Tag Archives: news

Recent News

British Singer Demands Unpaid Wages

English tenor Jonathan Ansell says that he and fellow performers were never paid for a 26-date 2016 tour of UK and Ireland, peforming A Night in Venice, produced by Stephen Leatherland. Noting another Leatherland production, A Viennese Strauss Gala, was being performed at Baths Hall in Scunthorpe, UK, Ansell snapped into action and made a guest appearance. Before the show began, he climbed on-stage and addressed the audience, informing them of the owed money.

“We absolutely love what we do but I think you’ll agree that this is totally unacceptable,” said Answell, who is personally owed around £10,000 ($12,500). “It’s extremely unfortunate that I’ve had to take this drastic action here tonight but I hope it goes some way to stopping this happening to anybody else ever again.”

Ansell explains that Leatherland, who runs the production company World on Stage, left performers in “such a dreadful position” that they had not been able to pay rents and mortgages.

Recent News

Cello Destroyed by Airlines

Sadly, another instrument has been destroyed by the airlines. Florida State University student Carrie Miller’s cello was smashed during a United Airlines flight from California and Tallahassee, while returning from Christmas break. On previous trips, Miller had been allowed to gate check the cello, but this time she was told she would have to go through the regular checked baggage process. She did not have the option of purchasing an extra seat as the flight was completely full. Miller says she does not have the money to replace her cello, but has set up a Go Fund Me page [https://www.gofundme.com/carrie-millers-cello] in hopes of raising enough to purchase a cello before her final graduate performance in April.

Recent News

MTV News Votes to Organize

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) announced in a press release, that the editorial staff at MTV News today announced plans to unionize. More than 80% of MTV News’ editorial staff have signed cards electing the WGAE as their representative in collective bargaining.

“In an age when independent voices are more essential than ever, we are heartened that these digital news creators recognize collective bargaining is the most effective way to protect those voices and to address critical issues like transparency in compensation and other policies, reasonable benefits for all, and an inclusive workplace,” says Lowell Peterson, executive director for WGAE.

 

Recent News

Animation Workers Reach $100 million Settlement over Wage-Fixing

Animation and visual effects workers have reached a $100 million settlement with Walt Disney Company, Pixar, and Lucasfilm resulting from a class action lawsuit claiming the defendants violated antitrust laws by conspiring to set animation wages via non-poaching agreements. The workers content the agreements go back to the mid-1990s when George Lucas and then Pixar President Ed Catmull agreed to not raid each other’s employees. Other companies joined the conspiracy later, creating agreements on cold calling and notifying each other when making an offer to someone in the other company.

Recent News

Equal Pay Is Top Issue for Working Women

A poll conducted by the website InHerSight.com showed that, for the majority of women in the workplace, correcting the gender pay gap is their number one priority. Among concerns listed by the 500 respondents 31.5% deemed correcting the pay gap as their top priority. Other concerns included establishing more flexible work hours (28%), promoting more women to senior leadership (14%), increased parental leave benefits (11%), and better training and responsiveness related to sexual harassment (4.5%).

 

Recent News

Minnesota Co-Op Votes to Unionize Despite Threats

The majority of Whole Foods Co-Op workers in Duluth, Minnesota, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1189. “The organizing committee worked really hard even though management was working every day to make people afraid,” says Diana Tastad, the lead organizer. “I am so proud of them for sticking together, despite the fear tactics.”

Whole Foods Co-Op is the second Minnesota co-op to organize.

Recent News

New Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) Reached

As this issue went to print, AFM’s negotiating team, comprised of recording musicians and our union’s leadership, had reached a new Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) with the major recording companies including Hollywood (Disney), Sony, Universal, and Warner. The tentative three-year contract is a huge win for musicians who record under the SRLA, which sets minimum wage scales and working conditions for audio recordings—both studio sessions and live performances. When ratified, musicians will see improved pension and health care contributions, and 3% wage increases in each year of the contract.

“With music consumption transitioning away from CDs and downloads, we fought hard to connect our residual and pension funding to streaming. For the first time, the SRLA obligates the companies to contribute a portion of interactive streaming revenue to our Sound Recording Special Payments Fund (SPF) and the Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF). New provisions also require the companies to make substantial guaranteed annual payments to the AFM & Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) from streaming,” says AFM President Ray Hair. “Negotiations are not always an easy or quick process, but when musicians stand together—we have the power to do anything!”

In the coming weeks, musicians who work under the SRLA will receive a ratification letter and voting information about this new and improved contract. Look for additional details of the new Sound Recording Labor Agreement in Hair’s March column.

Visa Fee
Recent News

USCIS Announces Visa Fee Increase for Foreign Musicians Performing in the US

Pour la version française cliquez ici.

