future through investing in Canada and supporting a worker-centric trade agenda that prioritizes good union jobs, fighting for dignity to ensure respect and fairness for every worker, strengthening the social safety net, caring for all, and healthcare as a universal right.

During the convention, I kept drifting to our own AFM mission and values, which speak to many of the same principles. Being in Winnipeg, we were reminded of the historical tipping point that occurred in 1919. The Winnipeg General Strike was one of the most dramatic and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15-June 26, 1919, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, which at the time was Canada’s third largest city.

There were many background causes for the strike, most of them related to the prevailing social inequalities and the impoverished working conditions. The economic instability following World War I increased frustration among workers across Canada. Wages were low, prices were rising, employment was unstable, immigrants faced discrimination, and healthcare was poor. Many workers believed that their wages had not kept pace with the rapidly rising cost of living.

Labour unions played an important role in organizing workers and advocating for collective bargaining rights. As a result, support for organized labour grew. As you read this, I’m sure current economic and political conditions come to mind. Canadian labour unions and the CLC Convention are united in international solidarity with the current political challenges.

There is no doubt, that, when we work together, we become stronger. With the support of coalitions and the CLC, we will continue to fight for improvements to wages and benefits for all workers. As musicians and union members, we are part of labour and trade. Our voice is amplified through the work of the Canadian Labour Congress and other coalitions, including the Creative Industries Coalition and the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDEC).

The AFM International Executive Board has spent significant time working through strategic planning over the last 18 months. Working from the previous convention mandate from delegates to invest in organizing, the Federation has completed the hiring of regional organizers to provide much needed support, especially for smaller locals, where there may be an organizing plan, but not the resources to engage. While this moves the needle in a positive direction, further organizing efforts will come at an additional financial burden. As we move forward to engage the first stages of the strategic plan, we must focus on how, through our mission and values, we can improve the membership experience and relationship with our members.

As we approach our AFM Convention in Ottawa this month, I look forward to seeing delegates visit Canada’s capital city of Ottawa and enjoy Canadian culture and hospitality. As a binational labour union, we must build on our strengths, be aware of and navigate our weaknesses, seek out new opportunities, and guard against threats. While there is much to do, doing it together provides the strongest path forward.

Lastly, our Canadian Office has moved into a new location. Our phone numbers and emails remain the same. The new address is 895 Don Mills Rd., Suite 202; Toronto, Ontario, M3C 1W3.

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Le mouvement syndical canadien, pilier de la solidarité internationale

par Allistair Elliott, vice-président de l’AFM pour le Canada

La 31e Assemblée générale du Congrès du travail du Canada (CTC) s’est tenue le mois dernier à Winnipeg, au Manitoba. L’Assemblée a débuté par un forum sur la solidarité internationale animé par Amber Barth, directrice de l’Organisation internationale du travail, Liz Shuler, présidente de l’AFL-CIO, Toni Moore, secrétaire générale du Syndicat des travailleurs de la Barbade, et Omar Faruk Osmun, secrétaire général de la Fédération des syndicats somaliens.

Au long de l’assemblée, un plan d’action s’est révélé à travers plusieurs présentations. Parmi les priorités figurent la lutte pour la démocratie par le biais de la solidarité internationale; la préparation de l’avenir par l’investissement au Canada et le soutien d’un programme commercial centré sur les travailleurs, qui privilégie les emplois de syndicat de qualité; le combat pour la dignité afin de garantir le respect et l’équité pour chaque travailleur; le renforcement du filet de sécurité sociale; le souci du bien-être de tous et le droit universel aux soins de santé.

Au cours de l’assemblée, je n’ai cessé de repenser à la mission et aux valeurs de notre propre AFM, qui reflètent bon nombre de ces mêmes principes. Aussi, de se trouver à Winnipeg nous a rappelé le tournant historique qui s’y est produit en 1919. En effet, la grève générale de Winnipeg a été l’une des plus dramatiques et des plus déterminanates de l’histoire du Canada. Pendant six semaines, du 15 mai au 26 juin 1919, plus de 30 000 grévistes ont paralysé l’activité économique à Winnipeg, qui, à l’époque, était la troisième plus grande ville du Canada.

