The Negotiation Process: Why Bother?

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After posting the initial articles from for this series on the Negotiation Process, many Adaptistration readers wrote in wondering why orchestra musicians are part of an organized labor union. Sam from Golden, Colorado wrote in to ask: “I don’t really think of musicians like auto workers, why do they even have a union?” Not long ago, I asked a very similar question to, Len Leibowitz a veteran labor lawyer that has …

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The Negotiation Process: A Historical Timeline

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The manner in which contract negotiations have developed over the past 50 years has been fast and furious.  Even the term “traditional bargaining” is in itself, not very accurate since it’s only been used for the past 40 years or so. Before then, musicians didn’t even have a voice in how their contracts were negotiated; it was all handled between the AFM local union officers and the orchestra managers. By and …

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