Local 802 stands with the musician-teachers represented by ARTS-MSM, the union of Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division faculty, in their struggle for a fair contract! Many Local 802 members teach in this program, contributing their invaluable experience as performing artists to the education of young musicians. We know that the future of our profession lies in the development of new talent, and that pedagogical excellence is the key to nurturing tomorrow’s musicians and audiences for musical performances.
The faculty of MSM Precollege are paid on average a fraction of what their colleagues at peer institutions make or the rates they command when they teach privately. In many cases, studio teachers directly recruit their private students to study at MSM Precollege, effectively agreeing to a huge pay cut in the interests of the student and the program. In fact, studio teachers at MSM are generally assigned only students they recruit or who request to study with them, and all teachers in the division are eligible for work only “as assigned”.
Years ago, MSM revoked health insurance benefits to Precollege faculty, further reducing the value of compensation. Thus, between the lack of reliable income and the absence of benefits, the need for respectable hourly rates has become all the more critical. In a recent e-mail to Precollege parents, MSM President James Gandre disingenuously tried to project the School’s current wage proposals onto a 40-hour, 52-weeks-a-year model. Any Local 802 member in the gig economy will instantly recognize the absurdity of such reasoning given the realities of a gigging musician..
ARTS-MSM has dug deep into the school’s finances, studying publicly filed tax documents and internal audited financials. It has become eminently apparent that MSM has more than ample resources to pay Precollege faculty industry-standard rates NOW. Moreover, the division is clearly a cash-cow to the institution, generating impressive profits each year from high base tuition rates ($11,250 a year) as well as exorbitant surcharges (currently an additional $2,900 a year) on the students of some teachers.
Local 802 supports these hard-working teachers as they fight MSM’s attempts to lock them into a 5-year contract of continued sub-standard pay. We urge our members and the music-loving public to write to MSM President James Gandre at jgandre@msmnyc.edu to demand a prompt resolution to this dispute by offering industry-standard pay to the people who do so much for our profession.
– LOCAL 802 PRESIDENT BOB SUTTMANN