The Committee For A More Responsible Local 47

I. RMA-SF see the light about the RMA International (RMALA)
II. WORKSHOPS/SCHOLARSHIPS
III. BUDDY CHILDERS PASSES AWAY

Greetings Local 47 Colleagues,

We’ve just been forwarded these two letters from the RMASF. Every
Local 47 member should read these. We have had known for
quite some time that the RMALA’s business practices have hurt
the country as well as destroyed much of the recording work here,
but now we have proof that their practices have affected jobs far
outside our geographic area. And Hal has let them exist
unrestrained in their actions to the detriment of us all.

Here’s a short quote from the letters below:
“RMALA appears to be dedicated to keeping this work away
from RMA musicians in other chapters, and, in fact, other
musicians within their own Local.”

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DON’T LET THE RMALA PUPPET HAL ESPINOSA TAKE OVER OUR FEDERATION!

AFM Colleagues,

Greetings! For those of you who’ve never heard of us, the Committee for a More Responsible Local 47 came into being over three years ago to restore and protect the rank and file’s voice in Los Angeles, advertise members’ events and pass along important info. We also act as a safe haven for those members who want to anonymously speak out.

Along with the Freelance Musicians Assn and other interested members, the COMMITTEE, among other things, exposed Hal Espinosa’s hiring of a convicted felon as General Manager of our Local and that felon’s unauthorized use of Hal Espinosa’s Local 47 Credit Card to create an email account posing as the Committee. The Espinosa crew had to be forced through a motion to investigate.

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CORE STATUS/ REBUTTAL/ COPYRIGHT DECISION/MEMBER COMMENTS

I. CORE STATUS: THE BASICS
II. LINK TO NES REBUTTAL OF PRESIDENT ESPINOSA’S BLAST
III. SOME INACCURACIES IN THE NEW ERA STATEMENT
IV. RECENT COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD DECISION
V. MORE MEMBER COMMENTS

Dear Local 47 Brothers and Sisters,

We’ve received several letters similar to this…
-Congrats on your success, you are an important part of the “democratic” process. My question is, what is this fi-core thing all about? Can you tell me where to find out about it?

If you read the most recent Overture, there is much discussion of this subject. Mr. Espinosa’s column holds a number of interesting omissions.

While most of what he says about Core Status is true, he leaves out that when a Core-Status musician does a union job they have the exact same rights as a Union musician, including H and W, Pension and secondary market funds. Mr. Espinosa also conveniently leaves out that while he mentions in his OVERTURE column the problems with the Guild, he doesn’t mention the Guild in his email blast.

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I. HAL ESPINOSA’S ANTI-UNION ACTIVITIES AND CONNECTIONS
II. WHY THE COMMITTEE MUST REMAIN ANONYMOUS
DEAR AFM COLLEAGUES,
Have you heard of the Professional Musicians Guild (PMG)? They are a splinter group of mostly RMALA recording musicians.
Here is an excerpt from a recent Variety Article by Jon Burlingame.

————

Variety Business: Musicians to tune out AFM union
Over 200 join Professional Musicians Guild
By JON BURLINGAME
L.A. musicians have placed the American Federation of Musicians on notice: Shape up or face possible decertification as their collective-bargaining agent for film and TV recordings.
More than 200 of the estimated 900 professional musicians who are most active on film-scoring dates have already joined the new Professional Musicians Guild, according to PMG president Andrew Malloy.

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I. REQUESTING LOCAL 47 FINANCIALS
II. PROBLEMS WITH DELEGATE BINDING VOTE
III. CONCERT FEATURING THE BLUECAT EXPRESS
IV. MORE MEMBER COMMENTS

I. THOUGHT ABOUT REQUESTING THE 2006 LOCAL 47 FINANCIALS?

Should you decide to request a copy of the 2006 financial report you must make sure to send a formal request to the Secretary’s office and ask for the Full Local 47 and Club 47 2006 Financial Reports, or the Final 2006 Auditors Reports. They will put it together for you, but you need to go down to the Local and pick it up.

A member just went through a real labyrinth trying to get the report and it took him weeks and at least 6 e-mail exchanges to get the report that the bylaws clearly allow ALL members in good standing to have.

