Tag Archives: march

International Musician, Orchestra News

Buffalo Phil Plans Tour Abroad

In March 2018, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) will embark on its first overseas tour since 1988, traveling to Poland for four concerts and several master classes by BPO brass and percussion ensembles. The centerpiece of the tour will be a performance at the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw.

BPO Music Director JoAnn Falletta will be the first woman to conduct at that festival. She has programmed works by American composers and by Krzystof Penderecki, in celebration of his 85th birthday.

“The opportunity to tour Poland at the invitation of the Beethoven Easter Festival will be a transformative artistic benchmark in the history of our Buffalo Philharmonic,” says Falletta, a member of Local 125 (Norfolk, VA). “We are very proud to be able to represent Buffalo and Western New York at the festival.”

BPO has announced that attendance increased by 11.5% in the 2016-2017 season, with more than 212,000 adults and children experiencing its concerts. With a budget of $11.6 million,  the orchestra gives 129 performances during its 38-week season. BPO musicians are members of Local 92 (Buffalo, NY).

Recent News

Canada Post Employees March on Trudeau’s Montreal Office

Hundreds of unionized postal workers and their supports, some bused in from Ottawa and Quebec City, marched at the Montreal office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call attention to the lack of progress in negotiations. The Canadian Union of Postal workers is hoping to the Liberal government will pressure Canada Post to negotiate in good faith.

Though Canada Post withdrew its threat of a worker lockout in July, talks are stalled on key issues. Canada Post wants to bring the pension plan more in line with the private sector, under a defined contribution plan, which reduces company costs and provides no guaranteed set retirement.     

The union would like to change how suburban and rural carriers are paid, to bring their pay more in line with urban letter carriers. Currently, suburban carriers, who are 70% women, are paid by how many packages they deliver, while their male urban counterparts are paid by the hour and earn about 28% more.

The two sides have been negotiating since 2015.

Recent News

NJ AFL-CIO Gathers Women for Empowerment Conferen

In March, more than 200 union women gathered in East Brunswick, New Jersey, for the 12th annual AFL-CIO Women in Leadership Development (WILD) conference. Conference founder Laurel Brennan, secretary-treasurer of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO spoke on the theme of economic empowerment. “Women still earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man, a statistic that unfortunately hasn’t improved in the past decade,” says Brennan. “This conference enables our union sisters to focus their collective power and energy on public policy injustices that affect women and families, such as gender pay inequality. The best pay equalizer is still a union contract.”

The biggest event of its kind, WILD brought women from across the country together. Participants attended workshops on obstacles to economic prosperity for women and ways to overcome them.