AFM local opposes employee status for musicians?

In view of the AFM’s long-time support for collective bargaining rights for musicians, this news story seemed a little off-key:

Nightclub operators, concert promoters and musicians around the state are singing the blues over an effort by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry to enforce a seemingly obscure statute that governs the relationship between performers and the people who pay them.

It is a complicated regulatory issue – the kind that most of us would prefer to leave to our accountants.

But the cultural fallout could spill into every bar, bar mitzvah, community center and concert hall in Montana.

Some people involved in the Montana music business say that if the dispute isn’t resolved soon, it could all but spell the end of live concerts in the state.

“I don’t think it would be financially viable for us to do live shows, to be honest,” said Scott McIntyre, co-owner of the Badlander and the Palace Lounge in downtown Missoula.

“These arbitrary regulations will, in effect, put most if not all musicians in this market out of work,” added Jack Souligny, secretary and  treasurer of the Musicians of Western Montana Local 498 of the American Federation of Musicians.

The “arbitrary regulations” in question would mandate that musicians be treated as employees and not independent contractors. What’s odd about this is that the AFM has repeatedly taken the position that musicians – or at least orchestra musicians – are indeed employees. And labor law requires an employment relationship in order to organize a bargaining unit. Yet the Local is opposing it.

Almost as odd is the fact that the sponsor of a bill repealing the regulation is a Democrat.

None of this is to say that Mr. Souligny is wrong. The same musician could genuinely be an employee in one situation and an independent contractor in another. But it's intriguing nonetheless.