Allegro
Executive Board Minutes
July 22, 2003 -- August 5, 2003
Volume CIII, No. 11November, 2003
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2003
Meeting called to order at 12:15 p.m. Present: President Moriarity, Recording Vice-President Price, Financial Vice-President Hafemeister, Executive Board members Crow, Gale, Giannini, Landolfi, Reynolds, Rohdin, Shankin and Weiss, Controller Bogert, Assistant to the President Dennison.
President Moriarity distributed a draft of a proposed bylaw amendment for annual and work dues increases. Discussion held.
Controller Bogert distributed a chart/spreadsheet to show the 2003-06 General Fund projections of increases in basic dues and work dues. A second chart made various assumptions of salaries, wages, legal expense increases and of other employee benefits.
Motion made and carried unanimously that the proposed bylaw amendment increase the rate of all work dues by 0.5 percent.
Motion made and carried that the board submit this bylaw to the membership. Opposed: Landolfi.
Moriarity reported on his mediation efforts with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra.
Moriarity reported on his attendance at the AFM Chicago meeting on troubled symphony orchestras. Discussion held.
Assistant director Lennon present at 1:25 p.m. during the previous discussion.
Meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2003
Meeting called to order at 11:25 a.m. Present: President Moriarity, Recording Vice-President Price, Financial Vice-President Hafemeister, Executive Board members Crow, Gale, Giannini, Landolfi, Reynolds, Rohdin and Shankin, Controller Bogert, Assistant to the President Dennison, Assistant Director Lennon.
Minutes of July 15 unanimously approved as amended.
Board member Weiss present at 11:35 during the previous discussion.
Minutes of July 22 unanimously approved as amended.
President Moriarity reported that he had asked Local 802 real estate consultant Brian Weld to research the current prices of space for rent with a view to an adjustment of the rent paid by Local 802 Health Benefits Fund to Local 802.
Motion made and carried unanimously to affirm the telephone poll of the board that authorized the Metropolitan Opera Guild (MOG) teaching artists to call a strike if necessary against the MOG during the ongoing negotiations.
Moriarity distributed the final draft of the proposed dues increase bylaw to be submitted by the Executive Board. (See minutes of July 15 and July 22.)
Moriarity distributed a proposed bylaw amendment submitted by Local 802 member Francisco Donaruma that would delete Section 4 of Article VI of the Local 802 bylaws, which requires those members running for office, holding office or continuing in office to have been members in good standing for at least two consecutive years. Discussion held.
Motion made and carried unanimously to report this bylaw unfavorably. The consensus of the board was that; reasonable membership requirements for elective union office are appropriate, the current bylaw provision meets this standard and union membership as required by the bylaws demonstrates a commitment to the union and its processes.
Legislative director Beaudoin appeared before the board to submit recommendations for donations to candidates for elective office.
Motion made and carried unanimously to donate contributions from TEMPO802 as follows:
Congressman Anthony Weiner – $500
NYC Councilmember Robert Jackson – $250
NYC Councilmember Phil Reed – $250
NYC Councilmember Jose M. Serrano – $250
Moriarity submitted information on virtual orchestra use received by board member Rohdin. Rohdin reported that a performance of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” by the Opera Company of Brooklyn was to be presented on August 9 accompanied by “virtual orchestra” instead of live musicians. The performance was to be held at NYC College of Technology where David Smith (a partner in Real Time Music, Inc.) teaches. The discussion that followed indicated that this event could be a misuse of a CUNY school to promote the commercial interest of Smith and his company. A recommendation was made to notify the opera company’s board members of the union’s objection to the use of the virtual orchestra.
Moriarity reported that the union had received a legal bill of $29,809.44 from the firm representing the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in litigation with management regarding tour conditions surrounding a proposed tour to St. Petersburg, Russia. This tour subsequently had been canceled. Discussion held. Motion made and carried unanimously to pay the bill of $29,809.44 in accordance with the litigation provision of the Legal Services bylaw.
Controller Bogert submitted a recommendation that Local 802 shift a greater portion of its reserve funds from U.S. Treasury T-Bills that currently pay less than 1 percent interest into Federal Home Loan Bank bonds that pay 3 to 5 percent interest. Motion made and carried unanimously to approve.
Price distributed to the board a list of Broadway musicians for whom he had granted leaves of absence.
Meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2003
Meeting called to order at 11:35 a.m. Present: President Moriarity, Recording Vice-President Price, Financial Vice-President Hafemeister, Executive Board members Crow, Gale, Giannini, Landolfi, Reynolds, Rohdin and Shankin, Controller Bogert, Assistant to the President Dennison, Assistant Director Lennon.
Minutes of July 29 unanimously approved as amended.
Board member Weiss present at 11:50 a.m. during the previous discussion.
President Moriarity presented four proposed bylaws submitted by Local 802 member Clay Ruede to the board for review and discussion. A proposed bylaw Resolution would amend Article VI, Section 7 as follows: “Each candidate shall submit at the same time their individual biography and a statement of policy or point of view regarding their service to the membership that altogether contains a maximum combined total of one thousand (1,000) words together with, should the candidate so choose, a photograph of the candidate. Statements and photographs must conform to the accepted standards of taste of the Local’s Journal. The Recording Vice-President of the Local shall publish this information for each office in
alphabetical order of the eligible candidates last names in a single publication and distribute it to all members in good standing by the end of the second week of November of each election year.”
