[Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales

[Dave Hanson]

As a long time Union member I know what has been going on for a number of years. I do want to remind you that the Union is YOU, not the building or the people that work there.  If you don't come to meetings, get rid of sorry officers, come up with effective by-laws and generally get involved, then you get what has happened to the AFM. Networking is very important and instrument insurance is easily available and the pension fund has over 1.7 billion dollars in it, and pays out a staggering amount monthly to retirees that have been vested after just 5 years. 

I'm a professional musician and never thought twice about whether or not I need to remain a member. There are a lot ot of horror stories and I think we have all heard them. I know I will raise the ire of some on this list, but I continue as an active member and host a weekly session here in Atlanta every Tuesday evening and have 94 people on my mailing list. It's open to non-union as well to members, and is a community outreach program that has been going on for seven years. Many players have been hired for gig's from this effort and we don't give a whit whether they are members or not.

Just my two cents worth.

Dave Hanson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Russ Guarino 
  To: Dave Hanson 
  Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List 
  Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 11:50 AM
  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales


  The reason I am a union member is because I am able to get the performance
  insurance for $255 a year.... not available to non union musicians.

  Russ Guarino

  Mike wrote:

  > Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis wrote:
  > > I am still a union member but you need to think about it.  Most of the
  > > people I work with have been union members at one time or another and
  > > are pretty disillusioned with it.
  >
  > I know a lot of musicians in my area are not Union and many
  > became that way because they really didn't see the Union working
  > for them.
  > > If I had to depend on the Union I would be out of business but it's
  > > really not fair to put that all on them.  Unions have been in the
  > > decline for a lot of years.  It is a good place to network with other
  > > musicians and may be worth the dues just for that.
  > > Larry
  >
  > We've all seen what the digital age has done with the music
  > industry. It remains to be seen if Union can actually keep up
  > and remain a force to be reckoned with. I'd like to see Unions
  > last but as you've said Unions have been in a slow decline for
  > many years and they are nearly nonexistant in some cities. Where
  > I live, there are very few Union gigs;mostly symphony work and
  > theatre productions.
  >
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