Local 1000 September 2018 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
Fall Membership Meeting at NERFA
Our final Membership Meeting for the year will take place on Friday, November 9, 2018, 10am EST at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference in Stamford, CT.
Please mark your calendars and plan to attend!
Location:
Twain Room
Crowne Plaza Hotel
2701 Summer Street
Stamford, CT 06905
There is a $15 discount available for Local 1000 members registering for NERFA. Please contact [email protected] for the discount code. You do not need to be registered for the conference to attend the Local 1000 membership meeting.
Upcoming New Member Orientation Meeting
Our next Cyber Union call will be October 16th and it will be a New Member Orientation Meeting. If you have joined Local 1000 in the past year please plan on joining us for this call. We will have two opportunities to attend: 4:00 PM EST and 8:30 PM EST. Stay tuned for details about the login information.
Dues Increase
At the membership meeting on June 24, members approved a motion to increase annual dues by $5 to US$177 per year, or $46.75 per quarter. This dues increase will take effect as of October 1, 2018 and will be reflected on invoices for the fourth quarter of 2018 and forward. As noted in previous newsletters, the increase will help us cover our basic operating costs.
Scales Increase
At the recent membership meeting, members approved a motion to increase Local 1000 wage scales. Information about the proposed increases has been in the last few newsletters, but in the meeting members also voted to increase the scale for K-12 engagements from $200 to $220 to match the AFM’s MPTF scale for those concerts. In addition, solo concert scale has gone up $20 to $250, solo small concert scale increased from $110 to $120. Ensemble scales for small concerts went from $110 to $120 for the leader, and $50 to $60 for a side person. All other scales remain the same. The entire revised schedule of scales is available on our website here. Local 1000 scales are the MINIMUM that members must use for contracted engagements, members are always free to negotiate higher fees.
Call to Action: Support the Music Modernization Act
Below is a call to action from Folk Alliance International to contact your senators and ask them to support the Music Modernization Act. The AFM statement on it can be read here.
Dear Folk Alliance International Members and Stakeholders:
FAI and the Recording Academy are teaming up to support the most important music legislation since the 8-track tape era.
The historic Music Modernization Act is waiting for a vote in the Senate. The comprehensive package that benefits all music creators has unanimously cleared the House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the Senate needs to hear from more citizens to ensure a vote on the bill.
Many Senators have yet to hear from their constituents—local music creators—on the bill, and have thus not signed on as a co-sponsor. We need to change that. As an FAI member, you are encouraged to contact your Senators to support the bill!
Click this link to ask your Senators to co-sponsor the bill. If they are already a co-sponsor, a thank you letter will automatically be generated and sent to their office.
The Music Modernization Act brings outdated laws into the 21st century, ensuring fair pay and better protections for songwriters, artists, producers, and engineers. It is a consensus-driven bill that stands to benefit all of our members.
Let your Senators know that you want them to support the Music Modernization Act!
Sincerely,
Aengus Finnan, Executive Director, Folk Alliance International
and
Daryl P. Friedman, Chief Industry, Member and Government Relations Officer, Recording Academy
Update to AFM-EPF Rehabilitation Plan
On June 22nd an important update from the AFM-EPF went out to our members:
https://afm-epf.org/Portals/2/AFMDocuments/RehabUpdate_201806.pdf
Essentially this is an update to the rehabilitation plan originally put in place in 2011 for the Employer Pension Fund.
CBA contracts negotiated after August 1, 2018 will need to include a 10% increase to the employer pension contributions. For example if your contribution was previously $100 monthly, your new pension contribution under this updated rehabilitation plan would be $110 monthly. The Valid Pension Contribution Rates listed on the back of the LS-1 contact will also increase 10%, so if your rate was previously 10.9%, the corresponding rate will become 11.99%.
Regarding LS-1s, although these increases should technically begin on August 1, 2018, the Fund recognizes prices may already have been negotiated for upcoming work, so they have administratively given Single Engagements an extra 3 month phase in period and will be looking for the increase to be paid on work occurring November 1, 2018 and later. They expect to have updated LS-1 forms available soon.
Please be sure to read the announcement above from the EPF for the entire update. The office is in touch with the AFM-EPF regarding this issue, so please let us know if you have any questions about this.
Pension Contributions – Reminder to Avoid Late Fees!
Just a reminder: Pension contributions need to be received by Local 1000 no later than 1 month after the engagement. For example: if you do work in February we should receive your contracts and payments for pension contributions no later than the end of March, otherwise you risk being fined by the AFM-EPF $25 per engagement submitted.
Canadian Corner
P2 Updates
The CFM is now advising Canadian members applying for P2 visas to get their application in at least 45 days before the first engagement.
If you are applying, please make sure you download the latest application, which can be found here:
English: http://www.cfmusicians.org/services/work-permits
French: http://www.cfmusicians.org/services/permis-de-travail
Please contact Canadian VP Kev Corbett or the CFM for more information.
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!
Local 1000 Membership Update
New and Reinstated Members
We are excited to welcome the following new and recently reinstated members to Local 1000!
| Judith Kate Friedman
Tyler Hughes Alex Leggett Michael Leon Guerrero James McDonald |
Jason Roe
Matthew Rubano Ethan Smith Will Staunton Matt Warry-Smith |
September Birthdays
Finally, we would like to wish the following members Happy Birthday! If your birthday falls in September 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.
| 09/01 Valdy Horsdal
09/02 Will McCutcheon 09/02 Linda Tillery 09/03 James Hill 09/03 Sue Jeffers 09/05 Andrea Beaton 09/05 Tafari Anthony Davis 09/05 Kaia Kater-Hurst 09/07 Teresa Chandler 09/10 David Heitler-Klevans 09/10 Suzanne Jaroszynski 09/11 William McLeod Garrett 09/11 Hank Woji 09/12 Adrian Passarelli 09/13 Joel Mabus 09/14 Elise Witt 09/15 Rosalyn Dennett 09/15 Elijah McKenty 09/15 William Meadows 09/17 Terry Irons 09/17 Joel Schwartz |
09/18 Peter Alsop
09/19 Sally Rogers 09/19 Keith Grimwood 09/20 Andre Blais 09/21 Douglas Cox 09/22 Scott Ainslie 09/23 Harry Aceto 09/23 Ralph Agresta 09/23 Ani DiFranco 09/23 Tony Nguyen 09/23 Susan Robinson 09/24 William Kidman 09/24 Carol Young 09/25 Joshua Davis 09/25 Stacey Earle 09/26 Gerald Ross 09/28 Gabriel Kahn 09/28 Sue Massek 09/29 Dan Crary 09/30 Kevin Harvey |
In Solidarity,
AFM Local 1000