The AFM Observer

Does the AFM need a Secretary-Treasurer?

The cases filed by AFM S/T Sam Folio against Marc Sazer and Andy Malloy end with a whimper, it seems:

To:      AFM International Executive Board
From:    Sam Folio
Date:    June 17, 2009

Gentlemen:

This will serve as formal notice that I desire to withdraw without prejudice the charges I levied against Marc Sazer, Case #11, 2007 and Andrew Mallow, Case #12, 2007.

Fraternally and sincerely,

Sam Folio
International Secretary-Treasurer
AFM

I don’t have enough information even to speculate about what's behind this. It’s been suggested to me that the rest of the IEB forced Sam to back down on these charges, which could be true. It’s also been suggested to me that the relationship between Sam and Tom has gone south, and that an electoral challenge to Sam is in the works for the 2009 Convention. Neither would surprise me.

Cohen to FMCS

This seems both good news and well-deserved:

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key administration posts: Peggy E. Gustafson, Inspector General, Small Business Administration and George H. Cohen, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Director.

President Obama said, "At this important time for our nation, I am grateful that these dedicated and skilled individuals have chosen to join our team and serve their country. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years."

George H. Cohen, Nominee for Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Director

George Cohen has had an extensive and distinguished career as a labor lawyer, negotiator, and mediator. During the period 1966-2005 he was a senior partner at Bredhoff & Kaiser, a Washington, D.C. law firm with a national practice, specializing in representing private and public sector labor organizations in collective bargaining involving a wide variety of industries and government entities. Prior to entering into private practice, Mr. Cohen served as an appellate court attorney with the National Labor Relations Board. He is a graduate of Cornell University and its Law School and earned a LLM degree from Georgetown Law. In the past three years he has been engaged in a solo practice as a mediator. He is a member of the prestigious Mediation Panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and has successfully mediated numerous complex, high profile disputes. From the mid 1970's thru 2005, Mr. Cohen was an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law School where he taught the Art of Collective Bargaining and other labor courses.

I had the pleasure of working with George on a number of AFM-related issues, and got to watch him negotiate on occasion as well. Any praise from me would be superfluous. Suffice to say that George is a great, great labor lawyer. The AFM was lucky to have him as General Counsel for many years, and the FMCS will be lucky to have him as Director.

Why unions? Part the Nth

An amazing re-creation (with actual audio and some video at the end) of unionized workers at work. The overlaying text is from the cockpit voice recorder; the rest is from ATC tapes.

Were these guys so good because they were unionized? It's not quite that simple. The FAA sets training and qualification requirements for both pilots and controllers. But certainly the fact that unionization helped pilots, in particular, bargain for good salaries, benefits and job protections helped workers build experience, and attract highly qualified applicants into the workforce in particular. An clearly experience was the key here (although, if the Hudson hadn't been below, this would not have ended happily).

Listen to just how damn cool they all sound.

Your dues dollars at work

It is entirely possible that I'm now being too petty. Maybe a statement like this really does advance the interests of the AFM. But given the number of press releases and other statements on this subject that must be clogging up the InterToobs right about now (Google was nearly brought down yesterday by people tracking this story), I can't imagine anyone paying attention to this one:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  
June 26, 2009                                                                         

CONTACT:  Carmen Group
Nicole Korkolis
202-316-1094
korkolisn@carmengroup.com
 
STATEMENT OF AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA PRESIDENT THOMAS F. LEE ON DEATH OF MICHAEL JACKSON
 
New York, NY – “The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) is deeply saddened by the sudden death of Michael Jackson. A musician, singer, composer, dancer, choreographer and businessman, Mr. Jackson was much more than a performer.  He was a revolutionary, a visionary, who changed the face of music forever and influenced musicians and our industry for more than forty years.
 
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Mr. Jackson.”

It's worth noting that Michael Jackson was not a member of the AFM, although apparently he had been long ago. Obviously there was no need for him to be; he was able to command above-scale wages without the AFM's help. But he wasn't a member.

Did this press release really serve the interests of the membership? It was a nice gesture. But even nice gestures cost money.

(added later) On the other hand, Michael Jackson made some AFM members a lot of money.Those who benefited from distributions from the PRM-SPF (as it used to be known) received much of their distributions from the sales of Michael Jackson's records, at least for a few years - or so I remember hearing, back in the day. No doubt even I benefited, as I got some SPF checks back when his records were selling millions of copies.

