As of July 15, I have produced and distributed 28 settlement bulletins which were also posted on the ICSOM website, Delegate-L and Orchestra-L. Of those 28 bulletins, 15 were new settlements and 12 were amended agreements to existing collective bargaining agreements. I suspect there will be more in your mailboxes when we all arrive in Virginia next month.
I know I continue to hound you all regarding the timely submission of information for bulletins to keep your colleagues updated, but I was recently informed that the AFM-EPF counts on our bulletins to receive information about contractual changes. This is significant because orchestras and locals are not always timely in their notification to The Fund and whenever wages or pension percentages are reduced, The Fund is required by Federal Law to notify all participants who work under that particular agreement that their contributions are being reduced (even if we ratify these agreements, they still have to send notice.)
Five mailings were sent throughout the season that included ICSOM, ROPA and OCSM bulletins, Union Steward and PCC newsletters, delegate changes and roster updates, replacement pages for the ICSOM Delegate Manual, conference information and other issues of significance. I also send letters and updated rosters to all new delegates, welcoming them to the ICSOM family. Please be sure that whenever there is a change in delegate status, you inform me right away and assure that the new delegate receives the Delegate Handbook.
By the time you receive this I will have produced the conference minutes and 12 sets of minutes for the Governing Board (which includes minutes from before, during and after the Conference, as well as the mid-winter meeting in Chicago IL. All minutes from the Conference as well as Governing Board calls and meetings are posted on the ICSOM website thanks to my Nashville Symphony colleague, Bruce Christensen (who serves as webmaster). The Conference minutes (with proof-reading assistance once again this year by Bruce Ridge and Paul Gunther) were completed once again in November and mailed out in early December.
I also submitted multiple articles for all but one issue of Senza Sordino this season. The articles included the annual conference wrap-up, one that encouraged musicians to run for AFM convention delegate, and a just completed article that will be featured in the upcoming issue that gives a detailed account of the last year and a half of Audio-Visual/Integrated Media Agreement (AV/IMA) negotiations. I thank the entire electronic media committee for their grand ideas, friendship and for their desire to do what is right for all orchestras, not just our own individual orchestras. Special thanks to Cathy Payne and Matt Comerford, my Governing Board cohorts on the subcommittee, for their great assistance in helping me arrange my thoughts and to AFM Counsel Trish Polach, a friend of many years (and a Michigan Law School graduate – Go Blue!) Trish helped edit this article until just hours before she left for a well needed (and deserved) vacation – the tale of how The Managers Walked away from the bargaining table, which left virtually everyone in our industry in a lurch.
As a member of the ICSOM Electronic Media Committee, I have been to Cleveland, to Washington DC twice (once on my 50th birthday – now that’s dedication), and to New York once (the second trip was aborted for both Matt and me due to a Winter Weather Advisory, so we participated by phone after each day’s session) to negotiate the Integrated Media Agreement (IMA)that was supposed to incorporate the Symphony/Opera/Ballet Audio-Visual agreement, Live Recording agreement, Internet agreement and a new national radio agreement into one omnibus agreement. This took many hours and weeks of our attention and even though the managers have walked away from the bargaining table, we have not stopped refining the IMA and talking to orchestras and managers in an effort to keep our media work on a level playing field. I must add, the prolific Trish Polach also produced a complete 36 page draft copy of the IMA as well as supporting documents, and numerous edited documents based upon our weekly (or more) conference calls – major kudos for all her work and to the committee for their continued support and hard work. I look forward to the discussion of this agreement at the conference on Thursday morning.
This past month or so I have been in contact with the people responsible for updating the various sections of the ICSOM Delegate Manual (that is also updated on the ICSOM website). The officer reports enclosed in this final pre-conference mailing should be placed in the Officer Reports section of the Manual. Further updates will be forthcoming during and after the Conference.
