In the spirit of Sharing September, I\u2019d like to share with you how I try to approach each week in service to you, our members and our musical community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are so many different areas of endeavor that our Local 47 is engaged with and responsible for that keeping track and keeping up, isn\u2019t always easy. We administer (and bargain) over 50 local collective bargaining agreements, responsible for administering and participating in all of our major and minor media agreements, keep up and participate in labor movement, political and legislative worlds, supervise staff and administer the business of Local 47, run the brick and mortar building – it\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
To begin, we have weekly meetings of your titled officers. None of our forward progress – or frankly, our mental health – would be possible without having a great team working together with regular communication and constant brainstorming. Vice President John Acosta, Secretary\/Treasurer Gail Kruvand and I are in constant touch with each other, and our synergy and relationship is foundational to the success of our Local. I can\u2019t say enough about how much I appreciate their dedication, professionalism, vision and friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each week I take time to step back and focus on an overview of our current and future situation from 30,000 feet. Living day-to-day, hand-to-mouth can get us through and keep us hobbling along, but to grow and thrive we must work from and with a vision for the future. I have to help make sure that we don\u2019t lose sight of larger, more long term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our local live performance collective bargaining agreements are responsible for a tremendous amount of employment, wages and benefits, and cover an impressively large diversity of workplaces, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the organists who perform at the El Capitan Theater, from the Pantages and the Ahmanson to the Pacific Jazz Orchestra. Each of these require renegotiating, and we have a comprehensive spreadsheet that calendars all of the CBA\u2019s (when they expire, when key events take place), all of the committee members, employer contacts, notes on grievances and other compliance actions. We\u2019ve also developed a set of wage scale charts covering all of our CBA\u2019s so that committee members can see what peer orchestras pay in wages, H&W, Pension and other contract elements. This week will see us bargaining with one employer and meeting with three other committees to prepare for upcoming negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the media side, Local 47 supports the American Federation of Musicians in tandem with the Recording Musicians Association for each of the major agreements. We are currently bargaining with major record labels for the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA), with a fantastic group of RMA rank-and-file committee members. We are also assisting RMA and AFM leadership in the tremendous amount of work being done to prepare for the next film\/TV negotiations, which will take place next year. Both of these campaigns involve planning, research, thought, strategizing and constant committee meetings! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our staff work round the clock administering these contracts, checking B Forms, communicating with companies, contractors and musicians, and helping keep the checks flowing smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supervising staff and keeping our internal work here at Local 47 moving successfully is another area that requires a part of every week. We are fortunate to have terrific staff from top to bottom, deeply dedicated in service to you and our union. Again, supervising staff succeeds in part because we as officers are in constant communication and stay on the same page with one another..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout all of these efforts we need to be engaged with the labor movement, principally through the LA County Federation of Labor, where I serve as a Vice President, and the Entertainment Union Coalition (EUC) within which I represent the AFM, and individual relationships. Our legislative goals and needs also depend on political relationships, in City Hall in both Los Angeles and Burbank, at the County Board of Supervisors, in Sacramento and in Washington D.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of all of this we are responsible for our property, a multi-million dollar tract of land that houses both the building we work in (and rent out part of) and our archives building. The insurances, taxes, maintenance and utilities represent crucial expenses, and rental income creates a partial offset. Vice President Acosta bears the responsibility of overseeing our physical plant, and has stepped up with energy and creativity to maximize rental opportunities, which is why visitors to Local 47 will see so many cars and trucks in the parking lot (creating rental income) and two new office rentals downstairs. Nonetheless, John, Gail and I talk regularly about how to manage our property most effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key factor that binds all of these efforts together is organizing; developing and utilizing a strategic organizing approach to achieving what we want and need. Whether it is compliance in CBA\u2019s, accomplishments in Sacramento, bargaining the best possible contracts or unionizing non-covered work, helping musicians talk with musicians and flex their muscles as union musicians will always be the pathway to growth. Appointing member task forces, electing and training stewards, supporting the contract organizing led by members for film\/TV\/streaming and sound recording is all part of the weekly mix. Our Director of Organizing Eva Nevarez is central to, and wonderfully effective in all of these activities. Our new representation of the Teaching Artists of the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles is one example of a new area of representation, as is the new private teacher\u2019s version of the LS-1 contract that will allow health care as well as pension contributions for private teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Circling back, it is imperative that we approach all of our quotidian daily tasks within a strategic overview. At the 2026 AFM Convention in Ottawa, International Secretary-Treasurer Ken Shirk spoke of the long history of the AFM living with a poverty mindset, raising just enough revenue to get by, cutting expenses when necessary, and managing for survival. We need to keep our focus on growth, thriving, finding new places to help musicians win union coverage, health care and retirement benefits. Paso a paso – step by step!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the spirit of Sharing September, I\u2019d like to share with you how I try to approach each week in service to you, our members and our musical community. There are so many different areas of endeavor that our Local 47 is engaged with and responsible for that keeping track and keeping up, isn\u2019t always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n