June 2023 Newsletter

Dear Union Family,

This is our regular monthly email newsletter. It includes reminders, member news and important announcements from the Executive Board and the office.

News from the Executive Board

President’s Message

A big thank you to everyone who reached out and set up a reoccurring monthly payment for your Estimated Work Dues payments. For a variety of reasons, many of us are doing gig work off contract. This is great for you but not great for the Local as it lessens our income from working dues, and working dues is what pays our bills.

There have been some questions as folks read the newsletter article and the email blast regarding Estimated Work Dues. Let me try and answer some of the questions. First, if you have set up a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), you do not need to pay an additional Estimated Work Dues payment. You are paying dues as stated in your CBA. Just simply continue to pay pension and dues each month based on your CBA. If you are beginning to settle into less performing and touring, your income may be less, hopefully you are taking the benefits of your pension! You are only required to pay working dues on the money you make performing. If you are only doing one or two shows a month or even one or two shows every couple of months, you only pay Estimated Work Dues on what you anticipate working. It is a way to pay a little each month and not have to make specific payments on your actual off contract work. If you only make $200 in 6 months, you can set up a regular payment of just $5.00 every 6 months. Or you can just send in a check for $5.00 every 6 months. Either way, you are making a good faith estimate on the amount of money you will make over the course of a year (or so). If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions: President@local1000.org

The Estimated Work Dues is meant to help those of us that don’t always fill out a contract. Hopefully you will find this an easy and helpful way to continue to pay work dues. Remember if all our members would either pay Estimated Work Dues or make a Solidarity Pledge we would be well on our way to funding the needed work of the Local.

A final note, I look forward to representing Local 1000 at the 102nd AFM Convention in late June. There is important business that will be conducted as well as electing a new Executive Board for the AFM. If you have any suggestions towards the business at the convention, please let me know.

Keep the Music Alive! Together We Are Mighty!

President Fowler

Upcoming Membership Meetings

We have two more membership meetings in 2023. Please mark these dates in your calendar. All meetings will be by Zoom – more details to follow!

Thursday, August 24th 7:00 Eastern

Thursday, November 16th 7:00 Eastern

Important Upcoming Dates

Jul 6: E-Board Meeting

Jul 26: Women’s Coffee & Caucus

Aug 17: E-Board Meeting

Aug 24: Membership Meeting

For more information, view the Local 1000 calendar

Local 1000 Women’s Coffee & Caucus

The next “Women’s Coffee & Caucus Hour” will be on Wednesday, July 26th. We will continue our lively and enriching discussion of feminism and intersectionality, bringing in personal experiences as women in music and in our union. Faith Nolan led us on an incredible conversation on May 24^th, which will continue at our next session. Join us for support, sharing experiences, truth, action, planning future events, and amplifying women’s voices in our union.

Wednesday, July 26th.@ 12pm PT/1pm MT/2pm CT/3pm ET

This is a recurring meeting; stay tuned for future dates.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82276196970?pwd=RFpiQWdmQXRxQ1hhL2FERVd0VnNuZz09

Meeting ID: 822 7619 6970

Passcode: 288278

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kyKnWZcFI

Local 1000 First Monday Coffee Hour to Break for the Summer

The Local 1000 First Monday Coffee Hour is open to all Local 1000 members. We started meeting during the quarantine months of 2020, as a way to keep in touch with our fellow union musicians and to find out how our members are navigating the changes that have occurred since then. We have no agenda…we talk about what’s on people’s minds…imagine that for a union meeting! At our last meeting on Monday, June 5, we decided to take a short break for the summer, but we’ll be back on Monday October 2, at 12pm PT/1pm MT/2pm CT/3pm ET. We hope you will consider joining us then for relaxed conversation and union solidarity.

Canadian Corner

Canadian members: please recommend Canadian venues who might want to sign onto Local 1000’s Fair Trade Music policy. ‘Venues’ include house concert series’ as well as stand-alone clubs. I will contact them to find out if they are willing to fly the ‘Fair Trade Music’ logo at their events. We’d like to ensure that all musicians know our Canadian venues that value our conditions of employment.

If you’re not sure of the Local 1000 Fair Trade Music policy, please visit: https://www.local1000.org/fair-trade-music/fair-trade-music-venue-faq/. The more venues that are signatories to Fair Trade Music, the more all musicians will be able to expect fair treatment in their work and the more their audience will understand the concept of musical ‘Fair Trade’.