I am sorry to report that we have still been unable to reinstate the ICSOM/Major Managers Liaison committee. With all the problems our orchestras have faced this year, along with media negotiations, there has been little available time to schedule anything. I continue to hope we can find time next season to open that dialogue and discuss such issues as instituting a Code of Ethics regarding touring and a new topic the governing board recently began discussing – possible reciprocal agreements for concert attendance similar to attendance/entry programs many museums, zoos and other institutions currently have in place.
As I write this, we are once again heading toward the deadlines for conference and hotel registration. We have the usual headaches with last minute bookings and our block’s availability, as well as what I have come to consider the inevitable last minute push for delegates to book rooms and register with me prior to the conference. My hope is that someday I will not have to devote 2 weeks in July to pestering delegates and others to fill out their forms and make hotel reservations, but until that time… Virginia Symphony Conference Coordinator Tom Reel (a friend of many years) and the hotel have been very good about working out these issues. I know Tom and the entire Virginia Symphony are going all out for this conference and are doing their very best to welcome ICSOM to their city. We will have a number of additional local officers attending this year, including a large contingent from Boston. We look forward to their participation.
As you can tell, ‘tis not a small plate in front of me. My orchestra was also asked to address our financial problems this year. Our major concern financially is in regard to our new hall, because you see, we decided to float $102M in municipal bonds to fund the hall and our issues are the losses in the endowment funds, increased debt financing fees (cursed banks!) and meeting the covenants for liquidity every single year. I have to say as I’ve constructed the many amended settlement bulletins this year – the cuts and freezes are not all for the same reasons - some of it is panic, some of it is managers trying to fix their very bad actions (on the backs of the musicians), and some of it is legitimate and needs to be addressed. I think our musicians are handling it very responsibly.
These are difficult times for our orchestras and they haven’t been helped by the delay hiring a new Symphonic Services Division director – it took far too long and though I know Chris Durham is trying to address many of the same concerns we’ve had about service and staffing size, it would be a shame if the AFM continued to put up more roadblocks to address problems that have existed for years. At least 2 AFM conventions ago the chair of the finance committee acknowledged the additional work dues we symphonic players had agreed to pay by begging the convention floor and the AFM for better financing and staffing in the SSD division. Each year the AFM receives more money from symphonic work dues but the budget either remains stagnant or is decreased. This cannot continue to occur! I can only hope that our time is finally coming, that ICSOM can work with Chris and the SSD to address the many issues and concerns we share mutually, and that we can find equitable solutions for the good of the entire Federation.
Finally, I cannot end my report without expressing my continued thanks to and admiration of my colleagues on the Governing Board. They impress me and they make me laugh – I so look forward to our calls and face to face meetings. Sometimes, when we are at very tedious or difficult meetings, what gets us all through it is the knowledge that we are together during those moments, and can look forward to time spent with good and dear friends. Cathy Payne and Meredith Snow always make me smile (especially after I received a bottle of gin following my surgery that I know Meredith instigated!) and Paul Gunther is always there, so helpful, but full of beans with his little e-mail comments that make me giggle. Matt Comerford has brought a great deal of thoughtfulness to the board and to the media committee this year. Richard has produced rich and wonderful issues of Senza Sordino and even when I harp on him about deadlines, I cannot deny he’s terrific. There are not words enough to describe how much Michael does behinds the scenes for the ICSOM treasury, he’s a gem. Brian and I go back all the way to U of M and I cannot think how we would function without his clear-headed and thoughtful leadership. Which leads me to Bruce - he works so hard and takes on every orchestra’s issue as his own. I’ve been involved with the player conferences for many years and don’t know if I’ve ever seen leadership like Bruce’s before. He commands the respect and admiration of everyone who meets him. His positive message for our industry has been taken to the highest levels this year when he testified in front of a US Congressional Committee. I am honored to call him one of my dearest friends and colleagues. It continues to be one of the great joys in my life to work with these people and for all of you as well. Thank you
Laura Ross
July 2009