The Future is Calling

August 28, 2019

John Acosta  -  AFM IEB Member and President, Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)

As unprecedented change transforms the music industry, greater are the demands on our union to bargain strategically within myriad sectors. Through an ongoing transformation in consumption, evolving monetization of content, and ever-expanding cross-collateralization of media across platforms, we are challenged to conform our agreements and to respond to new world paradigms.

With the process of collective bargaining being slow and methodical, only consistently engaged rank-and-file members and union leadership will be able to move our organization forward. This calls for inclusivity at every level. From membership meetings to union caucuses, from player conferences to regional conferences, we should strive to listen to the opinions of all of our members while building the necessary consensus to form policy and initiatives. As our union embarks upon bargaining for the coming year, our commitment to organizing in the workplace must continue to grow, bringing musicians across our Federation’s landscape together to build strength and unity.

With a revitalized focus on organizing, a similar investment of effort and resources should be concentrated in our administration and enforcement of our agreements to provide our members with reliable support. With tightening deadlines, global competition, and the need for quick turnarounds, we should seek to respond to our members with greater urgency. We should also strive to modernize how we track, compute, and collect payments. In Los Angeles, we are in the process of upgrading our computer systems to offer cloud-based services to members 24/7, with app-based interfaces and instant access via computer, tablet, or smartphone so that our members may track their benefits, file a contract, or update their personal information via the web.

The future is now, and the moment to step up our game is before us; we should strive to provide our members easy access to all of their information as is expected in the digital age. As we modernize our infrastructure, we can also tap into a newly activated interest in labor unions among young professionals. With the growth of the “gig economy” and lost sense of community, there is also opportunity to organize non-union musicians into our Federation. At every occasion we should strive to expand our tent, and with growth we should stand ready to expand the bargaining table so that all stakeholders have a meaningful voice in shaping the agreements that they work under.

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