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Second Movement
A Newsletter of Organizing & Change for the AFM's 2nd Century
Spring 1998 (Premiere Issue)

(Used By Permission)

Local 76-493, AFM
2620 3rd Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
206-441-7600
206-728-6455 (fax)

“Second Movement” was inspired by a series of conversations that started at the 1997 AFM Convention and have expanded since then. It is periodically produced at Local 76-493 with contributions from all around the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. We welcome additional endorsements and contributions that support the vision of organizing for a stronger AFM.

BREAKING CHAINS OF THE PAST,
BUILDING BRIDGES TO THE FUTURE

There is a new buzzword going around the AFM, as well as the entire Labor Movement. The word is “Organize!” For those of us working on this project, Second Movement, organizing is much more than a buzzword. It is a way of building our union; of making it more democratic, more relevant, and stronger. Organizing can help make the commitment of working musicians to our union wider and deeper.

Restructuring and solving our financial woes has generated much discussion and heat within the AFM — as well it should. The fundamental question facing all of us is, “How do we reverse the declining membership pattern that all AFM Locals have experienced in the last many decades?” Unfortunately, the AFM Convention of 1997 was so preoccupied with our union’s immediate financial woes, it neglected to also seriously address the long term need for membership growth through a solid commitment to organizing.

Second Movement, believes the AFM’s current financial difficulties cannot be meaningfully addressed without developing a long term commitment to organizing — a commitment that requires somewhat of a radical departure from the way we have done things in the past. It first requires an understanding of our history, the successes we’ve enjoyed, and the mistakes we have made. Many AFM musicians have begun to analyze what we as a union need to do in order to make it relevant to the changing and urgent needs of today’s working musicians. But there is still a lack of understanding about what an organizing based union would do differently compared to the current (for the most part) and service/business model of unionism.

The Seeds of Our Own Destruction

The AFM’s neglect (even at times disdain) for organizing, has to one degree or another led to our current crisis of dwindling resources and members. The resulting financial crisis is compelling, but is no more than the symptom of the deeper-lying problem of lack of organizing. For example, as popular music changed during the 1950s to include jazz, Latin, country, rock and the other currents of popular music, the AFM neglected to effectively organize the practitioners of these musical styles. In fact, many Locals discouraged membership and activity in their unions by these musicians. Thus, some of the seeds of the AFM’s current crisis were sown long before any of the current crop of leaders and activists were around.

Free-lancers Ignored At Our Own Peril

Of those musicians who currently play free-lance casual engagements, only a small minority are union members. The AFM has yet to effectively tackle this problem head-on. To the contrary, we have sat by and watched numerous Locals fade and die. We have failed to address the increasing irrelevance of our union to the new and ever changing music industry of today. As far as we know, there have never been any serious national-scale efforts to organize the legions of unorganized working musicians in the rock, Latin, jazz and country fields. Do they have issues? Of course! Do they all feel complete job satisfaction and believe the music industry treats them fairly? Of course not. And we know that there are lots of musician “workplace issues” waiting for some organization to come along that speaks for all working musicians. Our union is the only kind of organization that can effectively do that — if it does its job right.

Recording: The Wave of the Future (we’re playing catch-up)

Perhaps the most dangerous threat to the AFM is the tremendous growth of non-union recordings. The union’s historical disdain for rock and other contemporary pop music has alienated many of the musicians who play this music from the union. A good deal of it has been recorded for non-signatory labels. Also, the signatory labels are increasingly finding creative ways to record non-union by end-running around the national agreements.
Much ethnic music and jazz has also been recorded without union contracts. The AFM’s Organizing and Education Department has been having some success organizing Tejano musicians in San Antonio, where it is involved in an impressive alliance with other unions and the Latino community. This campaign could serve as a model for others in the recording field if the AFM were to allocate more resources for organizing.

Diversity: Not Just For The Politically Correct

A serious commitment to organizing would also cause us to look at the demographics of the union. In the May 1997 issue of the International Musician there was photo of the AFM Restructuring Committee. There was not one black or Latino/a face. Yet, Jazz, named a United States National Treasure by Congress, is a creation, for the most part, of African American musicians. Also, Latin influences in music continue to grow dramatically. But the AFM does not yet, in any real way, represent these musicians.
The history of the AFM shows that we have acted as a craft guild, a protective association, a service organization, but not often enough as a real union — one that can make a meaningful difference in the lives of all working musicians. The largest goal of the AFM should be to work toward having all working musicians enjoy the benefits of a meaningful Collective Bargaining Agreement, regardless of the kind of musical service they provide.

Mere Survival Is Not Enough — “Organize Or Die”

To survive and, more importantly to actually expand, the AFM must mount organizing drives like never before. Organizing unorganized musicians should be the crucible of the Musicians Union. We should heed the advice of the Labor Movement’s new leadership and shift significant resources into organizing with a goal of working toward the AFL-CIO’s recommendation of turning 30% of its affiliates’ budgets toward organizing. In 1995, delegates to the 91st AFM convention created a new Organizing and Education Department. But there was appropriated only a small and inadequate budget for this program. Though it has a staff that has proven itself more than capable of doing the work, and has realized some significant accomplishments over the past 2½ years, this department is currently without the financial and human resources to carry out its long range strategies and plans.

It is also true that most Locals within the AFM do not have organizers on staff, even in places where there are adequate financial resources within the Local to hire such staff. Limiting one’s focus to service the dwindling number of existing members while ignoring the needs of all working musicians is a recipe for agonizingly slow death in any union, local or international.

Rank & File Leaders Are Key to the Future

It is important to understand that the issues raised here are not a criticism of any one or group of officers or leaders within the union. Nor is it about putting forward any leader or group of leaders. We have to be clear about this. We also cannot expect to come to Las Vegas every two years, elect some more officers and then expect our union to get better between the conventions only by efforts of the officers we have elected. All AFM members need to be involved in the revitalization of this union and the creation of a “culture of organizing”. There needs to be a group of committed musicians organized across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico from the rank and file to begin this task. This newsletter is an attempt to get the discussion going and the ball rolling. Spirited debate, focused on the principles of our work, is appropriate and needed. An active membership will make any leadership more answerable to the ideals of which we speak here.
It is within these pages we hope to include an open discussion of how the members of this union would like to see the AFM increase and strengthen its numbers through ambitious and tenacious organizing campaigns, both long- and short-term.

We Can All Win Together

There are committed musicians in our union who are working hard to build a stronger union for all. As we have mentioned, the AFM is involved in organizing Tejano recording musicians in Texas. The victory at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theater in early 1997 was made possible only through long range strategic planning and the organizing of musicians, Jobs With Justice and the larger labor community. This kind of vision has also led to victories in Los Angeles and Tacoma, and has begun to create a viable defense to employer attacks. The Justice for Jazz Campaign in New York City is a model that can serve throughout the country to open the doors of the AFM to the kinds of musicians who have for too long been alienated from the Union. The challenges we face in the near future with the national Phono and Film Recording Agreements will also provide ample opportunity to do the work of strengthening and growing our union. In fact it is critical that these success stories, both past and future are widely shared throughout our union.

Thus, we have created Second Movement. In celebration of a century of defending the interests of musicians all over the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico — and in anticipation that we are opening a new “movement” that puts us in motion for the next century. If you support a stronger AFM through increased organizing, we welcome your endorsements and contributions (both successes and failures) to this newsletter.

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