I still question whether sending out a press release about his death made any sense. But a big "thank you" would have been in order. Sadly, it's very hard to time those so they're not either too late or too early to mean anything to the thankee.

Cock-a-doodle-three

One more email blast from 1501:

Dear Local Officer,

I writing to send you an alert from the Department for Professional Employees of the AFL-CIO (DPE).  The alert, which you can find below, identifies the newly elected officers of the DPE.  Needless to say, the AFM is honored to have a representative elected as Chairman.  And I am honored to be that representative for all of you and your members.

A history lesson in honor of Rick Blanc

Rick Blanc writes:

National Socialism was not a misnomer. It was socialism combined - or conflated if you prefer - with fascism. Socialism is a leftist ideology. It's popular to call people on the right "Nazis" but it shows ignorance of the facts. National Socialism was a leftist phenomena which was informed strategically by Lenin, Stalin and the Soviets, and like other leftist movements, deadly. I'm on the right. I'm not embarrassed about it and I don't use euphemisms to describe my thinking. Conservatives fundamentally value liberty which obviously has nothing to do with National Socialism.

German history has been an interest of mine for a long time, so I’d like to take time out from discussing the AFM to deal with what Rick writes.

There are many good books in English on modern German history and the Nazi movement. It’s safe to say that not a single reputable historian of the period that I’ve read, or even heard about, regards Nazism as anything but a movement of the Right.

The right way to handle dissenters

I am privileged to be on Local 802’s subscription list for Allegro, their monthly newsletter. It’s essential reading for the union geek, partly because it’s so professionally done but mostly because of how open 802 is.

Does your Local use FedEx?

It shouldn't:

Thousands of drivers for the home-delivery subsidiary of the FedEx Corporation do not have the right to join a union because they are independent contractors and not employees, a divided federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Tuesday...

The ruling overturned a decision by the National Labor Relations Board, which had held that these drivers were employees because they were an essential part of FedEx Home's business. The labor board also said that the company "exercised substantial control" over the performance of the drivers' functions, noting that they must dress the way the company wants, operate vehicles that meet the company's specifications and must display the FedEx logo and colors.
…
In the ruling, Judge Janice Rogers Brown, an appointee of George W. Bush, and Judge Stephen F. Williams, a senior judge appointed by Ronald Reagan, signed the majority opinion. Judge Merrick B. Garland, who was appointed by Bill Clinton, dissented, writing that the drivers should be considered employees....

Lawyers for the plaintiffs voiced concern that the ruling could affect a nationwide class-action suit involving 27,000 FedEx Ground drivers, who accuse the company of misclassifying them as contractors to deny them overtime and health, retirement and other benefits.

Last December, the company agreed to pay $27 million to settle a misclassification lawsuit brought on behalf of 203 drivers in California.

In that suit, a state judge wrote that FedEx Ground had "close to absolute control" over the drivers, adding that the operating agreement they signed was "a brilliantly drafted contract creating the constraints of an employment relationship" disguised in the independent contractor model.

Strike-breaking in Madison?

And now for something completely different...

It appears that the management of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is leading an active fantasy life:

...But there's more scheduled for April 24. That's also when the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra says musicians must respond to its "last, best, final offer" to end the dispute, issued March 23. And that's not the only deadline. Chamber Orchestra executive director Doug Gerhart says the musicians must say by April 22 whether they will play the group's Concerts on the Square series, which begins June 24.

"We're going ahead with the plan," says Gerhart of the summer series. If the Chamber Orchestra does not get a satisfactory response from the musicians by the deadline, Gerhart notes, "We will explore other options." He won't say what those options might be.

MPF RIP

It appears that, after sixty years, James Caesar Petrillo’s grand scheme is coming to the end of the line:

April 2, 2009

To:          All National and Local AFM Local Presidents...
From:      John C. Hall, Jr. – [Music Performance Fund] Trustee

After over sixty years of employment of thousands of professional musicians performing for audiences in the millions, the MUSIC PERFORMANCE TRUST FUND has come to an ending of its basic financing, and we are therefore forced into commencing the process attendant to running down its operations.