At the last Sound Agreement negotiations, Local 802 and the AFM made it clear that the “Big Five” record labels were missing critical information from hundreds of recording reports making it difficult for the union to enforce the contract.

The labels agreed to meet with the union periodically to prevent such noncompliance and resulting backlog from repeating. The first of such meetings in New York happened Oct. 21-24.

“The meetings were productive, especially because there were no specific grievances on the table,” said Schaffner. “A new level of respect was gained by all involved. And most significantly, new and improved working relations were fostered.”

Warner/Elektra/Atlantic (WEA), BMG, Sony, Universal and Capitol/EMI are the Big Five labels. WEA was not represented at the recent meeting. Representing Local 802 were Schaffner, and Senior Business Reps David Sheldon and Pedro Rodriguez.