Motion made and carried unanimously to report this bylaw unfavorably. The board was not opposed to the apparent spirit of the proposal in providing a forum for candidates but found the language too restrictive.
A proposed bylaw Resolution would amend Article VI, Section 4 as follows: “(b) In order to be eligible to run for the Executive Board, a member must have been eligible to vote on the ratification of any Collective Bargaining Agreement in the Local’s jurisdiction during the previous six years.”
Motion made and carried unanimously to report this bylaw unfavorably. The board found that this bylaw represents an undue restriction on members who may wish to run for union office and thereby affect union policy.
A proposed bylaw Resolution would amend Article VI, Section 8 as follows: “In order to be eligible to vote in the election of officers, a member must have been eligible to vote on the ratification of any Collective Bargaining Agreement in the Local’s jurisdiction during the previous six years and have (remainder unchanged).”
Motion made and carried unanimously to report this bylaw unfavorably. The board found that it would be inappropriate to deprive members in good standing of the right to vote in their union.
A proposed bylaw Resolution would amend the Constitution, Section 3 as follows: “Effective January 1, 2004, the office of President shall convert to that of Executive Director, and the office of Financial Vice-President shall convert to that of Financial Officer, and the office of Recording Vice-President shall convert to that of Administrative Secretary. Each of these offices will perform those same functions and at the salary as their predecessors, or have their duties and salaries modified by the Executive Board. Henceforward, the Executive Board will appoint these positions in accord with the provisions of Bylaw Article I, Section 5 (gg), and these will no longer be elected offices.
The officers of the Association shall consist of:
(a) Eleven Executive Board Members,
(b) Nine Trial Board Members
(c) Such Delegates as are prescribed by the Bylaws of this Association.
This Association shall be governed and its affairs conducted by an Executive Board of Eleven Members. The powers and authority of such officers shall be specified in the Bylaws.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
The Constitution, Section 4 be amended as follows:
The Executive Board shall elect one of its members to serve as chair. Elections for all officers [the remainder of this section remains unchanged]
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
All sections of the Constitution and Bylaws shall be modified to agree with the changes in the Constitution, Section 3 as amended above, ie. , the office, title, and responsibilities of former office of the President shall be renamed the Executive Director, the office, title, and responsibilities of former office of the Financial Vice-President shall be renamed the Financial Officer, and the office, title, and responsibilities of former office of the Recording Vice-President shall be renamed the Administrative Secretary.”
Motion made and carried unanimously to report this bylaw unfavorably for the following reasons:
1) This measure would remove the democratic power of the membership to choose the top leadership of Local 802 and place this power in the hands of eleven elected Executive Board members.
2) This bylaw would mandate the removal of the full-time elected officerships in the local’s administration. A similar option in our current bylaws presently allows for part-time top officers working with hired executive directors but on a case-by-case basis and subject to the choice of the members voting in each election.
3) Any such drastic change in the union’s administrative structure could only go into effect in the 2006 election of officers, so there would be ample time to explore these possibilities over the next 3 years.
Controller Bogert recommended salary increases for two non-bargaining-unit staff employees. Motion made and carried unanimously to approve.
Bogert distributed the vouchers for July 2003.
Bogert recommended that the notice of the next printing of the Local directory appearing in Allegro be also placed on the Local’s web site.
Bogert also initiated a discussion on members’ information in the next printing of the membership directory. He reported that the amount of printed lines per member has increased and sought guidance on whether a limitation should be instituted. Discussion held. It was recommended that the amount of members’ information remain the same as in past practice.
Price distributed a waiver request from the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. with regard to the upcoming “Broadway on Broadway” concert in Times Square on Sept. 7. In addition to the live performance there will be a one-hour special broadcast of the concert aired locally on WNBC (Channel 4) on Sept. 9. The first request was for waiver of the “same day” restriction of the included broadcast rehearsal hours, so that three of the four hours would be applied to the previous Friday’s rehearsal. The second request was for the MPTF or public service fee for the live concert to be included in the television payment. Discussion held. In response to the waiver request, Assistant to the President Dennison was instructed to contact the League’s representative and the music director to explore the possibility of providing more visibility to the orchestra during the telecast by having it perform the overture to the concert on camera.
Price submitted a proposal to extend to Executive and Trial Board members participation in the Empire Blue Cross hospitalization program that is available to Local 802 staff members. Discussion held. Motion made and carried to extend to Local 802 elected officers the option of single coverage under the Empire Blue Cross hospitalization Plan under the same terms as the Local 802 O.U.R. agreement. Said plan would be available immediately and would be open for new participation on an annual basis only commencing on Jan. 1 of each year. Opposed: Landolfi. Recused: Shankin and Weiss.
Price distributed to the board a list of Broadway musicians for whom he had granted leaves of absence.
Meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m.