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DEBRA COWAN and ERIC ERICKSON

on becoming Vested in the AFM Pension!

Welcome new members!

Brodie West

Tom Kaszulanis (Kastle)

Meredith Bates

Tesser (Theresa) Call

Greg Royal

Salvatore Rosselli

Nicolas Cazares

Woody Guthrie Bowling Tournament

to Benefit Local 1000 Emergency Relief Fund & Organizing Efforts.

Have fun and support your fellow musicians!  Watch Tret’s video, learn more about and sign up here.  Read President McCutcheon’s invitation letter.

One of the ways that Local 1000 can work for its members when times get tough is through our Emergency Relief Fund (ERF).

This is funding that has been set aside to provide up to $1000
in a no-interest, pay-it-back-when-you-can loan to members who
demonstrate financial need.

Learn more on the webpage.

The June AFM convention brought big changes to our union. Ray Hair, President of the Dallas/Fort Worth Local was elected president of the American Federation of Musicians in a contested election against incumbent Tom Lee. Hair has been a supporter of Local 1000 from its beginnings and is an enthusiastic champion of the organizing model of unionism.

Elected Vice-President in a contest with incumbent Harold Bradley was Bruce Fife from the Portland, OR Local. Fife pioneered the Fair Trade Music campaign in Portland which encourages venues to sign agreements to treat musicians fairly.

Elected to the 5-seat International Executive Board (IEB) were Tino Gagliardi, president of Local 802 in New York City, with a proven record for fighting for democracy and openness in the union and David Pomeroy, who successfully ran a reform ticket to unseat a long-rooted power base in the Nashville Local.

The newly-elected IEB has a majority of members who support organizing and who are likely to lend a helping hand to Local 1000’s agenda, where for the last 9 years the Local stood alienated against the Federation’s leadership, largely due to Lee’s animosity.

In past years there have been upward of 100 resolutions and recommendations that have come to the convention floor. This year there were only 25 recommendations and a paltry 18 resolutions. Among the recommendations was one to raise dues. Both the recommendation and a substitute recommendation failed to pass muster of an unimpressed delegation wary of more-of-the-same.

A tax on special payments which was voted on several conventions ago was lifted. A compromise dues resolution was passed only after new leadership elected, which would reach into the pockets of recording musicians who reached a particular level of income. But any dues increase would have to be ratified by the players affected.

The AFM moves forward with serious financial woes and continued membership decline. But with new leadership who understand that change for the Union in the way of presenting a completely new face to musicians in North America, there is much to be hopeful for.  Local 1000, as the Local that has represented such a face, is likely to have its voice heard by the Federation leadership for the first time in years.

Earlier this month, following heavy rains in the Southeast, Tennessee’s Cumberland River rose seventeen feet above flood stage.  It is in one of the largest non-hurricane weather disasters in US history.  The flooded area in and around Nashville, according to Local 1000 member Janis Ian, is “the size of New Jersey.”  Thirty people died. The Grand Old Opry’s stage was under two feet of water.  The Country Music Hall of Fame was flooded.  Symphony Hall was decimated losing not only its performance space but countless instruments.  And, in the wake of the Times Square bombing and the Gulf oil spill, little has found its way into daily news reports.  Some of this is due, undoubtedly, to the extraordinary local efforts at recovery and relief.  But more is needed.

AFM Local 257 in Nashville recently underwent a remarkable shake-up in leadership.  The result is a very new Nashville Local, one that has reached out to Local 1000 in hopes of forging important and fraternal alliances to help create a very new AFM International.  President Dave Pomeroy and I jointly hosted our booth at the International Bluegrass Music Association conference in Nashville last year.  He signed on as a co-sponsor on to our AFM Convention recording resolution.  The ties between the Nashville Local and Local 1000 are more than ones of union solidarity, they are close, they are personal.  We have many members living in and around Nashville.  This disaster is our own.

Local 257 has set up a relief fund at: http://www.nashvillemusicians.org/?pg=news&newsId=36.  We encourage all Local 1000 members to be generous and compassionate in their support of this fund.  Our sisters and brothers in Nashville need our help.  They’ve always been there for us.  Now it’s our turn.

Begin:  June 14, 2010

End:  June 24, 2010

Location:  www.eBay.com

Pete Signs Banjo for Local 1000 Auction VIDEO

Click here for the Press Release.

Union Song Contest Brothers & Sisters in Song

Write a song about what you like about your union and/or your Union Plus benefits. Here’s your chance to support the labor movement and impress your fellow union members with your musical talent.

$2000 Prize

Union-themed ringtones are also welcome.

Sponsored by UnionPlus

Visit here for more details:
unionsongcontest.org