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.
Please remember that our election is on December 12th! If you
cannot make it please request or send in your absentee ballot
NOW! The future of our Local depends on your participation and
your vote!
If you need one you an download it at www.davidschubach.com
As always, feel free to write anytime with your questions or comments
and please also share these mailings with all your fellow Local 47
colleagues. We need their participation!
The majority of this country took back power on November 7th.
Our day to take back the Local for ALL the members is December
12th. Be part of history,… VOTE!
Until next time,
THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47
——-
****,
You asked for my views and proposals that would take place at
our Local if I am elected President. Let me reply in broad strokes
and then in specifics.
First, I pledge to you that my administration will conduct itself
with the highest professional and ethical standards.
I am running for office because I know I can advance the Union
cause and be of service to our members, and because I have
been encouraged to do so by many members across the broad
spectrum of musical disciplines. I have stood up as the voice of
all members and as their instrument of change at Local 47. The
incumbent opponents have been in office for several years, and
have not achieved nor proposed any meaningful change,
especially concerning cultivating an atmosphere for job growth.
Instead, they have demonstrated disdain and disregard for the
membership in general. The choice is clear. We can stagnate or
we can move into the future. If I am elected I will definitely have
a mandate to initiate progressive changes from top to bottom.
As I say in my stump speech, I am on a mission to bring Local 47
into the 21st Century. Members should be able to file contracts
and access their individual data online (just as most banks now
do). The middle-management staff should function much more
as a sales staff than as clerks, interfacing with both members
and employers, and always for the benefit of the members. Most
prospective new employers have negative misconceptions about
the Union. We should identify and market ourselves to these
employers. The leadership, administrative, sales and marketing
skills that I learned as a business owner, and demonstrated
while running the Network Office, will be well used in reinventing
our Union.
Our neighboring Locals should look to Local 47 to set the
standard of excellence, and to support their efforts in the region.
The current administration has created an atmosphere of hostility
among our neighboring Locals, such that they had to band
together and take Local 47 before the International Executive
Board to settle a jurisdictional dispute about Local 47’s freelance
contracts being used in their territories. (Our neighboring Locals
prevailed, by the way.)
Building alliances at all levels is tremendously important. I will
cultivate a new era of good relations by working in partnership
with neighboring Locals. Since many members belong to multiple
Locals, I advocate a unified system of wage scales throughout the
region. This would greatly simplify the paperwork for our
members.
We must also rebuild our relationship with the AFM. A good
working relationship with our parent organization is mandatory.
The current Local 47 administration has let favoritism, petty
squabbles and personal animosity poison the well. In fact our
current president is fond of saying, “It’s my job to get in [AFM
President] Tom Lee’s face.” The name of our organization is
Professional Musicians. We should, at the very least, expect and
demand that our officers conduct themselves as professionals,
even when they don’t agree with members or colleagues.
Especially when they don’t agree.
Similarly, the business office at the Local must be run in a
thoroughly professional manner. Service to our members will be
the highest priority. I will re-institute periodic employee
evaluations and written job descriptions.
I believe that private teaching should be considered as legitimate
work for a professional musician. Many musicians augment their
income by teaching. And yes, if private teaching was Union work,
it would also add to the members’ health insurance and pension
funds.
The Recording Studio, Referral Service and CD Sales/Radio Airplay
departments should be restored to their former prominence.
These departments, while important to members across the
spectrum, are extremely important to newer members, and are
crucial in attracting new members. The Video 47 program, which
has been totally shut down, would be reborn. The Recording
Studio, which the current administration wants to move into the
basement clubroom, an inferior recording space, would remain in
the acoustically excellent auditorium.
We will soundproof, as much as possible, the new rehearsal rooms.
Regarding health insurance, we should immediately explore
making a self-pay plan available to members who did not qualify
for full coverage. Then I want to see a start-from-scratch study
done of how our system could be improved. Changing complicated,
inertia-driven health care coverage is a difficult task, but we owe
it to our membership to reevaluate the current system and make
needed changes.
Maintaining our local collective bargaining agreements, mostly
for symphonic and theatrical ensembles, keeps hundreds if not
thousands of our members working under the most comprehensive
form of Union protection possible. Negotiating and servicing
these CBAs takes a great deal of the officers’ time and focus.
Ideally I would like to see the CBAs consolidated by category, but
this I’m afraid will be an uphill push, now that employers are
used to having individual collective bargaining agreements.
By contrast, contracts, including the still-in-effect LA-1, that
have been used for many one-night gigs, are not nearly as air
tight as collective bargaining agreements. To correct this, I
designed the SELA contract (Single Engagement Letter of Assent)
as a mini-CBA. It also facilitates the band leaders being able to
receive Health & Welfare and Pension benefits. Previously, when
the leaders could not receive health and pension benefits on a
Union contract (unless the employer signs signatory papers), the
leaders were highly UNmotivitated to file contracts. That, coupled w
ith the ignominious 1978 Settlement Agreement that the AFM
was forced by the courts to accept, that totally wiped out any
power we had with nightclubs and restaurants, has turned the
freelance business into a modern day wild, wild West. The SELA
contract has had a successful implementation because the
members themselves sell its use to the employers.
Lastly, I intend to work closely with the Recording Musicians
Association and the Theater Musicians Association. These fully
accredited conferences of the AFM are the legitimate and
recognized voices of their respective fields. Also, I would
encourage the Freelance Musicians Association to seek
recognition as a conference. The RMA and the TMA bring
invaluable expertise to the day to day workings of our Local and
to the negotiating table. I have proudly been an RMA member for
many years. I have seen this organization propose and draft far-
sighted documents that became the low budget film agreement
and video game agreement.
Many members have concerns that conferences and other
specialized groups may have undo influence. I encourage every
member to be directly involved with the life of our Local. Let me
assure you that under my administration all members and
organizations will be treated with equal respect and due
consideration.
I hope this letter has given you some insight into my views and
intentions. Since you asked for my position on everything except
global warming (I’m opposed to it), let this serve as a place to
begin a more in-depth conversation.
I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Best regards,
David Schubach