Cette grève a découlé de plusieurs causes, pour la plupart liées aux inégalités sociales et aux conditions de travail misérables. L’instabilité économique qui a suivi la Première Guerre mondiale a augmenté la frustration des travailleurs à l’échelle du Canada. Les salaires étaient bas, les prix augmentaient et l’emploi était précaire; les immigrants faisaient face à de la discrimination, et les soins de santé étaient médiocres. De nombreux travailleurs estimaient que leurs salaires n’avaient pas suivi la hausse rapide du coût de la vie.

Les syndicats ont joué un rôle important dans l’organisation des travailleurs et la défense des droits à la négociation collective. En conséquence, le soutien aux syndicats s’est accru. En lisant ces lignes, je suis sûr que la situation économique et politique actuelle vous vient à l’esprit. Les syndicats canadiens et l’assemblée du CTC sont unis dans la solidarité internationale face aux défis politiques d’aujourd’hui.

Il ne fait aucun doute que lorsque nous collaborons, nous sommes plus forts. Avec le soutien des coalitions et du CTC, nous continuerons à lutter pour l’amélioration des salaires et des avantages sociaux de tous les travailleurs. En tant que musiciens et membres de syndicats, nous faisons partie de la main-d’œuvre et du commerce. Notre voix est amplifiée par le Congrès du travail du Canada et d’autres coalitions, notamment la Coalition des industries créatives et la Coalition pour la diversité des expressions culturelles.

Le Conseil exécutif international de l’AFM a consacré beaucoup de temps à la planification stratégique au cours des 18 derniers mois. S’appuyant sur le mandat donné par les délégués lors du précédent Congrès de l’AFM d’investir dans la syndicalisation, la Fédération a finalisé le recrutement d’organisateurs régionaux. L’objectif consiste à donner un soutien indispensable, en particulier aux petites sections locales, là où il existe peut-être un plan de syndicalisation, mais pas les ressources nécessaires pour l’exécuter. Bien que cela fasse avancer les choses dans la bonne direction, la poursuite des efforts de syndicalisation entraînera une charge financière supplémentaire. Alors que nous nous apprêtons à mettre en œuvre les premières étapes du plan stratégique, nous devons nous concentrer sur la manière dont, à travers notre mission et nos valeurs, nous pouvons améliorer l’expérience des membres et nos relations avec eux.

Tandis qu’approche notre Congrès de l’AFM à Ottawa ce mois-ci, je me réjouis à l’idée que les délégués visiteront Ottawa, la capitale du Canada, et profiteront de la culture et de l’hospitalité canadiennes. À titre de syndicat binational, nous devons nous appuyer sur nos forces, prendre conscience de nos faiblesses et les surmonter, rechercher de nouvelles occasions et nous prémunir contre les menaces. Bien qu’il y ait beaucoup à faire, c’est en agissant ensemble que nous tracerons la meilleure voie pour l’avenir.

Enfin, prenez note que notre Bureau canadien a emménagé dans de nouveaux locaux. Nos numéros de téléphone et adresses de courriel restent inchangés. La nouvelle adresse est la suivante : 895, chemin Don Mills, bureau 202, Toronto (Ontario) M3C 1W3.

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In its 130th year of our union’s existence, the 103rd triennial international convention of the American Federation of Musicians of the US and Canada will convene next month in Ottawa, Ontario. AFM Conventions are working conventions. Delegates elected by the membership in Canadian and American locals will make the journey to Ottawa not to see friends, party, or be tourists. They will instead consider who will make up the AFM’s leadership team for the next three years and, more importantly, decide the framework within which members, local leaders, and Federation administration will work together to move the needle for those who have chosen music as a career.

I attended my first AFM Convention in 1983 in my mid-20s. Back then, and through the intervening decades, convention deliberations tended to be primarily focused on how to keep the Federation from going broke, which classifications of work were subject to work dues and at what rates, bylaw changes that would either expand or contract the authority of the Federation over its local unions, compensation for local union delegates to attend the conventions, bylaw changes restricting or liberalizing rules that apply to members doing gigs outside their home locals, and things of that nature—
essentially a lot of energetic rearranging of Federation deck chairs.

