Tag Archives: local 145

Recent News

AFM Members Named to CBC Music’s ‘30 Under 30’ List

CBC Music has announced its annual “30 under 30” list, celebrating the accomplishments of Canada’s emerging classical musicians. “They’re winning competitions and awards, graduating from top music schools, [and] making exciting debuts,” according to CBC Music. A number of musicians on the list are members of the AFM, including:

Elizabeth Skinner, 29, violinist and member of Local 406 (Montreal, PQ). Skinner recently completed her master’s in violin performance at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, and is continuing her studies there as a Doctorate of Music in Performance Studies candidate. She is a founding member of Trio Émerillon and a member of Montreal’s cutting-edge classical string band, collectif9. In 2019, she played with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for its European tour and tour of the Americas. She also regularly plays with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.

Photo: Annie Éthier

Ron Cohen Mann, 29, oboist and English hornist, and member of Local 226 (Kitchener, ON). A graduate of Yale, Mannes College, and the University of British Columbia, Cohen Mann is a frequent recitalist, new music proponent, orchestral musician, and teacher based in Toronto. He is passionate about advancing the oboe as a solo voice in recitals and chamber music, and has lately been creating tutorials on Instagram and YouTube. He has won numerous awards and competitions, and has performed with ensembles in Canada and abroad. Cohen Mann is a sought-after teacher and has held positions as an Oboe Instructor at Yale College and as a Teaching Artist at the Yale Music in Schools Initiative.

Photo: Oboeron Photography

Marie Bégin, 28, violinist and member of Local 406 (Montreal, PQ). Bégin has performed in recitals as a soloist and in ensembles around the world. At age 26, she was appointed first violin of the Saguenay Quartet (Alcan) as well as concertmaster of the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Symphony Orchestra. She also forms a permanent duo with pianist Samuel Blanchette-Gagnon, also of Local 406. The two are working on a recording of 20th century works for violin and piano. She graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, pursued studies in academies throughout Europe, and has won several prizes in international competitions.

Photo: Stéphane Bourgeois

Hillary Simms, 25, trombonist and member of Local 149 (Toronto, ON). Simms is a founding member of Canadian Trombone Quartet, Canada’s first all-female professional trombone quartet. In January, she was named Stratford Symphony Orchestra’s 2020 emerging artist. Simms has recently played with the Canadian Opera Company, The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. She holds a bachelor’s in music performance from McGill University, a master’s in music performance from Yale University, and is currently finishing an Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School. In September, she’s moving to Chicago to begin her doctorate at Northwestern University.

Photo: Zachary Haas

John Sellick, 25, is a violist and member of Local 149 (Toronto, ON). Sellick received his undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba and was completing his final year at the Glenn Gould School when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He is the winner of the University of Manitoba competition, and has also played with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Sellick is also heavily involved with the El Sistema music education program, as an educator, administrator, conductor, and arranger.

Photo: John Sellick

Bryn Lutek, 25, is a percussionist and member of Local 406 (Montreal, PQ). Lutek recently completed his master’s degree at the University of Toronto, studying with Aiyun Huang and Charles Settle, both of Local 149, and collaborating with three other students on research into John Cage’s experimental electronic work Cartridge Music. Their project was accepted to the TENOR 2020 International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation in Hamburg, Germany. Lutek has recently moved to Quebec City to begin his new job as principal percussionist of l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec.

Photo: Bryn Lutek

Chloe Kim, 23, violinist and member of Local 247 (Victoria, BC). If the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t happened, Chloe Kim would have spent May and early June touring as a concertmaster in Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. Instead, she organized Music for the Pause, a weekly online summer concert series in Victoria. Kim graduated from the University of Victoria and currently is in her final year of a two-year master’s degree in historical performance at Julliard, which specializes in music composed before the 18th century.

