by Gordon Grayson, EMD Administrator

Every Monday the Local sends a stack of automatically generated letters to all sorts of non-member musicians from all sorts of places for all sorts of engagements. These Taft-Hartley Musician Notifications refer to multitudes of musical employment, but all have one particular thing in common: my signature. The letters are something of a blunt tool, meant to apply to all manner of varied circumstances of employment that today’s musical workplace presents, but they most assuredly are intended to inform rather than offend. They do seemingly never cease to generate curiosity and/or concern among their recipients, who inevitably call the phone number at the bottom to discuss – also mine. Sometimes once a day, sometimes five, I have the opportunity to wax philosophical on the subtle intricacies of congressional legislation as it relates to collective bargaining, labor and union employment… Taft-Brother-Truckin’-Hartley, baby! Continue reading →