Tag Archives: recent news

Recent News

National Symphony of Cuba Forced to Cancel US Tour

The National Symphony of Cuba announced that its 2019 US tour is canceled due to difficulties in obtaining visas for its artists. Last month, the US announced the withdrawal of 60% of its Cuban diplomats is now permanent. They were originally withdrawn following mysterious “health attacks” in Havana, which harmed at least 24 Americans.

In October 2017 the US State Department ordered the withdrawal of all nonessential embassy personnel. Due to lack of employees, the US Embassy in Cuba was forced to halt visa processing. Now, Cubans hoping to travel to the US must seek visas through US embassies in other countries. The downsizing of the staff, combined with a Travel Advisory issued by  the US State Department  warning Americans to reconsider travel to the island, have had a significant effect on Cuba’s economy as well.

Recent News

CFM Continues to Lobby for Musical Instrument Passenger Rights

Canadian Federation of Musicians continued to lobby the Parliament of Canada to include the carriage of musical instruments as part of the Passenger Rights Proposals on Bill C-49: The Transportation Modernization Act. CFM/AFM International Representative Allistair Elliott and AFM Local 180 (Ottawa-Gatineau, ON) President Francine Schutzman, appeared before the Transportation and Communications Committee of the Senate of Canada. Through the lobbying efforts of the CFM, Bill C-49: The Transportation Modernization Act contains language mandating that all Canadian airlines implement a fair policy for musicians flying with their instruments. The bill passed through the House and, if passed by Senate, will align Canadian regulations with those already in place in the US. CFM anticipates this Bill will receive Royal Ascent before June 2018.

For three years, CFM has been working on legislation to include musical instruments in Passenger Rights. Transport Canada will be tasked with preparing regulations to accompany the legislation. The process is expected to take the remainder of 2018, culminating with the Canadian airlines implementing a musical instrument friendly policy by early 2019.

“It is critical that, as professional musicians, we are able to get to the show, audition, rehearsal or concert hall without fear of our instruments not making the flight. Clear consistent regulations enacted by a policy for musicians travelling on airlines that hold those airlines accountable is a victory. We are committed to working with the Canadian Transport Agency on getting this Bill passed, says Elliott.

“I was honoured to join Allistair Elliott for this all-important presentation on behalf of our 17,000 CFM musicians. We need industry-wide, consistent guidelines for traveling with instruments, and it is our hope that the passage of law C49 will help us achieve this aim,” adds Schutzman.

Below is the French translation.

La FCM poursuit ses pressions pour l’inclusion des instruments de musique dans les droits des passagers aériens du projet de loi c-49

La Fédération canadienne des musiciens (FCM, le bureau national canadien de la Fédération américaine des musiciens (AFM)) a poursuivi son travail de lobbying auprès du Parlement du Canada en vue de faire inclure le transport des instruments de musique dans le cadre des propositions sur les droits des passagers aériens liées au projet de loi C-49 : la Loi sur la modernisation des transports. Allistair Elliott, Représentant international de la Fédération canadienne des musiciens, et Francine Schutzman, Présidente de la Musicians’ Association of Ottawa-Gatineau (Local 180 de l’AFM), ont comparu devant le Comité sénatorial des transports et des communications du Canada. Grâce aux efforts de lobbying de la FCM liés au projet de loi C-49 : la Loi sur la modernisation des transports, cette dernière stipule que TOUTES les compagnies aériennes canadiennes doivent instituer une politique équitable pour les musiciens qui voyagent avec leurs instruments.  Le projet de loi a été adopté par la Chambre des communes et, s’il est adopté par le Sénat, alignera les règlements canadiens avec ceux déjà en place aux États-Unis. La FCM prévoit que ce projet de loi obtiendra la sanction royale d’ici juin 2018.

Depuis trois ans, la FCM travaille sur un projet législatif visant l’inclusion des instruments de musique dans les droits des passagers aériens. Transports Canada sera chargée de l’élaboration des règlements  qui accompagneront la loi. Ce processus devrait prendre tout le reste de l’année 2018 et atteindre son apogée au début de l’année 2019, avec l’instauration par les compagnies aériennes canadiennes d’une politique favorable au transport des instruments de musique.

« Il est essentiel, en tant que musiciens professionnels, de pouvoir se rendre au spectacle, à l’audition, à la répétition ou à la salle de concert sans craindre que nos instruments ne soient pas à bord. Des règlements clairs et harmonisés issus d’une politique visant les musiciens voyageant à bord des différentes compagnies aériennes et qui tiennent ces compagnies responsables représentent une victoire, mais nous sommes déterminés à travailler avec Transports Canada pour faire adopter ce projet de loi », a déclaré Elliott.