Photo: Kelsey Goodwin

Jacob van der Sloot, 22, is a violist and member of Local 145 (Vancouver, BC). Van der Sloot made his solo Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 playing Brahms’ Viola Sonata No. 2 as part of Julie Jordan’s International Rising Stars series when he was a student at Julliard. Jacob’s passion for chamber music also carries into music outreach, playing chamber music all over New York City in hospitals, prisons, retirement homes, schools, and psychiatric facilities as part of Juilliard’s “Gluck” Fellowship program. In January, he became the youngest member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Photo: Jeiming Tang

Gabrielle Després, 19, violinist and member of Local 390 (Edmonton, AB). Després recently concluded her second year at Juilliard. In February, she played Mahler 5 with the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and in January she took part in Juilliard’s Chamberfest. She recently took first prize in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, which was held online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo: Jacques Després

Recent News

Local 145 Member Eli Bennett Wins Award Over His Father

Local 145 (Vancouver, BC) member Eli Bennett was just nine years old when his father Daryl Bennett won the first ever Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Drama. This June both father and son were up for that same award and Eli took home the prize. Eli was nominated for his musical score to Believe: The True Story of Real Bearded Santas and Daryl for In the Spirit of Reconciliation in a Day.

The Leo Awards celebrate the best of British Columbia’s film and television industry. This was the first time in Leo Awards 20-year history that a father and son were contenders in the same category.

Organizing, Recent News

British Columbia Court of Appeal Affirms Primacy of AFM Bylaws

The Court of Appeal sitting in British Columbia has allowed the appeal and sustained the arguments of AFM Local Counsel Bruce Laughton in objection to a lower court decision that had set aside the trusteeship of Local 145 (Vancouver, BC) and declared Article 15(6)(b) of the AFM’s bylaws unenforceable in the province. Vancouver Musicians’ Association Local 145 v. American Federation of Musicians, 2015 BCCA 171. The judgment, issued April 16, poses a substantial roadblock to employer operatives in the area who aimed to hijack the union and then divert its resources to their own purposes and objectives.

Local 145 was placed in trusteeship in May 2013 as a result of an unauthorized buyout agreement made between the then-officers of Local 145 and an electronic media employer, Vancouver Film Orchestra (VFO), in violation of Article 15(6)(b) of the bylaws. The employer, backed by the former Local 145 officers, petitioned the BC Supreme Court to give effect to the substandard agreement and set aside the trusteeship. The rationale for this position hinged upon the provincial Labour Relations Board’s reservation of jurisdiction to “trade unions” whose key collective bargaining decisions are made by people in the province, as opposed to a national or international organization. Failing to spot the fallacy, the Supreme Court held Article 15(b)(6) unenforceable in BC because of its “relegation of a member local to bargain outside the protection of the [BC] statutory scheme, without the status of a trade union,” allegedly in conflict with other AFM bylaws presumed to require affiliated locals to be “trade unions” within the meaning of provincial law. Vancouver Musicians’ Association (Canadian Federation of Musicians, Local 145) v. American Federation of Musicians, 2014 BCSC 1713.

In stark contrast, the BC Labour Relations Board already had determined that the VFO agreement was not a valid collective bargaining agreement and was of no force or effect. Vancouver Film Orchestra Inc., BCLRB No. B197/2013. This decision was based specifically upon the board’s conclusion that the impugned bylaw was indeed a binding and enforceable provision governing the affairs of Local 145. According to the board, even if Local 145 is not a “trade union” under the BC Labour Relations Code, such fact does not render AFM Bylaws inoperative, and Local 145 remains subject to contract law, common law, and all other requirements of public law.

The Court of Appeal reversed the Supreme Court upon finding, consistent with the Labour Relations Board, that there were no conflicts in the AFM Bylaws and that their interpretation and application created no difficulties. Moreover, it found that the employer could not have reasonably believed that Local 145 had authority to enter into the buyout agreement, and as such, the buyout agreement is void. In summarizing the rather convoluted lower court opinion, the appellate justice stated, “… the judge in this case was not uncovering the true intentions of the parties; rather, she was remaking the agreement in accordance with her own assessment of what the parties’ priorities ought to have been. Such an exercise is not permissible.” Thus, the AFM’s authority to regulate standards for electronic media work throughout North America has been vindicated in a decision of hefty precedential clout.

The matter of the trusteeship of Local 145 has been remitted back to the Supreme Court for further consideration consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling.