Local 47 Brothers and Sisters,<\/p>\n
December 12th is quickly approaching, and time is getting short to get your
\nabsentee ballot in! You still have time to vote by absentee ballot if you act
\nquickly Your completed ballot has to arrive no later than December 11th!<\/p>\n
The future of our local as an agent for the ENTIRE membership desperately
\nneeds your vote! Please get involved in our future and vote, December 12th!<\/p>\n
We recently received this enlightening and impressive e-mail from Independent
\nSlate Candidate Harriet Katz and wanted to share this with you right away.
\nIt contains what most of the incumbent mailings have lacked,.. specifics.
\nShe has experienced working with this board first hand and has great
\ninsight in the behind the scene\u2019s actions at our Local.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Please share this with all your Local 47 colleagues, so they can vote from an
\ninformed position.<\/p>\n
The COMMITTEE fully endorses the Independent Slate.<\/p>\n
Thank you for reading Harriet\u2019s entire statement!<\/p>\n
Until next time,<\/p>\n
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47<\/p>\n
———–<\/p>\n
Dear fellow Local 47 members,<\/p>\n
The current leadership of Local 47 is pathetically behind
\nthe times and arrogantly out of touch with the rank
\nand file. This won\u2019t change unless we change the
\nleadership, by voting for the Independent Candidates Slate: <\/p>\n
President: David Schubach.
\nVice-President: Pete Quesada.
\nTrustees and Delegates: Alan Vavrin, Lisa Haley.
\nDirectors: Tom Griffin, Bobby Rodriguez, David Garfield, Harriet Katz (that\u2019s me)<\/p>\n
Behind-the-times examples:
\n1. Cumbersome voting
\nTo vote in the Local 47 election, you have to vote
\nin person at the union December 12, or request an
\nabsentee ballot by mailing or faxing an absentee ballot
\nrequest, receive the absentee ballot, mark it and mail
\nit back.<\/p>\n
This might have worked well enough in the past when
\nmany members lived relatively close to the union, but it\u2019s
\nwoefully behind the times now, when long distances and
\nthe traffic hassle make it very impractical for most members
\nto drive to the polls. Ours is the only entertainment
\nunion in town that does not simply mail election ballots
\nto its entire membership. And several other AFM
\nlocals around the country use direct mail voting.
\nMore than 350 Local 47 members signed a petition to
\nchange to direct mail voting, but the current leadership
\nopposed and blocked the change.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019re still stuck with the 3-stage absentee
\nvoting process. I urge you to download an absentee
\nballot request right now and follow the instructions.
\nIf it\u2019s not attached to this e-mail, click on www.davidschubah.com .<\/p>\n
2. Still no referral service website
\nThe internet is a great boon to live performance musicians,
\nbecause potential employers can hear our music online.
\nIn my music business, Ladies Choice String Quartet, most
\ninquiries these days come by e-mail rather than phone, from
\npeople who\u2019ve visited our website. I only get a couple of
\ncalls a year now from the yellow pages, so I\u2019m dropping
\nthat expense. But phone book ads are still Local 47\u2019s
\n major if not only way of promoting the referral service.
\nIn July 2003 board member Mike Grego announced that
\nthere would be a referral service website. Vince Trombetta
\nhas stated that he knows little about computers, though
\nlive performance currently falls under his jurisdiction as
\nvice-president. Mike and Vince are still there, but
\nwhere\u2019s the website? <\/p>\n
And who\u2019s in charge of the referral service website
\nproject now? Current president Hal Espinosa\u2019s long-time
\nassistant and then \u201cgeneral manager\u2019\u201c\u009d Doug Caine was
\nworking on this, but he was fired because a rank-and-file
\nmember presented the board with information they didn\u2019t
\nwant to hear: that Doug had a record of felony convictions,
\nmaking it a violation of federal law for a union to employ
\nhim in any capacity. And now, half a year later, Hal and
\nVince still haven\u2019t gotten our referral service website
\nonline, let alone with sponsored links.<\/p>\n
3. No strategic planning
\nWhen I served on the board for two months in 2002, I learned
\na great deal about how Local 47 is run: on an item-by-item,
\nvirtually haphazard basis. There was no overview or
\nanalysis of membership recruitment and retention, or how
\nthat relates to member services, or long-term planning that
\nlinked future projects with future revenue. And whenever I
\nasked why something was done the way it was, the unvarying
\nanswer was, \u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019ve always done it.\u201d This is no
\nway to run a multimillion-dollar organization in the 21st
\ncentury. But most of the people I served with on the board
\nare still there.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the level of thought and analysis the board puts into
\nfinancial planning and policy decisions: earlier this year, the
\naccountant told the board that income was declining and
\nsuggested raising the initiation dues for new member by $75,
\nso without further ado that\u2019s what the board approved.
\nFortunately, that dues hike went to the membership for
\napproval at a general meeting, and the members in attendance
\nrejected it. We cared more about attracting new members
\nthan the board did.<\/p>\n
Out-of-touch-with-us examples:
\n1. Made drastic staff cutbacks in membership services
\nThe current leadership has abolished the Video 47 program.
\nFor the recording studio, referral service, and CD sales\/radio
\nairplay programs, staff has been clumped together, staff time
\nhas been reduced, and many experienced staff members in
\nthese areas have been let go or fired. Errol Henry, who had
\ndone as much as possible without a website to promote the
\nreferral service by proactive contact with chambers of commerce,
\nwas fired. Demoralized, other staff members have quit. Newer
\nstaff have no one to learn from. <\/p>\n
And the work hours of business reps who review and process
\nlive performance contracts have been slashed. If anything, the
\nboard should be doing everything in its power to promote SELA
\nso that many, many more live performance contracts will be filed,
\nwhich in turn would need increased staff time.<\/p>\n
Why weren\u2019t those of us who use these services surveyed
\nfirst about the effect such cuts would have on our ability to find
\nwork? Many of us who depend on live performance
\nincome suspect a hidden agenda by the current leadership
\nto gut all these services that are so helpful us, and only keep
\nthe electronic media and CBA staff at full capacity.<\/p>\n
2. Raised quorum for general meetings to 100 and
\nresisted lowering it back to 50.
\nThe board amended the by-laws to increase the quorum for a
\ngeneral meeting from 50 members to 100. What was the purpose
\nof making it harder to have a general meeting? To limit input
\nfrom and action by the membership at large. The board\u2019s
\nreason? \u201cWe know best.\u201d\u009d But the membership knew better, and
\nat a general meeting more than 170 of us attended and returned
\nthe quorum to 50.<\/p>\n
3. Resistant to rank-and-file input and questions
\nHal states at virtually every general meeting that he and the board
\nwant our input and participation. But when there wasn\u2019t a quorum
\nat the meeting this October, Hal resisted having an informal
\ndiscussion with the members who were present. And Vince immediately packed his briefcase and started to leave. To her
\ncredit, Leslie Lashinsky broke rank with the rest of the
\ncurrent leadership and successfully urged that a discussion take
\nplace.<\/p>\n
During that informal discussion, one member asked Vince Trombetta
\nif the rumor is true that he doesn\u2019t come to the office on Wednesdays.
\nInstead of answering, Vince declared, \u201cI don\u2019t have to answer that question, this isn\u2019t an official meeting!\u201d\u201d Those words, given instead
\nof an answer to the question, speak for themselves. And they
\nsay volumes.<\/p>\n
Some people in the current leadership are undoubtedly committed
\nto the needs of the membership. But the prevailing attitude conveyed by the current leadership is that Local 47 is
\ntheir private fiefdom, to be run however they please.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your attention if you\u2019ve read this far. And
\nplease download the absentee ballot request if you
\nhaven\u2019t already from www.davidschubach.com . And when
\nyou receive your absentee ballot, please vote for all of us on
\nthe Independent Candidates Slate. It\u2019s time to clean house!<\/p>\n
In solidarity,
\nHarriet Katz
\n310-391-3762<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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