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I. NOTICE FROM THE AFM ABOUT THE GUILD
II. NOTICE OF A SEMINAR WITH STU PHILLIPS FROM THE SCL
III. MORE MEMBER COMMENTS

Greetings Colleagues,

We read the notice below on page 2 of the APRIL, 2007 International
Musician. For those still professing that the RMA’s Guild is a legit
group, please read carefully. It seems the AFM agrees with us.

Then we share with you a notice from the SCL about an upcoming
seminar and end with more member comments.

THE COMMITTEE

I. STATEMENT FROM THE APRIL 07 INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN

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LESSONS FROM THE MEETING

I. A THANKS WE NEGLECTED – RMA MEMBERS VOTING THEIR CONSCIENCE
II. LESSONS FROM THE MEETING
III. DELTA BOYCOTT LIFTED – THANK YOU AFM!
IV. SAPPA Charitable Contribution Request
V. MEMBER COMMENTS!

Greetings Local 47 Colleagues!,

Once again, thank you to all the LOCAL 47 rank and file for coming down and protecting our voice!
The RMA Administration brought out their “A” level game and we, the rank and file, prevailed!

The RMA, has admitted that they lost on Monday, putting out the confirmed results themselves on
Thursday. The results were also on the Local 47 website as of Tuesday morning.

I. A THANK YOU WE NEGLECTED

There is a needed thank you that we were remiss in making in the first email after the meeting. With the voting so very close it is certainly possible that the votes that put us over the top came from RMA members who dared to go against “RMA expectations” and vote their conscience.

All the rank and file members are in your debt.

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IN PRAISE OF JAMBALAYA

I. THE MEETING
II. ELECTION BOARD RESULTS
III. RESOLUTION DETAILS
IV. THE ELECTION BOARD
V. NOT ALL WENT WELL, BUT THIS WAS A MAJOR VICTORY FOR
THE MEMBERS VOICE!
VI. PLEASE WRITE WITH YOUR IMPRESSIONS!

DEAR LOCAL 47 COLLEAGUES!,..

If you feed them they will come!, or if their voice is in serious
danger. We had a great turnout for our Cajun dinner before the
meeting! A big thank you to the FMA and other volunteers for
supplying a great meal!

I. THE MEETING

The meeting itself was attended by approx. 404 members! We’d
never seen so many members at a meeting! The RMA had sent
5-6 emails, at least one snail mail and even made phone calls to
their members to be at the meeting. One person even joked that
“Even the 6-figure July Check people came out! We had never
seen such a call out of their troops before,….. BUT,…..

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I. FINAL WORD BEFORE TOMORROW NIGHT’S MEETING
II. SEE THE RMA’S LATEST?
III. THREE LOCAL 47 MEMBER COMMENTS

Local 47 Brothers and Sisters,

Almost exactly one year ago this Monday, the membership of Local 47 did
an extraordinary thing. After being shut out of our own Local’s proceedings for over two years we took our voice back, and in the year that followed we made great strides in expanding that voice.

Now, one year later, Elements of the RMALA and the Espinosa Administration (represented by RMA VP Marc Sazer and Gary Lasley from the Espinosa Ticket) are trying to take it away. The RMALA has sent out more emails and made more phone calls than we have ever witnessed before to tell their members in no uncertain terms that they are expected to show up and vote the RMA way.

If you don’t think losing your voice in our Local will affect you, think
again.

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I. MESSAGE FROM FMA PRESIDENT LISA HALEY 4/19/07
II. JUDGES NEEDED THIS SATURDAY (TOMORROW) for PTSA
III. MORE MEMBER COMMENTS

Colleagues,

Please make sure you tell all your fellow Local 47 members about
Monday’s meeting. We must defeat all three Resolutions and fill
the two vacant Election Board positions with members who are
independent of ANY special interest group!

THE COMMITTEE

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I. MESSAGE FROM FMA-L.A. PRESIDENT LISA HALEY

Dear FMA Members:

Please give this a quick read – this is the “Nutshell Facts” version –
not “editorial.” If you only read one article about the upcoming
Mon, April 23 ’07 Local #47 General Meeting meeting, this should
be it!

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