« J’ai eu l’honneur  de me joindre à Allistair Elliott pour cette présentation de la plus haute importance faite au nom de nos 17 000 musiciens membres de la FCM. Pour ceux qui voyagent avec leurs instruments, il faut des lignes directrices uniformes applicables à l’ensemble de l’industrie, et nous espérons que l’adoption du projet de loi C-49 nous aidera à atteindre cet objectif », d’ajouter Schutzman.

Recent News

Tip Pooling Leads to Worker Exploitation

Tip pooling is when employers require, or strongly suggest, that tipped workers put a portion of their tips into a common pool. In the past, such practices allowed employers to take control over employee tips and retain part of the money for themselves or distribute it to other employees. In 2011, under the Obama administration, the Department of Labor (DOL) passed a rule explicitly banning service industry managers from pooling and pocketing a percentage of their workers’ tips.

In December, the DOL announced its intention to reverse the rule in order to help “decrease the wage disparities between tipped and nontipped workers.” However, the rule change they propose has no requirement that employers distribute the pooled tips to bus boys and dishwashers. Employers would be free to pocket those tips as they have in the past.

“By allowing employers to take control of their employees’ tips, this regulation would push a majority-women workforce … further into financial instability, poverty, and vulnerability to harassment and assault,” says Saru Jayaraman of the union-backed Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) says allowing tip sharing would be disastrous for workers, allowing employers to legally pocket $5.8 billion in tips (16% of the employee’s tipped earnings).

 

Recent News

New Rules Hinder Collective Bargaining

According to its website (nlrb.gov), the five-member National Labor Relations Board is “an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative.” In December, the board quickly overturned several union-friendly rules. This follows the Republican Senate confirmations of two nominees in August and September, and Trump’s selection of Republican Philip Miscimarra as chair. The decisions were quickly pushed through because Miscimarra’s five-year term on the board was to end December 16. Each of the rulings were decided 3-2, with Democrats dissenting. These NLRB decisions include:

  • Overturning a 2016 rule requiring settlements to provide a “full remedy” to aggrieved workers.
  • Reversing a 2004 decision bolstering workers’ rights to organize free from unlawful employer interference.
  • Overturning a 2015 decision holding employers responsible for bargaining with workers if they have indirect control over those workers’ employment or have the ability to exercise control.
  • Reversing a 2016 decision safeguarding unionized workers’ rights to bargain over changes in employment terms.
  • Overturning a 2011 decision protecting the prerogative of a group of employees within a larger company to form a bargaining unit.

These new rules could affect millions of workers hoping to unionize.

Recent News

National Museum of Gospel Music Planned for Chicago

Chicago planners have announced that they hope to open the first major gospel music museum in 2020. The planned $37.2 million National Museum of Gospel Music will be housed on a site once occupied by Pilgrim Baptist Church, known as the birthplace of gospel. Don Jackson, founder and producer of the Stellar Gospel Music Awards and former chair of the DuSable Museum of African American History is leading the project. The Gospel Museum has already been incorporated as a nonprofit. The proposed 40,000-square-foot design would include exhibitions, an auditorium, and a research library.

“Chicago is the birthplace of gospel music and the perfect home for the new National Museum of Gospel Music,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. “The museum will pay further tribute to the home-grown genre that’s given life to legends like Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, Albertina Walker, Jerry Dixon, Shirley Caeser, and so many more.”

Recent News

New Internet Streaming Promotion Agreement Approved

The AFM International Executive Board has approved a new agreement known as the Internet Streaming Promotion Agreement. Please log onto the AFM.org website (www.afm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Internet-Streaming-Agreement.pdf) to view a copy of the agreement.

This agreement will enable signatories to a local’s Single Engagement Contract to tape 30 minutes of a performance and utilize up to three minutes of that taping on social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) for the purpose of promoting live engagements by the same signatory. The intent of having this agreement available is to increase the number of union engagements within a local’s jurisdiction.

This agreement is not available to symphony, opera, or ballet orchestras or chamber groups that have collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). The new Internet Streaming Promotion Agreement is not available to producers of theatrical shows.
Orchestras with Internet projects should contact the Symphonic Services Division for pertinent information. The agreement may be utilized by those orchestras that file single engagement contracts with their local union.

For any questions regarding this agreement, please contact either AFM Electronic Media Services Division Director Pat Varriale at (917) 229-0234, pvarriale@afm.org or AFM Symphonic Electronic Media Director Debbie Newmark at (917) 229-0225, or email dnewmark@afm.org.

