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Currently Browsing: September, 2004

Solidarity, Forever!
Karen Bogardus with Karen Beluso
The Children’s Orchestra Society is now the eighth group of teaching artists to win a contract with Local 802. Here is the story of the formation of a union, told from a teacher’s point of view. Last fall during a

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A Fight for a Contract Through the Eyes of a Teacher
Judith Lane
We, the teaching artists of the Metropolitan Opera Guild (MOG), ratified our first contract on July 5. The ratification came after a year and a half that included many months of organizing, a petition, a strike, a labor board hearing,

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Change to Organize, Organize to Change
David Lennon
WHY ORGANIZE? For several decades, as union membership declined as a share of the American workforce, union leaders refused to acknowledge the problem. Union density, the percentage of the workforce that is unionized, was at its highest in the post

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Early Ear Musicians Reject Decertification Attempt
Robert Jost
My name is Robert Jost and I am a music teacher at a school called the Early Ear. We give music classes for infants, toddlers, and their accompanying parents and babysitters. I’ve been working this job for almost four years

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Joining 802 and Playing at Radio City All in a Day's Work
Amy Cocuzza
Elton John made headlines this July by donating the proceeds of one of his Radio City Music Hall concerts to Manhattan’s Juilliard School and the London Royal Academy of Music. Backed by a 99-piece orchestra, Sir Elton belted out symphonic

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The following commentary was written by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and posted on the Web site of the AFL-CIO. Near the end of July, in a 3-2 party decision, the Republican majority of the Bush administration’s National Labor Relations Board

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Guest Commentary
David Bonior
Machinist Verna Baden, a 72-year-old grandmother from my hometown of Detroit, was fired in 1992 with five others after they voted to form a union at Taylor Machine Products. It took the National Labor Relations Board 11 years to order

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Bill Dennison
The Recording Department has begun a scanning project that will preserve in digital form all of the sound recording contracts filed at Local 802 dating back to1986. These paper documents, filed and stored in the basement at the union headquarters,

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Mike Ishii
“Stop Bush! Take Back America!” is the message that thousands of workers and unionists will spread at a protest and rally on Sept. 1. The rally, which starts at 4 p.m., also coincides with the tail end of the Republican

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David Swanson
Union members should turn out by the thousands for three events in New York at the time of the Republican National Convention. Bring your family. Bring your friends. Bring your friends’ families! MADISON SQUARE GARDEN The first event is being

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Mary Donovan
Local 802 has reached a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Bay Street Theatre that includes a ban on the virtual orchestra machine. Bay Street is a nonprofit 299-seat theatre on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor (Long Island). Founded in

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Musicians’ Assistance Program
Leslie Cardell, CSW
You’re sitting in the green room, and in a few minutes you’ll have to get up, go onstage, and begin the performance. You’re wondering, “Should I go to the bathroom one more time?” You can feel your heart rate picking

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Local 802 Legal Corner
Harvey S. Mars, Esq.
A Local 802 member has submitted an interesting question involving an all-too-frequent scenario encountered by musicians. This member wrote: Recently, I went out on the road with a company. Payment for the tour was based on a “performance/rehearsal” basis. The

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Heather Beaudoin
MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE VETOED FCC OPPOSE MEDIA CONCENTRATION TAX RELIEF FOR LOW-WAGE WORKERS MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE VETOED Gov. George E. Pataki vetoed a bill on July 29 that would have given a pay raise to thousands of New York’s lowest-paid

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CLUB DATES Chancellor Music. A successor agreement has been reached with Jay Leonhart covering all engagements performed by employees of Chancellor Music. The contract ties all performances and engagements to already established Local 802 agreements and provides for health and

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“DREAM A LITTLE DREAM” Local 802 attorney Harvey Mars took on a grievance against Eric Nederlander, producer of “Dream A Little Dream.” While performing at the Village Theatre, a band member from “Dream…” found that a housing fee was being

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June 1, 2004 -- July 6, 2004
TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2004 Meeting called to order at 11:10 a.m. Present: President Lennon, Recording Vice President Dennison, Financial Vice President Blumenthal, Executive Board members Gagliardi, Gale, Landolfi, Schaffner, Shankin, Whitaker, Assistant to the President Delia and Jazz Advisory Committee

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Bill Crow
The new Henry Mancini postage stamp triggered a memory for trombonist Sam Levine. Over 20 years ago, when Sam was still a member of the Washington D.C. local, he played lead trombone for a band that Mancini fronted at the

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