AAOfficiaGlG PublicaMtMion of theAA AmericZaZn GuilIdI of MNuNsical ArEtEists A Branch of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America • Affiliated with the AFL-CIO January 2009 Volume 63, Number 1 E XECUTIVE D IRECTOR’S I N T H I S EPORT BY ALAN S. G ORDON R I S S U E A Tale of Two Cities President’s message 2 Charles Dickens’ 1859 classic novel have AGMA contracts that protect Honor Your “Letter of intent” 3 begins with the words: “It was the best of dancers and choristers with guaranteed times, it was the worst of times.” To annual weeks of work. All AGMA soloist Board of Governors some extent, that phrase describes the contracts are pay-or-play, whether can - Terms expiring 4 situation facing our members now in celled or not. Down the street from our Seat Vacancy Table 5 what Dickens then called the “season of national headquarters, however, there Allocation Table 6 despair.” are eleven Broadway theaters that The Officer Petition 8 Arts institutions around the country New York Time s reports will stay dark Board Petition 9 are suffering from the worst loss of this season because there simply are no Area news patron funding and ticket buying in funds with which to produce plays. And new York 10 decades and, in some cases, from inept Equity contracts don’t have the annual management. Opera Pacific simply guarantees that ours do. San Francisco 11 went out of business, and Baltimore For AGMA, all of this means a great Washington/Baltimore 12 Opera sought protection from its debts deal of work: defending its members, through a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy pro - enforcing existing contracts, assuring new Orleans 13 ceeding. New York City Opera continues that pay-or-play contracts are either Philadelphia 13 to founder without a leader and without a enforced or renegotiated to the artists’ season. satisfaction, negotiating new collective Pittsburgh 13 But even better-run opera compa - bargaining agreements in the context of AGmA Relief Fund Holiday nies are experiencing fiscal troubles tough times and, now, aggressively pur - drive 14 and are being forced to cut or postpone suing claims in bankruptcy court, arbitra - productions. For our chorister mem - tion and litigation. And, for many of our A Union Guide to Working bers in companies without full-time cho - soloist members, we remain locked in lit - in a Right-to-Work State 17 ruses, this means a loss of jobs. For igation to protect them against agent AGmA Relief Fund our soloist members, it means contracts abuses. Fortunately for its members, Audited Financials 18 they had depended upon are being can - AGMA is perfectly positioned to be both celled, and there are fewer places to ready, and able, to protect and defend AGmA Answers: Health find new jobs. Ballet companies are them. Plan B 21 somewhat better off, but declining ticket As an institution, AGMA is in excellent Contact List 23 sales and patrons’ investment losses shape. Its finances, its leadership, and will also affect their ability to sustain its staff are the best they’ve ever been. discounts for AGmA their levels of activity. We have an activist President who members 24 I don’t want to be guilty of “schaden - makes it his business to visit every freude” (feeling better about the misfor - AGMA Area and hear first-hand about tune of others), but frankly, this dismal the concerns of members. He is sup - RemindeR state of affairs is less destructive to our ported by a host of other elected officials Officer and Board of Governor members than the effect it has on other and a Board of Governors that is unfail - arts institutions. Most ballet and dance ing in its support of members’ rights and Petitions are due in the national companies and major opera companies (continues on page 3) Office by march 1, 2009. Page 2 AGMAZINE January 2009 The American Guild of Musical Artists 1430 Broadway, 14th Floor New York, New York 10018-3308 (212) 265-3687 ROM THE Fax: (212) 262-9088 F www.MusicalArtists.org Lawrence Tibbett, Founding President PRESIDENT Jascha Heifetz, Founding Vice President AMES James Odom, President J Gerald Otte, 1st Vice President John Coleman, 2nd Vice President DOM Colby Roberts, 3rd Vice President O Sara Stewart, 4th Vice President Gregory Stapp, 5th Vice President Lynn Lundgren, Treasurer AGMA Is The Good Guys Louis Perry, Recording Secretary D. and I have been friends for thirty-nine years now, almost our entire lives. Alan S. Gordon, National Executive Director I’m not going to use D.’s full name, and while it is highly unlikely that she will ever Gerry Angel, Director of Operations read this, I’m apologizing