Recent News

New Symphonic and Local Non-Symphonic Limited Pressing Agreements Now Available

The AFM International Executive Board recently approved new versions of the AFM Symphonic Limited Pressing Agreement and the Local Non-Symphonic Limited Pressing Agreement. For questions and information about the AFM Symphonic Limited Pressing Agreement please contact AFM Symphonic Electronic Media Director Debbie Newmark at (917) 229-0225 or by email dnewmark@afm.org and for information and questions about the Local Non-Symphonic Limited Pressing Agreement please contact AFM Electronic Media Services Division Director Pat Varriale at (917) 229-0234 or  by email pvarriale@afm.org.

Recent News

Multi-Card Member Rebates

Effective January 1, 2018, members who belonged to three or more AFM Locals throughout 2017 can petition the AFM Secretary-Treasurer for a “rebate equal to the per capita dues received by the Federation” for that member’s membership in each AFM Local in excess of two. (Members pay their Federation per capita dues as a portion of their local annual dues. The local forwards the member’s per capita dues to the Federation. Only the Federation’s portion of the annual dues will be rebated).

According to Article 9, Section 16, of the AFM Bylaws, the rebate is only available to members who held simultaneous memberships in three or more locals for the full calendar year. No rebates are available to members who held membership in fewer than three locals. The rebate will only be given for membership in the third local (and each additional local above three, if any). Members will not be given rebates for dual membership.

Under the rebate program, membership in a base of two locals must be established in order for a member to qualify for a rebate. The AFM Secretary-Treasurer’s Office has determined that a musician’s membership in his or her “home local” and the subsequent local of longest tenure shall be designated as the two base locals. The Secretary-Treasurer’s Office will then rebate the appropriate per capita dues for membership in the third local and any other local(s) beyond three to which a member belonged for the entire 2017 calendar year. The amount rebated will be determined by the amount of per capita dues the member paid for AFM membership in a third local and any other locals beyond three.

To petition for a Multi-Card Member Rebate, members should fill out the form below and return it to the AFM Secretary-Treasurer’s Office together with copies of all their paid-up 2017 membership cards, receipts of cancelled checks for annual dues from all locals, OR a letter from each local stating that the petitioner was a member in good standing of the local for all of 2017.

No rebates will be issued until the AFM Secretary-Treasurer’s Office verifies that petitioning members held continuous membership in three or more locals for the full prior year of 2017.

No rebates will be issued until after March 1, 2018.

Petition for 2017 Multi-Card Rebate

Regular Members – $66; Life Members – $50; Inactive Life Members – $44

Article 5, Section 47(a) & 47(b) of AFM Bylaws

Under the terms of Article 9, Section 16, of AFM Bylaws, I am hereby requesting a rebate of 2017 per capita dues paid to the Federation.

Name:________________________________________________________

                                              (First)                               (Last)        

                  

Social Security or Social Insurance Number:
_____________________________________________________________

I belonged to the following locals for the entire 2017 calendar year:

Local:_________________________   Local:_________________________

                                                   (Number)                                                                                      (Number)

Local:_________________________   Local:_________________________

                                                   (Number)                                                                                      (Number)

Local:_________________________   Local:_________________________

                                                   (Number)                                                                                      (Number)

Please include with this petition copies of all paid-up 2017 membership cards, receipts of cancelled checks for annual dues from all locals, or a letter from each local stating that you were a member in good standing of the local for all of 2017.  Allow six to eight weeks to process your rebate.

Return to: American Federation of Musicians; Secretary-Treasurer’s Office; Multi-Card Rebate Program; 1501 Broadway, Suite 600; New York, NY 10036   Attention: Diane DePiro

International Musician, Recent News

WestJet’s Encore Pilots Organize

Last month, 500 pilots for WestJet Airlines’ regional carrier, Encore, formally joined the Air Line Pilots Association, selecting the organization as its bargaining representative.

In a statement, WestJet, which once took pride in its nonunion corporate culture, said, “we are disappointed by this outcome.”

 

International Musician, Recent News

Missouri Workers to Decide Right to Work

The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office certified 250,327 signatures of registered voters, 78% more than what was required to put the question of “right to work” on the ballot in November 2018.

The measure proposed aims to ban the collection of union dues as a condition of employment. With less than 10% of Missouri wage earners in a union, the law would hurt nonunion workers far more than union members.

“Just the name ‘right to work’ is a lie,” says Western Missouri and Kansas Laborers District Council Business Manager Tim Bell. “Federal law already protects workers from being forced to join a union. This is just a cash-grab, trying to take money out of the pockets of working people in Missouri.”

In 1978, when the right to work question was last on the ballot, 60% of Missouri voters gave an emphatic no.