On Wednesday, February 26, Local 802 convened our union’s first membership meeting of 2020. We just made quorum, with 96 musicians in attendance to hear updates from union officers, committees, and departments. As promised, here is a report of what happened for musicians who couldn’t make it to the meeting.

What’s Been Happening at 802?

At the top of the meeting, elected officers President Adam Krauthamer, Recording Vice-President Andy Schwartz, and Financial Vice-President Karen Fisher each reported on union business from their departments.

RECORDING VICE PRESIDENT ANDY SCHWARTZ

• Clubroom Update: Schwartz reported on improvements made to the 802 Clubroom during the January 2020 rental hiatus. Theater lighting has been installed to provide a real performance atmosphere for concert events; 802 also received quotes for improvements to the acoustic sound in Room B. We repaired two vintage guitar amplifiers and the plan is to repair more equipment in the coming months with the overall goal of making the Clubroom a better place for our community to rehearse and perform.
• Negotiations Update – Recording: Schwartz will represent Local 802 in negotiations this month for two national AFM recording agreements: the Commercial Announcements (“Jingles”) agreement and the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (“Phono.”) Schwartz reported that we have sustained a 35% drop in Jingle recording work over the last year; our union’s investigation has found that an ever-increasing non-union approach by jingle houses and ad agencies has harmed our members. Schwartz spoke in very real terms about the negative impact this drop has had on the income of 802 musicians who once relied on recording work to make ends meet.
• Negotiations Update – Live Engagements: Schwartz reported that he will participate in upcoming negotiations for new terms in our agreements with Midori & Friends, New York Jazzharmonic, NYCB Theater at Westbury, and Amateur Night at the Apollo, as well as our local’s hotel steady agreement. Schwartz reported a positive update on a grievance that is on the verge of being settled with club date signatory Hank Lane Music, with details to follow upon settlement.
• Musicians’ Emergency Relief Fund: Schwartz reminded attendees of the importance of our union’s Emergency Relief Fund and encouraged members to donate. You can donate here or at upcoming Jazz in the Afternoon ERF benefit concerts.

FINANICAL VICE PRESIDENT KAREN FISHER

• Financial Update: Fisher reported that the Finance Dept is busy preparing 2019 tax documents and working with the auditors; a full 2019 financial report to follow in Allegro this spring. Fisher also reported that her department is working to finish the 2020 budget, to be approved by the Executive Board within the next couple of weeks.
• Negotiation Update: Fisher reported on the ratification of two successor agreements: New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players and Stamford Symphony, where the orchestra has new management. (Read more from the Stamford Symphony committee here.) Fisher’s department is in the process of negotiating with the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Bronx Arts Ensemble, and is about to begin negotiations with the American Ballet Theatre, which importantly sets opera and ballet standards for the rest of the local.

PRESIDENT ADAM KRAUTHAMER

Krauthamer reported that in 2019, his administration produced a mid-year report and an end-of-year report, finding it important to acknowledge where the union needs to make improvements and the hard realities of the industry. Members can expect these two reports in 2020 as well. Krauthamer also reported on his recent opportunities to speak with students at Columbia Law School and Juilliard on the role of the union, where he was met with pleasantly surprising reception and young musicians who already knew about the DCINY campaign.

