Local 1000 December 2020 Newsletter

Local 1000 December 2020 Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

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

Membership Meeting Report

We held our third membership meeting of 2020 on November 7th via Zoom. This was our second fully online membership meeting and we had a healthy turnout of 36 members. Among other things, we dealt with nominations and elections, passed a budget, got an update on our Emergency Relief fund, and heard from the Solidarity Team, the Fair Trade Music Committee, and our still-in-formation Anti-Racism Committee. Minutes from the meeting are available in the members-only section of the website at: https://www.local1000.org/back-office/membership-minutes/  

Nominations and Elections

The nominating committee presented one candidate for each of the open positions on the Local 1000 board: President, Vice President from Canada, and Midwest Rep. Since there were no other nominations, all positions were filled by acclamation. 

Aaron Fowler, our current VP from the US, will be taking up the role as Local 1000 President on Jan 1, 2021.

We are also happy to welcome two new members of the board: 

Vice President From Canada: Arthur McGregor

Midwest Rep: Matt Watroba

A big thank you to Eve Goldberg (current President), Erin Mae Lewis (current Midwest Rep), and to Kev Corbett (current Vice President From Canada), who are all stepping down from their roles. 

ERF Covid-19 Grants Available!

Thanks to the generosity of our members and our large community of fans and friends, Local 1000’s Emergency Relief Fund received an incredible amount of donations during the pandemic.

We have traditionally been offering no-interest loans to members from the ERF, but after discussion within the Finance Committee and the Executive Board, we are really pleased to announce that the ERF can now offer what we are calling ‘COVID-19 grants” of up to $1000 to members in good standing from now until December 31—yes, that is money you do not have to pay back!

We want to be sure that members who need some extra financial help can take advantage of our very healthy ERF while many of us are still struggling to find paying work, make ends meet and are looking ahead to 2021.

The new grant application is available here.

If you have any questions about applying for a grant, please contact Richard at the office or any of the members of the ERF Committee, who are:  Aileen Vance, Erin Mae Lewis and Aaron Fowler.

Solidarity Team

Our Solidarity Team is in the process of contacting all members again. You should be receiving a phone call soon from a fellow Local 1000 member to check in, see how you are doing, and see if we can connect each other to resources to help us all get through this pandemic together. Members helping members is what a union is all about, so here’s to all the Solidarity Team members for stepping up and bringing our union values to life. If you are interested in joining the Solidarity Team, contact John McCutcheon at appalseed@folkmusic.com

Alert: Membership Dues Increase Jan 1!

At last year’s fall membership meeting, members approved by-law changes to increase our membership dues by small amounts over three consecutive years. We are now in the second year of the increases, so member dues are increasing as of Jan 1, 2021.

The increases will be different for US and Canadian residents, in order to recognize the effect of the exchange rate for our Canadian members.

Effective January 1 2021, the new dues will be:

US members:
$200 annually
$50 per quarter plus $5 surcharge = $55 per quarter
 
Canadian members:
US$185 annually
$46.25 per quarter plus $5 surcharge = $51.25 per quarter 

Special Savings!!  Members who pay their annual dues before December 31, 2020 can renew at the 2020 membership dues rate. 

Billings for the quarter beginning Jan 1, 2021 are being sent out now with the 2020 dues rates. Unpaid invoices will be amended as of Jan 1 to reflect the increase. 

If you are currently paying quarterly, you can switch to Annual payment to save.

Work Dues and Estimated Work Dues

Work dues are the small amounts paid to Local 1000 on every union contract. Most locals of the AFM have at least one Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with an orchestra or other year-round ensemble which provides ongoing work dues to the local. Local 1000 is the largest local within the AFM without that steady stream of income. We are currently educating members about their responsibility to pay 2.5% work dues on all their musical work, whether or not they file union contracts. If you are not filing contracts, you can calculate your Estimated Work Dues and easily set up a recurring monthly payment for Estimated Work Dues here: https://www.local1000.org/pay-work-dues/

MPTF Funds for Streaming Concerts

The Music Performance Trust Fund will now fund up to 100% for a free live streamed concert. This is a great opportunity for members make decent money from an online concert. The concert must be sponsored by another organization, and there are specific rules and steps to go through to have your live performance approved. Please contact the office at together@local1000.org for more information.

Union Protection for Self-Presented Live Streams

The Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) is a simple AFM contract that you can sign for self-presented live stream concerts which will safeguard your performing rights if the content is used by another organization in future. We’d like to encourage all our members to use this contract for self-presented streaming concerts.

Local 1000 Livestream Guidelines

The Local 1000 Fair Trade Music Committee, following on the recommendations from the AFM, has created guidelines for negotiating with venues for live stream concert engagements. These are guidelines to help you negotiate fair deals with presenting organizations that take into account how long a live stream will be left up on the internet, what are minimum guarantees and minimum percentages for income earned through a livestream concert, and so on.

Download the guidelines here.

Local 1000 Coffee Hours

Local 1000 Member Coffee Hours have been happening every two weeks since the pandemic hit and are a wonderful way to meet with other members to share support, ideas, and music. Annie Patterson hosts. 

We usually meet every other Wednesday @ 4pmET/3pmCT/2pmMT/1pmPT on Zoom for conversation and support (and usually a little music!). Help combat the isolation! Join in this regular social hour with your union sisters and brothers.

The final meeting for 2020 will be held on Wednesday, December 9 @ 4pm EST/3pmCST/2pmMT/1pmPST

We will then take a break for the holidays and return sometime in early 2021.

Click here to join: Zoom Link

Meeting ID: 890 6353 9938

Password: 651074

Completed applications, along with supportive medical documentation, should be submitted by members to their local unions, which will then submit them to the Federation.

Canadian Corner

P2 Update

Good news: The increases to regular P2 fees that were previously announced are currently on hold due to a court injunction, so the existing regular processing fees remain in place. More information here: https://cfmusicians.afm.org/news/p2-visa-fee-increase-on-pause

Bad news: in the meantime, the US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) has increased the fee for premium processing, from US$1440 to US$2500. More information here: https://cfmusicians.afm.org/news/uscis-increases-premium-processing-fee

The US-Canadian border remains closed to non-essential traffic through December 21st.

Member News

Do you have a new album coming out? Did you recently receive an award?

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

December Birthdays

Finally, we would like to wish the following members Happy Birthday! If your birthday falls in December and you don’t see it listed below, or if the date is incorrect, please send an email to our Birthday Bunny, Deborah Van Kleef with your birthdate, current phone number and email address.

In Solidarity,

AFM Local 1000