Greetings Local 47 Brothers and Sisters,<\/p>\n
We were recently forwarded a letter written in response to
\na member’s questions by Local 47 Presidential Candidate
\nDavid Schubach. Since this letter could very well answer
\nquestions other members may have, we thought we
\nwould share it with you here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Please remember that our election is on December 12th! If you
\ncannot make it please request or send in your absentee ballot
\nNOW! The future of our Local depends on your participation and
\nyour vote!<\/p>\n
If you need one you an download it at www.davidschubach.com<\/p>\n
As always, feel free to write anytime with your questions or comments
\nand please also share these mailings with all your fellow Local 47
\ncolleagues. We need their participation!<\/p>\n
The majority of this country took back power on November 7th.
\nOur day to take back the Local for ALL the members is December
\n12th. Be part of history,… VOTE!<\/p>\n
Until next time,<\/p>\n
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47<\/p>\n
——-<\/p>\n
****,<\/p>\n
You asked for my views and proposals that would take place at
\nour Local if I am elected President. Let me reply in broad strokes
\nand then in specifics.<\/p>\n
First, I pledge to you that my administration will conduct itself
\nwith the highest professional and ethical standards.<\/p>\n
I am running for office because I know I can advance the Union
\ncause and be of service to our members, and because I have
\nbeen encouraged to do so by many members across the broad
\nspectrum of musical disciplines. I have stood up as the voice of
\nall members and as their instrument of change at Local 47. The
\nincumbent opponents have been in office for several years, and
\nhave not achieved nor proposed any meaningful change,
\nespecially concerning cultivating an atmosphere for job growth.
\nInstead, they have demonstrated disdain and disregard for the
\nmembership in general. The choice is clear. We can stagnate or
\nwe can move into the future. If I am elected I will definitely have
\na mandate to initiate progressive changes from top to bottom.<\/p>\n
As I say in my stump speech, I am on a mission to bring Local 47
\ninto the 21st Century. Members should be able to file contracts
\n and access their individual data online (just as most banks now
\ndo). The middle-management staff should function much more
\nas a sales staff than as clerks, interfacing with both members
\nand employers, and always for the benefit of the members. Most
\nprospective new employers have negative misconceptions about
\nthe Union. We should identify and market ourselves to these
\nemployers. The leadership, administrative, sales and marketing
\nskills that I learned as a business owner, and demonstrated
\nwhile running the Network Office, will be well used in reinventing
\nour Union.<\/p>\n
Our neighboring Locals should look to Local 47 to set the
\nstandard of excellence, and to support their efforts in the region.
\nThe current administration has created an atmosphere of hostility
\namong our neighboring Locals, such that they had to band
\ntogether and take Local 47 before the International Executive
\nBoard to settle a jurisdictional dispute about Local 47\u2019s freelance
\ncontracts being used in their territories. (Our neighboring Locals
\nprevailed, by the way.)<\/p>\n
Building alliances at all levels is tremendously important. I will
\ncultivate a new era of good relations by working in partnership
\nwith neighboring Locals. Since many members belong to multiple
\nLocals, I advocate a unified system of wage scales throughout the
\nregion. This would greatly simplify the paperwork for our
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
We must also rebuild our relationship with the AFM. A good
\nworking relationship with our parent organization is mandatory.
\nThe current Local 47 administration has let favoritism, petty
\nsquabbles and personal animosity poison the well. In fact our
\ncurrent president is fond of saying, \u201cIt\u2019s my job to get in [AFM
\nPresident] Tom Lee\u2019s face.\u201d The name of our organization is
\nProfessional Musicians. We should, at the very least, expect and
\ndemand that our officers conduct themselves as professionals,
\neven when they don\u2019t agree with members or colleagues.
