I'm learning not to be surprised by anything I read in the cOMMITTEe'S emails, but their description of what happened with the financial package was quite...interesting:
Yesterday, we told you about the joint Law and Finance Committee Substitute Resolution I (The finance package)
There was endless debate with many, many delegates protesting that their locals simply could not afford it, NO WAY, NO HOW. They also said cuts should be made rather than fee hikes.
A deal was struck on an alternate Joint Financial Package that was presented this morning.
NOT A WORD WAS CHANGED from the previous days package except the terms of the 2% fee on special payments. All the other fees and costs and charges remained, exactly as it was yesterday, EXACTLY.
On the RMA 2%, it was removed and it is going to be under the direct control of the IEB (The RMA IEB now) and a four person committee of those who work in the area (RMAers). This is described in Article 8; section 6 of the AFM bylaws. Also, if we heard correctly, those who qualify to vote on contracts would have to ok any fee. In other words, The foxes guarding the hen house. Much like BP doing their own safety checks. Anyone making under $2,500 in special payments will not be charged.
So the only, the single difference is that the RMA got exactly what it wanted, and most of the folks who yesterday said NO WAY, WE CAN’T PAY, today said, “fine”.
It took less that 16 hours for the small locals to wake up to having been successfully played as suckers by the RMA for the recording members benefit. And let’s see if the new RMA IEB will ok any fees.
Apparently the fact that what was distributed this morning had nothing to do with the "previous day's package" escaped the cOMMITTEe's attention. The reason that all those who had opposed increasing per caps didn't oppose the new package was that the new package didn't increase per caps. The only change from the current dues structure was the addition of the new fee on recording musicians making over a certain threshold.
To be more precise, the package passed Thursday morning had precisely two components. The first changed the Bylaws to incorporate an annual fee, set by the IEB but then approved by the EMSD Oversight Committee and ratified by the affected musicians, payable by those musicians who made over $2,500 annually under AFM non-symphonic media agreements. The second eliminated the section of the Bylaws imposing the 2% back-end payment.
The word "clueless" doesn't begin to describe the cOMMITTEe'S understanding of what happens in the AFM or at AFM Conventions. Part of me envies them their ability to live in a reality-free world. A much larger part does not envy their inability to understand what everyone in the room got very quickly; that the new package eliminated all the proposed per cap increases.
They don't seem to have a lot of respect for the intelligence of the delegates, do they?
Some of their readers seem to have trouble with the web as well:
Hello Comm!
Thank you for posting voices pro and con on your site! I have tried to add to the discourse on the AFM Observer and it appears that certain points of view are not going to get aired there...
Whoever it was must not have tried very hard to "add to the discourse on the AFM Observer," as I haven't been moderating comments for months. It's true that the blog is set up so that commenters have to agree with the TypePad Terms of Service, but that's not quite the same thing as not allowing "certain points of view" to be "aired."
You know they arent going to do that. They are upset but this back - and forth tit for tat hampers our new leaders. I - would like to think those that campaigned for them believe in the olatform they won on. If so, half truths and insults - will be ignored or at the very least respectfully corrected.
And thank you so much for you kind response to my comment.
Posted by: Donna9680 | June 25, 2010 at 11:21 PM
...if those of you who fought the hard fight to get them elected continue to take the bait of the opposition and do battle, then the very platform Ray and his team stand on is shaken.
Remember, what you do and say reflect on our new president, Ray Hair and his board. Turn the other cheek and rise above the talk on other blogs. Give these people a chance to do their job.
I apologize for butting in, but it is time to be civil to one another.
I agree. The cOMMITTEe could start by accurately reporting on what actually happened and by not trashing Ray and the IEB as the "RMA IEB" before they've done a single thing.
Posted by: Robert Levine | June 25, 2010 at 09:47 PM
I admit, i was not pleased with the outcome of the election. That said, they are now rhe leaders of the AFM. They ran on a platform of Unity, Change and Healing the division of the AFM.
I repect rhem all tho I might disagree. I am willing to give them a chance, to help whenever asked, but if those of you who fought the hard fight to get them elected
continue to take the bait of the opposition and do battle, then the very platform Ray and his team stand on is shaken.
Remember, what you do and say reflect on our new president, Ray Hair and his board. Turn the other cheek and rise above the talk on other blogs. Give these people a chance to do their job.
I apologize for butting in, but it is time to be cival to one another.
Posted by: Donna9680 | June 25, 2010 at 09:40 PM
Perhaps we owe him our thanks for being on the other side.
One of the many lessons I learned from my mentor and friend Brad Buckley was to pick one's adversaries wisely.
Posted by: Robert Levine | June 25, 2010 at 08:17 PM
No, they WERE at the same convention because I saw Mr. cOMMITTEe sitting right behind you for 4 days! I was coming around a corner on the evening of the election only to pass Mr. cOMMITEe talking on his cell. All I heard was "and that asshole Tino from New York..." A class act all the way.
Posted by: Neil Garber | June 25, 2010 at 05:48 PM
Perhaps the cOMMITTEe's hold on reality was shaken by the fact that in spite of his efforts to smear the leadership of Local 47 and his antipathy to the RMA, Vince Trombetta received more votes for IEB than any other candidate and the delegates emphatically voted to end The War.
Perhaps we owe him our thanks for being on the other side.
Posted by: Bruce Schultz | June 25, 2010 at 04:01 PM