In October, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the fees for O and P visa applications would increase by 42%, from $325 US to $460 per petition, effective December 20. The AFM, along with its long-standing coalition of (US-based) nonprofit arts organizations, spoke out in one strong voice against the increase during the comment period after the USCIS proposed the increase this past spring.

The AFM of course recognizes that this increase adds a significant burden to its Canadian members and to other musicians worldwide. In a November 2 teleconference initiated by USCIS, the AFM urged the USCIS to respond to its current lack of quality in service and to press for vast improvements and consistency in processing times—especially now that it has increased the fee. Unfortunately, the response by USCIS officials was noncommittal, and in general, stated that all increases recently imposed (which were not only on artist/athlete visas) were necessary to maintain overall operations.

To avoid paying the new fee, at least at
the outset, completed P-2 visa applications from AFM Canadian members must be received by the AFM no later than Monday, December 19, 2016 (with the current fee of $325 USD). Applications received on or after December 20 will need to have the new fee ($460 USD) included.

Also, be reminded that the AFM is recommending 120 calendar days (four months) processing time (unless filing premium processing, requiring 30 calendar days). While these processing time recommendations are fairly accurate, this timeline is an estimate, subject to increase or decrease by USCIS. The USCIS is not required to provide advance notice of changes to processing times. AFM’s P-2 administrative team monitors USCIS processing times weekly, in an effort to provide as solid a timeline as possible to membership.

At the very least, the AFM coalition had hoped to receive news that processing times would vastly improve, as had happened immediately after the last USCIS increase in the summer of 2010. While it may be hard to believe, especially considering the processing times and fees for Canadians, the USCIS artist visa process is more simplified and less costly than it is for all other musicians across the globe who enter the US under the same permits.

“The AFM does everything possible to make the process easier on members and will work with each case to try and maximize the cost and permit length so members can get the most out of their time and money,” says CFM Executive Director Liana White.

For additional information and questions on the AFM’s lobbying initiatives to improve access to the US, or the AFM’s role as a petitioner of artist permits, please email Liana White (lwhite@afm.org).

video game strike
Recent News

Local 47 Lends Support to SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike

video game strike

Members of AFM Local 47 (in light blue t-shirts) joined with hundreds of SAG-AFTRA members, labor, and community supporters on a November 3 picket line outside of Warner Bros. Studios in support of SAG-AFTRA’s video game strike.

In October, SAG-AFTRA called a strike against certain video game producers. SAG-AFTRA members have sought, through two years of negotiations, to modernize a decades old contract covering voiceover and performance capture artists. Among other  issues, they are fighting for transparency—knowing what the project is before signing on, reasonable secondary compensation for every 2 million copies, and safety—the use of stunt coordinators and protections from vocal stress.

AFM members of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) have joined with members of SAG-AFTRA, Unite Here, Writers Guild of America (WGA) West, Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) at picket lines outside various video game companies.

“We, as professional musicians, support our SAG-AFTRA counterparts in their fight for fair and safe workplace agreements. The gaming industry has undergone its second or third boom and terms need to be updated accordingly. The working relationship between entertainment companies and the talent they employ to generate their products predates the industrial revolutionary by millennia and isn’t going to change. For this reason alone, I believe a strong agreement will eventually be reached. Please help spread the word about this issue,” says AFM Local 47 member Andy Moresi.

The strike includes 11 video game employers: Activision Publishing, Inc.; Blindlight, LLC; Corps of Discover Films; Disney Character Voices, Inc.; Electronic Arts Productions, Inc.; Formosa Interactive, LLC; Insomniac Games, Inc.; Interactive Associates, Inc.; Take 2 Interactive Software; VoiceWorks Productions, Inc.; and WB Games, Inc.

“Each picket has brought out more members than the last,” says SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris in a press release. “SAG-AFTRA members and our allies support this action and are continually raising the pressure on the video game companies to come back to the bargaining table with fair proposals so we can reach a deal.”

“The video game corporations we’re striking have tried to sow divisions among our membership, instead of returning to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair contract,” she says. “Not only are SAG-AFTRA members united in this strike action, but they have the support of their union brothers and sisters.”

At this writing, SAG-AFTRA has held pickets outside four of the 11 companies. Additional pickets are planned. There are also virtual picket lines on social media using the hashtag #PerformanceMatters and sharing SAG-AFTRA’s message to raise awareness during the holiday shopping season.

Recent News

O’Hare Workers to Strike after Thanksgiving

The work stoppage at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will deliberately miss the busy Thanksgiving travel week, a tactic aimed at bolstering public support, says spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  

The workers, who include airplane cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, janitors and wheelchair attendants, want to bring awareness to their fight to earn $15 an hour, improve what they describe as unsafe work conditions, and obtain union rights. At present, the workers are employed by subcontractors hired by the airlines. Some of the workers planning to strike earn the minimum wage, which is $8.25 an hour in Illinois. Although the workers are not in a union, Local 1 is in the process of organizing them.