• Organizing Update: Krauthamer reported on the success of DCINY’s member-led, long-term organizing campaign; more on that below. He also reported on the member-led #BandTogether campaign for the AFM TV and film agreement, where our New York contract action team was led by Executive Board member Elise Frawley and Trial Board member Joanna Maurer. The work of this contract action team led to multiple work actions that brought musicians into the street to fight for streaming residuals. Unfortunately, the AFM did not win these streaming residuals in the settled contract and this fight will continue; read Elise and Joanna’s report on the agreement here. The AFM convened a meeting at Local 802 in late February to discuss union-wide strategy for the next stages of that campaign.
• Negotiations Update: Krauthamer reported that negotiations for a successor agreement at the New York City Ballet are just starting. He also reported that Local 802 has reached a tentative agreement with not-for-profit Off-Broadway, an important area that has been growing over recent years. Four different contracts with eleven employers were combined into one agreement, a huge undertaking that was only made possible through the dedication of the committee led by Steve Lyon, with support from Broadway rep Theresa Couture. The tentative agreement includes significant wage and health increases, demonstrating that with our members’ help, we can make structural changes in such contracts.
• 401(k) Update: In 2019, Local 802 negotiated a 401(k) plan into Broadway and Radio City Music Hall agreements; now, the union is working with the employer to launch this program as quickly as possible. The target date for the 401(k) plan is still summer 2020, as previously reported.
• Pension Update: Krauthamer acknowledged that the recent AFM-EPF cuts are on everyone’s minds in our community, and that the Executive Board sees our role as keeping members informed, continuing to push for good governance on the AFM-EPF board, and continuing to examine all aspects of the AFM-EPF crisis, including the upcoming class action suit. Most recently, the Executive Board sent an open letter to the AFM-EPF trustees asking them to host a meeting at Local 802 to explain the recent pension cuts. Krauthamer reported that rank-and-file pension trustee Bill Moriarty has contacted him recently. The AFM-EPF is contemplating having a meeting in early April, likely with three or four rank-and-file trustees, as well as the Fund’s actuary and lawyers, to answer questions. The AFM-EPF is searching for a “neutral ground” where they could hold the meeting, and Local 802 has asked them to pick a time that is convenient for musicians to be present.
• Health Fund Update: Last year, our Health Fund ran into a major shortfall, forcing us to make some hard changes to benefits. The administration is tracking the changes that went into effect in September 2019; it’s too early to tell the long-term impact, but we are closely tracking them and will keep you posted. Krauthamer reported that our priority is to maintain stability in the Fund and to negotiate health increases in our contracts going forward. The 23% increase we negotiated into the Broadway agreement in 2019 is already a step in the right direction.
• Member Education: Krauthamer reported that the Executive Board, business reps, and a couple of our committees recently had a first collective bargaining training with Labor Notes. Going forward, Local 802 will host more of these organizing and collective bargaining trainings for our members and committees to build their skills. Look out for opportunities to participate this year.
• Website Update: Krauthamer announced that Local 802 is updating our website this year, led by IT Director Rob Mosher and staff members Julie Ferrara and Maria DiPasquale, with a target date of end-of-the-year 2020.
• Political Update: Krauthamer reported that he recently met with New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon to discuss industry issues and that he has a meeting scheduled with Anne del Castillo, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. He acknowledged that we need to rebuild our political capital as a union, which will be a long-term project, but that our connection to politicians is important to move our issues forward.

DCINY Orchestra Musicians Update

Two members of the DCINY Orchestra Musicians negotiating committee, Aaron Korn and Patrick Duff, spoke to the membership about their ongoing campaign for a first contract. They explained that Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) is a concert production company where choirs pay fees to come perform in NYC halls with a world-class professional orchestra. DCINY currently operates under our industry standards, from wages to working conditions. A year ago, musicians started talking about their issues in the workplace, and decided to run a campaign to unionize. For months, musicians on the organizing committee spoke to everyone and collected info and discussed issues. In August of 2019, DCINY musicians voted yes for 802 union representation by an 89% majority. Read about the unionization campaign in DCINY musicians’ words here.

Since unionizing, the employer has been very reluctant to meet with the DCINY committee. Since August, they have had three rounds of bargaining with management, but not much movement has been made at the table. The DCINY musicians have begun putting pressure on the employer, wearing ribbons to their last concert and handing out flyers to the audience outside Carnegie Hall. The musicians saw some concessions at the table following this action, but it seems clear that DCINY musicians will need support from the larger 802 community and other bargaining units to win a strong contract. Duff added, “If we are able to ratify a very strong first contract, this could incentivize other people to come forward and make demands and for others to feel empowered to stand up.”