One of my most enduring memories from those years was a 1 1/2 hour furious and emotion-laden floor debate over a proposed requirement that each local must have a separate phone line (this was in the 1980s). A couple of conventions later saw the advent of “local minimum requirements,” i.e., the bare minimum aspects of a local operation to justify its existence—“far-reaching and radical” requirements such as having a certain number of meetings a year, sending newsletters to members, reporting on its financial condition annually, being reasonably visible to musicians and the general public—bonehead stuff that any local should do without having to be reduced to print in a Federation bylaw. But that is generally how I’d characterize conventions of the past—lots of internal operational adjustments that have little direct impact on the actual work of musicians. And so it goes.

My hope and expectation for this upcoming convention is that the delegates and leadership collectively lift our heads a bit higher than past assemblages—that together and with common understanding we begin to chart a path for the future that operates not just to the benefit of union administration, and not just to the benefit of our members today, but one that looks beyond today and into the future, for the benefit of musicians who will be stepping into their careers 10, 20, and 30 years from now. Anyone paying attention in this decade cannot credibly deny that music as a profession today is under an existential threat from many different directions.
This year may be one of our last meaningful opportunities to chart a substantive and meaningful action plan to ensure that real human-generated music and career-driven musicians have a solid stakehold in our society’s future.

As a kid, I was taught to leave a place in better shape than when I found it. The previous administration did just that by cashing up the AFM and saving it from bankruptcy, saving the US pension fund, and saving MPTF. The decisions that this next convention makes will provide a clear indication if we shall now take our Federation up a notch or two or three, or reprise the deck chair arrangement pageantry.

A common tenet among the First Nations indigenous peoples of this continent is to conduct themselves with regard not to the present, but with regard for their ancestors and descendants—to honor the seven generations that preceded them by investing their attention and energies toward the seven generations that will come after.

130 years of AFM existence doesn’t quite comprise a full seven generations of predecessors, but that need not constrain us at this upcoming convention in what we can do now that will move the needle meaningfully for professional musicians seven generations into the future. This next convention will be a success if we can leave Ottawa knowing that musicians 50 years from now will thank us for the decisions we made in 2026.

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My late father was born in 1906 into the atmosphere of the central Pennsylvania Mennonites. In his mid-70s, he once remarked to me about the incredible pace of technological change that he had witnessed within his lifetime­—ice blocks to refrigeration; outhouses to indoor plumbing; telegraph to telephone to radio wave broadcast; the horse and buggy to automobiles to air travel to space travel—the list goes on.

I’ve often reflected on his perspective—the fast pace of change within one century compared to all the centuries that preceded­—and lately find myself considering whether my occupancy of the latter part of the previous century and the current one presents any parallels to my father’s experience. It does, although given my many years of involvement with the labor movement, my attention is more drawn toward the societal, political, and economic pace of change rather than the technological.

As a baby boomer, I grew up in the midst of the civil rights movement, environmental activism, the war on poverty, and the emergence of consumer protection laws—all of which was a logical extension of the rewiring of society following the Great Depression of the 1930s. That same era was marked by the Vietnam war protests, the generation gap, the “war on drugs,” and duplicity in political leadership, all of which imbued in some of us of that generation a strong sense of both what is right and wrong for the people. We saw Richard Nixon forced from office for abuse of power and the subsequent election of Jimmy Carter as a harbinger of a better, more just society to come, all held together by a government truly of the people.

That didn’t last. The movement that brought Ronald Reagan into office persuaded society that virtue was embodied by unbridled aggregation of wealth, that government was the problem and big business was our salvation, that rugged individualism and “pulling one’s self up by one’s bootstraps” was the sacred center of Western civilization. (Note to self: I must have been doing it wrong, because when I tried pulling myself up from my bootstraps I didn’t get any taller, but as I leaned down to do so someone did kick me from behind …)

Regulation was the enemy, we were told, and we swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, which ingestion defines the fabric of our society still to this day.

Organized labor took a parallel hit during this era of deregulation persuasion, as did our own industry, as did our union. When I entered this profession, all across the US and Canada our union regulated bandleaders and contractors, booking agents and management companies, clubs and venues, record labels and movie producers, and accordingly stabilized and enhanced what we all got paid. Such was the professional environment that a musician could actually plan the trajectory of their career. In parallel, so, too, could managers, agents, clubs, labels, and producers plan their trajectories.

As the flood of deregulation washed across our land, however, the supports of our industry’s infrastructure got knocked out, one by one. A dependable, internally-regulated system of fair compensation for work fairly performed evaporated, and what remains is a patchwork of union-bargained contracts with individual employers, with the remainder infilled by those of us shoehorned into the gig-worker economy.

