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.
This will be my final International Musician column as leave office August 1. I wanted to thank the many people who have supported me over my six-year tenure as secretary-treasurer of the AFM.
From my very first day in office, Executive Secretary and Union Privilege Liaison Nadine Sylvester kept me on the straight and narrow and never forgot anything. She was always good to put things on my iPad and my Kindle large enough so that I could read them. Nadine, I love you and your family, thank you!
Since the dawn of unions, there have been union busters. It’s an eternal dynamic between capital and labor. Generations ago, the Pinkertons lurked near factory gates with their bats. In the Chicago Haymarket riots, police and workers perished from a bomb blast during a demonstration in support of an eight-hour workday. In the Harlan County, Kentucky, coal-mining wars of the 1930s, state, and federal troops fought the union.