Arthur McGregor, Vice President From Canada

vicepresidentcanada@local1000.org

For Members Contributing to the US Pension Fund: Learn More About Your Pension Benefit

American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) Trustees understand that your pension benefit is both valuable and complex for participants. As a result, a new effort to assemble some practical, easy-to-understand information is underway. You can access this information now at www.afm-epf.org. For a direct link to the participant information section for quick reference, please visit https://www.afm-epf.org/Participants/ParticipantInformation.aspx. AFM-EPF is committed to providing you with the knowledge and resources necessary to maximize your pension planning and benefits.

Raymond M. Hair, Jr, International President

American Federation of Musicians

of the United States and Canada

Emergency Relief Fund Update

Good news! The Emergency Relief Fund (ERF) is now offering grants of up to $500 to members in good standing for emergency medical or unforeseen circumstances that impact their ability to work. This new policy replaces the old no-interest pay-back loan model and will be the norm from now on. We do ask recipients of the ERF, past and present, to “pay it forward” by donating back to the fund whenever they are able so that others can get support when they need it in the future. We are also hoping that many past ERF recipients will join us at some point in the near future to help raise more money for the fund so we can continue to help members in need. To apply for an ERF grant, go to: https://www.local1000.org/resources/emergency-relief-fund/

Committee and E-Board meetings

The bulk of the work of this Union gets done through the hundreds of volunteer hours provided by committee members and the Ex. Board. The E-Board meets every 6 weeks via zoom and the committees meet regularly to carry out the business of our Local. If you want to join the excitement or have a concern that you think we should be addressing, please contact President Fowler. It takes all of us working together to stand up and fight for our work. We need you! Please consider joining us.

Conference Call – Represent Local 1000!

Local 1000 hopes to be represented at more conferences to reach musicians in a range of the independent music industry. Our labor and voices are needed now more than ever, for our members and non-members alike. If you are going to be attending a conference and want to help spread the word of Local 1000 please contact President Aaron Fowler to see how you can be an Ambassador for YOUR UNION.

Communications Committee (Comm Comm)

The Comm Comm is reviewing the website to determine what needs to be updated and/or changed. If you have any feedback on the website, please contact Susan Lewis, your Western Rep on the Executive Board at repwest@local1000.org

Please update your profile! If you are not sure how, there is a video that walks you through the process. You must be logged in to complete your profile. If you don’t know your log-in credentials, contact the office: together@local1000.org

Social Media Handles

Are you connected to Local 1000’s Social Media accounts? If not, make sure you like or follow us!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afmlocal1000

Twitter: https://twitter.com/local1000afm

Facebook Public Page: https://www.facebook.com/local1000afm

We also have a private member page, which is to facilitate communication between members of Local 1000 and to promote discussion of Local 1000 issues amongst our members. Please ask to join this page to connect with your fellow members (note: this page is for current Local 1000 members only — friends of the Local are encouraged to like our public page instead.)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AFM.Local1000

Member News

Local 1000 members Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer have a released a new film, ALL WIGGED OUT. It is a live musical theater piece focused on Marcy’s experience with cancer. They have recently been featured on NPR Morning Edition and have been interviewed by Congressman Jamie Raskin as part of his local heroes series.

They are doing a lot of screenings across the country with various organizations, often including a post film Q&A session. These sessions can be just them, but many organizations partner with Cancer Support Communities or similar groups and bring in experts to participate and spread the word about their offerings to cancer patients and families.

Tell us your news! Have you released an album, won an award, been involved in an interesting initiative that you’d like to let people know about?

If you have exciting news to share with Local 1000 members, we want to know. Submit Your News Here!

Submissions should relate to significant career events, Please do not submit individual gig or tour announcements. Thank you!

We’ll include your news in an upcoming Local 1000 e-newsletter, and we’ll post it on our public Local 1000 page at https://www.facebook.com/local1000afm

June Birthdays

Finally, we would like to wish the following members Happy Birthday! If your birthday falls in June and you don’t see it listed below, or if the date is incorrect, please send an email to Deborah Van Kleef with your birthdate, current phone number and email address. Thanks to Deborah and fellow Birthday Bunnies, Lydia Adams Davis, Arthur McGregor and Tim Van Egmond.

In Solidarity,

AFM Local 1000