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Preliminary
Report of the ITF
Andrew
Brandt ITF Secretary (Used By Permission)
Overview
1.
Background: The Investigative Task Force (ITF) was formed
at the direction of the Player Conferences at their meetings in
1997. Funding for the project was made available by those Conferences,
and was supplemented by some assistance from Local 47 and substantial
support from Local 802. The ITF was charged with investigating
the structure and the funding of the AFM and making recommendations
for changes, particularly on behalf of the AFM's “active”
members.
2.
Meetings: The ITF held four plenary meetings to date during
1998, including a preliminary session in New York before its full
membership had been determined. The remaining meetings have taken
place in Milwaukee, Shreveport, and Hollywood. Sub-committees
were established to interview AFM staff in New York and to study
the concept of creating District Councils.
3.
Task Force Members: The preliminary session was attended by
the Presidents of OCSM, ROPA, and the RMA (Beverley Spotton, Andrew
Brandt, and Dennis Dreith), the Chair of ICSOM (Robert Levine),
plus Local 47 Treasurer Richard Totusek and Local 802 President
William Moriarity. At that meeting various additional Local officers
were suggested to round out the ITF. These were chosen for vast
experience and knowledge in particular areas. Local 105 President
Jimmy Nixon offered unique insight as one of the few rock musicians
to hold major Local office. Local 99 President Denise Westby has
been a tenacious advocate of public relations and has a solid
record of addressing the contemporary needs of musicians on the
Local level. Local 279 President Paul Sharpe brought splendid
successes with membership growth and with administering a regional
program. As these members were being selected, the IEB awarded
Conference status to the TMA, and its Vice-President Art Linsner
brought the ITF's membership to ten. For the remaining meetings
OCSM Vice-President Jim Ewen served as an alternate for Spotton
and for the Hollywood meeting ICSOM President David Angus pinch-hit
for Levine.
Basic
Conclusions
1.
Collective Bargaining: The ITF affirms that the primary
function of a labor union is collective bargaining,
and believes that the AFM and its Locals often fail to give this
the priority it deserves. It recognizes that unions do have other
legitimate functions and activities, but emphasizes that these
must not interfere with the prime directive: Negotiating and organizing
collective bargaining agreements (cbas) (including administering
them) with employers on behalf of its members.
2.
Organizable Musicians: A great problem for the AFM is its
inability to use normal labor organizing methods in dealing with
clubs, hotels, and casual purchasers. This results from the AFM’s
1978 Settlement Agreement with the NLRB. This raises a question
as to whether musicians doing this type of work are “organizable”
(and if the union is wasting its efforts in focusing on them).
The ITF concludes that all musicians are organizable, and
that the solution to any problem under the law is to work to change
the law, not to cower before it. As a matter of principle, the
AFM should be inclusive, not exclusive.
3.
AFM Membership: The ITF recognizes that the AFM’s overwhelming
membership loss in recent years has seriously damaged its finances,
its stability, and its ability to deliver needed services. It
does not agree with the idea that active musicians would be better
served by an AFM with fewer members. The AFM needs more members,
not fewer.
4.
Working Musicians: The term “working musician” seems
to be one that is thrown about rather loosely in discussing the
AFM. When an actual definition of the term is sought, however,
it becomes apparent that it is very elusive. The ITF studied the
concept at length, finally agreeing that a working musician
is a self-defined entity.
5.
Inactive Members: In many Locals a group of Life Members who
pay reduced dues and are often retired and even long gone from
the jurisdiction can dominate a Local. The provision for Inactive
Life Membership status is a step in the right direction but is
seriously underused. Perhaps we should create other inactive
categories. At least we should better promote the one we have.
6.
Trade Division: The Roehl Report fundamentally changed the
status of recording and symphonic musicians within the AFM. Through
its reforms and later corollary developments these musicians now
have a direct input into those matters that affect their workplace.
While supporting the strengthening of the existing specialized
service departments and the possible creation of additional ones,
the ITF is not proposing a formalized trade-division structure.
7.
Dollar-In, Dollar-Out (DIDO): The ITF examined the much-discussed
concept of DIDO at length. It concludes that DIDO is contrary
to the fundamental nature of unionism. All union members should
receive the support and services they need whether their individual
or unit’s dues are less than that cost or more
than that cost. This works both ways. No union should ever refuse
needed assistance to any segment of its membership because that
segment’s dues “don’t cover the cost.”
8.
Charge for Basic Services: Consistent with its rejection of
DIDO, the ITF is appalled by the action of the last Convention
in allowing the AFM to deduct collection costs from the amount
of a claim pursued on behalf of a member—the ultimate
DIDO. A more anti-union idea cannot be conceived, and the
ITF strongly urges reversing this action at the next Convention.