\nEspecially when they don\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the business office at the Local must be run in a
\nthoroughly professional manner. Service to our members will be
\nthe highest priority. I will re-institute periodic employee
\nevaluations and written job descriptions.<\/p>\n
I believe that private teaching should be considered as legitimate
\nwork for a professional musician. Many musicians augment their
\nincome by teaching. And yes, if private teaching was Union work,
\nit would also add to the members’ health insurance and pension
\nfunds.<\/p>\n
The Recording Studio, Referral Service and CD Sales\/Radio Airplay
\ndepartments should be restored to their former prominence.
\nThese departments, while important to members across the
\nspectrum, are extremely important to newer members, and are
\ncrucial in attracting new members. The Video 47 program, which
\nhas been totally shut down, would be reborn. The Recording
\nStudio, which the current administration wants to move into the
\nbasement clubroom, an inferior recording space, would remain in
\nthe acoustically excellent auditorium.<\/p>\n
We will soundproof, as much as possible, the new rehearsal rooms.<\/p>\n
Regarding health insurance, we should immediately explore
\nmaking a self-pay plan available to members who did not qualify
\nfor full coverage. Then I want to see a start-from-scratch study
\ndone of how our system could be improved. Changing complicated,
\ninertia-driven health care coverage is a difficult task, but we owe
\nit to our membership to reevaluate the current system and make
\nneeded changes.<\/p>\n
Maintaining our local collective bargaining agreements, mostly
\nfor symphonic and theatrical ensembles, keeps hundreds if not
\nthousands of our members working under the most comprehensive
\nform of Union protection possible. Negotiating and servicing
\nthese CBAs takes a great deal of the officers\u2019 time and focus.
\nIdeally I would like to see the CBAs consolidated by category, but
\nthis I\u2019m afraid will be an uphill push, now that employers are
\nused to having individual collective bargaining agreements.<\/p>\n
By contrast, contracts, including the still-in-effect LA-1, that
\nhave been used for many one-night gigs, are not nearly as air
\ntight as collective bargaining agreements. To correct this, I
\ndesigned the SELA contract (Single Engagement Letter of Assent)
\nas a mini-CBA. It also facilitates the band leaders being able to
\nreceive Health & Welfare and Pension benefits. Previously, when
\nthe leaders could not receive health and pension benefits on a
\nUnion contract (unless the employer signs signatory papers), the
\nleaders were highly UNmotivitated to file contracts. That, coupled w
\nith the ignominious 1978 Settlement Agreement that the AFM
\nwas forced by the courts to accept, that totally wiped out any
\npower we had with nightclubs and restaurants, has turned the
\nfreelance business into a modern day wild, wild West. The SELA
\ncontract has had a successful implementation because the
\nmembers themselves sell its use to the employers.<\/p>\n
Lastly, I intend to work closely with the Recording Musicians
\nAssociation and the Theater Musicians Association. These fully
\naccredited conferences of the AFM are the legitimate and
\nrecognized voices of their respective fields. Also, I would
\nencourage the Freelance Musicians Association to seek
\nrecognition as a conference. The RMA and the TMA bring
\ninvaluable expertise to the day to day workings of our Local and
\nto the negotiating table. I have proudly been an RMA member for
\nmany years. I have seen this organization propose and draft far-
\nsighted documents that became the low budget film agreement
\nand video game agreement.<\/p>\n
Many members have concerns that conferences and other
\nspecialized groups may have undo influence. I encourage every
\nmember to be directly involved with the life of our Local. Let me
\nassure you that under my administration all members and
\norganizations will be treated with equal respect and due
\nconsideration.<\/p>\n
I hope this letter has given you some insight into my views and
\nintentions. Since you asked for my position on everything except
\nglobal warming (I\u2019m opposed to it), let this serve as a place to
\nbegin a more in-depth conversation.<\/p>\n
I look forward to speaking with you soon.<\/p>\n
Best regards,
\nDavid Schubach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greetings Local 47 Brothers and Sisters, We were recently forwarded a letter written in response to a member’s questions by Local 47 Presidential Candidate David Schubach. Since this letter could very well answer questions other members may have, we thought we would share it with you here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-committee-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.responsible47.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}