Drew McManus on the Orchestra business | est. 2003

American Federation of Musicians

Colorado Symphony Musicians’ AFM Representation In Question

Thu, May 5, 2015
Adaptistration People 065
Norman Lebrecht broke the news in a post from 5/6/2015 about the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Musicians filing a signed petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regarding the status of their official representation. Currently, the musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM); Denver Musicians Association (DMA), Local 20-623 AFM AFL-CIO; and

A Crisis Of Conscience Inside The AFM

Fri, Apr 4, 2015
Adaptistration People 137
The topic of equal pay for equal work as applied to substitute musician wages has been an uphill examination over the past year. We began exploring the topic in the wake of the Minnesota Orchestra settlement that ended their season-killing lockout after learning the agreement failed to maintain wage parity for substitute musicians and even

For MN Substitute Pay Disparity, No News Isn’t Good News

Fri, Jan 1, 2015
Adaptistration People 133
Following up on the One Year Later, Minnesota Orchestra Pay Disparity Continues To Elicit Strong Opinions article from 1/5/2015, I contacted both representatives from the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra (MOMA) along with Local 30-73, American Federation of Musicians (AFM), the regional office that represents the MN Orchestra musicians, to inquire whether or not there have

Well This Is An Interesting Union Issue

Tue, Jun 6, 2014
ADAPTISTATION-GUY-072
The 6/15/14 edition of the Toronto Star published an article by Allan Woods that reports the Quebec members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) voted to separate from the parent union. Granted, the vote was nothing but close, a reported 53.3 percent majority, but the decision throws all sorts of wrenches into the governance

Met Negotiations Progress As Anticipated

Wed, May 5, 2014
ADAPTISTRATION-GUY-073
A move that might be best described as entirely expected, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra musicians unanimously authorized their negotiating committee to call a strike if negotiations fail to produce a new agreement after the current one expires on Thursday, July 31, 2014. Interestingly enough, the 5/12/2014 edition of the New York Times reported that the
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