The musicians took a couple questions from members and circulated a sign-up list for supporters who are willing to take action in support of the DCINY musicians. President Krauthamer concluded the presentation by adding, “DCINY is at their tipping point where they’re asking for you to be part of their success because they are part of this union. Their and our success belong to each other. I hope other bargaining units and other unions and even non-members will be at their next actions. If you can’t support them, then we can’t have the future that we want. Their success is going to dictate what that will look like for us.” Follow DCINY Orchestra Musicians @DCINYOrchestra on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on how you can support them in the coming months.

Introducing the 802 Stewards Program

The Field Services Department announced the development of an 802 stewards program. What is a shop steward? Essentially a steward is a shop floor union representative, an employee chosen by their peers to address issues at work. A steward’s duties include educating their co-workers about their rights, listening to problems, and investigating contract violations. Because union staff can’t be everywhere at once, shop stewards serve as a frontline force in upholding our labor standards. The more educated our members and shop stewards are, the stronger our contracts and our union will be.

At Local 802, we have stewards in some of our workplaces, but we’ve never had a centralized program. Our plan is to create a formal, cohesive program across workplaces, training and educating new members each year so that there will eventually be trained shop stewards representing their colleagues in every 802 workplace. AFM lead organizer Alex Tindal Wiesendanger presented alongside Field Services staff, explaining that Local 802 will be partnering with the international AFM to build training modules for this new stewards program. Our local will be the testing ground for a national AFM steward program that will eventually be replicated at locals across the country.

The three training modules will include: 1) a training on power in the workplace, the rights of stewards, and how we select our stewards; 2) a training on how to drive a proactive agenda as a steward to win things on the job between negotiations by acting together (Alex gave an example of a Pamphlet B tour that won safety nets on the job by standing together!); and 3) a training on how to defend our rights and protect ourselves when there are contract violations on the job. We will be rolling out these training modules shortly, and will be reaching out to leaders, committees, and active members to participate, so stay tuned to find out how you can get involved.

Every New Yorker Counted: Labor Counts! Census 2020

Our membership was joined by U.S. Census specialist Abdalla Hassan, who reminded us that the U.S. Census will begin mailing out forms around March 12^th. You can respond to the Census online, by phone, and on paper. The Census is safe and easy; Hassan reminded members that all the information you provide is confidential and cannot be shared with other government agencies. If you don’t respond, a census taker will come knock on your door sometime in the spring. Hassan also reminded us of the dire importance of ensuring a complete and accurate census count: the Census determines how many representatives our state gets in Congress, as well as how billions of dollars in federal funding will be allocated.

We were also joined by Danny Byers from the New York City Central Labor Council, who spoke briefly about the Labor Counts! 2020 initiative, which is getting union members involved in taking the Census. “We want to ensure working people get the representation you deserve,” Byers explained. Labor Counts! representatives brought commitment cards, which many musicians signed as a pledge to answer the U.S. Census. You can sign-up for updates from Labor Counts! Census 2020 by texting NYCLABORCOUNTS to 877-87.

Take Advantage of Your Union Plus Benefits

Kristine from Union Plus presented on the many union benefits that Local 802 members can take advantage of because our union is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. These benefits extend to parents and children under the UnionPlus program, including a free, 2-year college degree online, credit card benefits, car loan benefits, and mortgage benefits. Learn more here.

FYI: You Can Opt Out of Print Allegro!

Before the officers adjourned the meeting, President Krauthamer took questions from the audience. Member Jonathan Cable asked if it’s possible to only receive Allegro online and opt out of print delivery. The answer is YES! You can opt out of print delivery of Allegro at any time by changing your settings in the member portal. First log into https://info.local802afm.org then click on “VIEW/EDIT ACCOUNT INFO” then “EDIT ACCOUNT INFO” to find the Allegro tab where you can choose to opt out of print delivery. The latest issue of Allegro can always be found online at https://www.local802afm.org/allegro/