in advance in case she does. Because even though I love her dearly, we do not always see eye-to-eye on things. General Counsel Bruce Simon Over the years, our lives have taken very different paths. After college, I went Cohen, Weiss, & Simon on to search for fame and fortune and wound up an opera singer instead. D. (212) 563-4100 stayed put and after some time and additional degree-earning became the site Chicago Counsel Barbara J. Hillman director for an archeological dig. It’s fascinating work and I’m more than willing Cornfield and Feldman (312) 236-7800 to brag about her over drinks if you want to hear about it. As usual, we’ve reached the point where you start to wonder if I have one. A Special Counsel Gail Lopez-Henriquez point, that is. I do. D. and I were having one of our tele-coffee klatches, and, as Freedman & Lorry (215) 925-8400 it usually does, the conversation turned to AGMA. You see, for reasons that completely elude me, she’s quite proud of my union work. The reason that her Eastern Counsel Deborah J. Allton-Maher [email protected] pride eludes me is that she is adamantly anti-union and an ardent supporter of (800) 543-2462 the right-to-work movement. For those of you who have run further down this Western Counsel John C. Russum road and are wondering…no, you do not want to hear us “discuss” politics. [email protected] D.’s father was originally from upstate New York. She grew up hearing stories (310) 215-9554 of Teamsters and violence and “good, honest men who couldn’t get a job New York Area Dance Executive because they wouldn’t join the union.” She tells stories of a Texas supermarket James Fayette chain being driven out of town because the national union insisted that workers [email protected] (800) 543-2462 who didn’t want to be union members strike rather than settle a contract. (This confuses me. Texas is a right-to-work state, and I really can’t imagine how it Area Representation could have happened.) She honestly believes that unions are no longer needed Mid-Atlantic Eleni Kallas because she honestly believes that the market determines what wages should National Director of be and that employers will pay top wages to get top workers. She also believes Organizing and Training [email protected] that for the most part the union movement has out-lived its usefulness because, (301) 869-8266 in her opinion, most union leaders are now more concerned with maintaining San Francisco Nora Heiber their positions and power than with realistically representing their members. National Dance Executive Did I mention that she’s a woman who has never been a member of a union, [email protected] (415) 552-2800 never sat at a bargaining table, and has worked her entire life either for small businesses or in academia? She doesn’t agree with me that many of the benefits she currently enjoys are the result of the hard work and careful bargaining of the Texas Faculty Association, which is affiliated with the Texas State Teachers Association and the National Education Association. I love her, but in this I’m right. Fortunately, we do agree on one thing when this issue comes up. She has suffered through a lot of AGMA contract negotiations, contract enforcement fights, and my dealing with union business when I’m supposed to be spending Editor: Denise Baker MMRC Liaison: Karen Grahn time with her. As ardently as she believes the labor movement has outlived its usefulness, she believes this: AGMA is the good guys. Our focus is our mem - bers. We are honest brokers who really do negotiate in good faith. We are a union of which you should be proud to be a member. Now if I could just convince her that you don’t drink chocolate milk with burritos... AGMAZINE January 2009 Page 3 Honor Your “Letter of Intent” Q: I am a dancer working for an AGMA dance company Company managements are required to honor such offers and the company’s management has sent me a “letter of of employment, and once a dancer accepts the offer, he or she intent” inviting me back for next season before I sign my is bound to respect it. Through the grievance and arbitration contract. Is this letter of intent binding once I agree to process of our collective bargaining agreements, AGMA can accept it? enforce such an offer should a company try to withdraw it after A: Many but not all of our dance agreements have a an Artist has committed to it. However, what this also means procedure that requires the management of a company to is that you are likewise committed, even if you later decide that distribute letters to dancers inviting them to work for that com - you want to leave or perform somewhere else.