9.
Dues Equity: If not DIDO, then what? It is obvious that no
tax and no dues structure can ever be fair to everyone. The ITF
does feel, however, that a much more equitable distribution of
the dues burden could be made. Work Dues should be universally
standardized—at least for the type of work being performed—and
applicable to a broader base. Failing standardization,
no segment of a Local’s membership should be allowed to impose
a higher rate of dues on another specific segment by numerically
dominating a meeting.
10.
Money: The ITF found no simple ways to reduce the cost of
running the AFM without cutting services. Possible efficiencies
can be found, but nothing that will reduce the need for funding
in a meaningful way. Even if there were, it is not in the best
interest of the active members to have their lives dependent on
a union with no reserves. The painful truth is that the AFM (and
many of its Locals) needs more money, not less, to be the
effective organization its members need.
11.
AFM Location: The ITF echoed the long-standing cry of so many
members over the years: Get the AFM’s headquarters out
of New York to an economically reasonable centralized location!
Small satellite offices should serve the AFM’s need for a
presence in New York and other major centers.
12.
Staff: The ITF rejects any notion that the AFM is overstaffed.
Its employees are stretched to the limit. Many Divisions and Departments
badly need more people. The new mandate of the field staff
is an excellent concept, but may be doomed if that staff is not
substantially expanded. There is also a desperate need for much
better inter-departmental communication. Another
obvious improvement would be for the field staff to be trained
in the specialized areas (electronic/symphonic/theatrical) so
its members can work on problems in these areas that develop in
the field. Like so many, this is an administrative, not a structural
matter.
13.
Locals: The ITF opposes any plan for the wholesale
annihilation of Locals. Local representation is a vital element
in our union. The current number and location of Locals may not
be ideal, but many factors influence the viability and need for
a particular Local. Size and quality do not run parallel in Locals.
A Local cannot properly serve or represent members too far from
its base, while some Locals may have too small a jurisdiction
to be effective. The critical criterion is that a Local serve
its members. The AFM needs to do what is necessary to see that
this essential standard is met.
14.
Employers/Contractors as Officers: It is easy to see that
many AFM Locals have contractor-dominated boards. The solution,
however, is not so easy. The ITF feels that the current §26-17
does not go far enough. Yet an extreme solution (forbidding anyone
who has a say in hiring to hold office) is both impossible and
undesirable (e.g., this could exclude symphonic Principals). The
need is to prohibit officers from contracting musicians
except as leaders of their own groups (the very
people whom PALRA legislation in the USA seeks to remove from
the status of employers).
15.
Officer Training: During its investigation the ITF heard no
other statement as frequently as “The AFM’s problem
is not structure, it is leadership.” While the ITF does not
believe that leadership is the only problem, it is convinced that
the AFM must actively promote the opportunity for leadership development.
Local officers must have some form of mandated continuing training
in basic union concepts, e.g., labor law and contract administration,
and the AFM, in turn, must exercise a leadership rôle in
providing this training.
16.
District Councils: The ITF studied various regional models
and found definite merit in the concept of District Councils.
It concludes, however, that a structure suited to areas where
Locals are “crowded” (e.g., Northeast USA, Illinois,
Southern Ontario) would be quite impractical over large areas
of both countries. For this reason, any workable District Council
structure would have to be developed from the bottom up,
through the voluntary cooperation of a group of Locals
willing to share funds, power, and services. It believes that
the AFM Bylaws should provide for such Councils, and that the
AFM should strongly encouraged them in regions where they are
feasible.
17.
Conferences: The ITF believes that the emergence of Player
Conferences in the AFM has been one of the most important developments
in our union’s recent history. It also strongly applauds
the creation of the LCC as another step in advancing rank-and-file
involvement. Looking to the future, the ITF feels that Locals’
Conferences should be given more significance and a
bigger rôle in the Federation, and encourages groups of
musicians with a specific common interest (including those whose
work is not currently under collective bargaining agreements)
to consider the formation of additional Player Conferences.
18.
Supplementary Board: Some people have suggested that recording
and symphonic musicians should have designated seats on an expanded
IEB. The ITF does not believe that this is the answer to the need
for stronger rank-and-file input into AFM policy. A much better
path might be some form of bicameral governance. The IEB
could exclusively retain executive and judicial functions, while
a new “Lower House” (made up of one representative from
each Player Conference and representatives from various geographic
regions) would meet quarterly at the same time and place as the
IEB. Its approval could be required for basic policy decisions
and for budgeting, Local-charter matters, and those items specific
to the EMSD, SSD, Travel/Touring Division, and Organizing &
Education Department.
| The
ITF agrees with a refrain frequently heard during its investigations:
“The
AFM needs less division, more unity.”
|
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