Regulation is not a bad word. Regulation once meant that we could enjoy a crystal-clear telephone conversation; that news reportage was balanced; that common carriers (buses and airlines) served all our communities; that we could depend on clean air and water; that we’d know the ingredients of our food; that we’d know the country of manufacture of our consumer goods; that we could fly across the country without our knees jammed into our nostrils and land at an airport without fear of a collision.

Organized labor and unions are all about regulation­—regulation not for the institutions, but for the people who are represented by the unions. Union regulation provides economic stability, economic parity, and fairness in the workplace. Union regulation removes our pay from the equation of competition between producers – if we’re all paid fairly, producers’ success depends on how well they do their business and not who gets away with paying their employees the least.

Government is not the reliable backstop that it once was, however, so we musicians must undertake to redesign what we once had in order for what we do to remain a viable career choice. I look forward to taking the first steps for creating that new blueprint when all our union delegates come together at the AFM’s 103rd international convention in Ottawa next June.

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If you experience most of life today through your phone or your computer as I do, you will inevitably come across hackers, scammers, phishers, ID thieves, ransomware demands, sneaky links, malicious sites, and the like. I am pretty careful about all of these web-dwelling hazards. For my personal accounts, I signed up for Malwarebytes’ free scanning and Protonmail’s free VPN. But the tricks and gimmicks are getting increasingly sophisticated, and more than once (but less than five times) I’ve found myself halfway into a trap before I wake up and recognize it for what it is and quickly back out. So, I recently decided to go for broke and purchased a two-year subscription to Malwarebytes’ more complete internet security package.

With my new subscription allowing me the unfettered feeling of smugness and righteousness, I opened up my AFM email on a recent morning and discovered that Union Plus, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, is now offering US union members an ID protection program with more stuff than I subscribed to for less money than I paid, and which also comes with ID theft insurance ranging from $1 million to $5 million.

I don’t like being a shill for commercial enterprises, but sometimes even shills serve a useful purpose. Union Plus has partnered with Aura to launch ID Protection Plus, providing union members comprehensive ID protection at discounted members-only rates. By integrating identity protection, financial monitoring, and family safety into one consolidated interface, the program ensures union members’ tech and assets remain secure. Aura is provided through Securus Identity Solutions, LLC, located in Minnesota, and is rated the Best Identity Protection Service by US News & World Report.

Union members must enroll through the dedicated page to receive the discounted rates. Program information is available at UnionPlus.org/idprotection, featuring a dedicated page outlining the ID Protection Plus Program and its benefits.

As long as I’m engaged in shilling, I’d like to remind the US members that significant cellular discounts are available from AT&T for union members through the Union Plus AT&T Signature Program. The program offers savings of $10 per line, per month on the AT&T Unlimited Premium PL plan, up to $50 savings on activation and upgrade fees, 15% off qualified wireless plans, and 20% discount on eligible accessories. Visit unionplus.org/att.

And not wanting to be solely US-centric, Canadian members can find deep discounts for cellular service from Rogers, Telus, and Bell by navigating to unionsavings.ca/en/categories/mobile-phone-plans.

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The 103rd International Convention of the American Federation of Musicians of the US and Canada is just around the corner, to be held in Ottawa, Ontario, starting on June 20.

Unlike many other international unions, the AFM’s convention is truly a working convention. The local union delegates to the convention attend for four full days in the spirit of service to the membership. It is this triennial gathering that sets the stage for our union over the following three years, and the delegates approach it with the same sense of purpose as any musician does with practicing—something to be focused on seriously if there’s to be any improvement.

You will find in this and previous issues of International Musician detailed information for delegates pertaining to Ottawa hotels and rates, funding, candidacies, and the ever-popular section on how to properly submit a resolution for consideration by the convention.

What you will not see in the notice, however, is that any AFM member is welcome to attend the convention, at their own expense, as a guest observer. Guests are welcome to attend the regular sessions as well as the special events and preconvention gala on the eve of the convention, June 19, and, most importantly, guests also qualify for the swag bag.

If you are not a delegate but wish to experience a convention in the capital city of Canada during a particularly nice time of the year, contact your local and ask to be added to the local’s convention guest list. Hotel reservation information is in the convention notice on page 21, as well as online at AFM.org/convention.

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