Musicians on strike v.s. synths !

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2003 6:27 pm

cnegrad, you speak the truth.
Politics, greed, dishonesty, favoritism, ignorance, apathy, complacency, lack of funding, and all the other evil shit you can think of. It plauges the world, not just unions. And as we get older and wiser, the rose colored glasses come off and we either fight it or put on blinders.

I felt the members of Local 802 lost even more ground this time around. Sad. Sign of the times? Winds of change? Maybe. Times change, winds change, live to fight another day.

In case anyone is wondering, I come from a union background. My mom was a union delegate for 25 years and fought the good fight for a lot of people in Local 1199. I have 24 years in Local 3 IBEW. I've always been active and outspoken. Once when I was a wet behind the ears kid, I asked my uncle, who was a Teamster, how he could be a member of such a crooked union. He calmly spoke to me from the comfort of his modest middle class Long Island armchair. " Thomas, there are mostly good hard working people in my union" . Amen unc.

Tommy P.

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 8:11 am

cnegrad! That's interesting what you have to say about the benefits. I personally found it laughable when I was an 802 member that the insurance payout for a "loss of limb" was a whopping $250.00.

Also Tommy P., I will agree with you that conceptually the union concept has some benefits. I'm not union bashing all unions, but I do speak from personal experience when it comes to Local 802. Generally speaking (and I stress that this is general) 802's attention and energies have historically been focused only on the small minority of working pit and stage musicians in the NYC area. The majority of their membership was considered simply a source of revenue. The only true benefit that I can say that I ever received as a member was on the first day I had to sign up because a union official caught me playing in a club on the upper east side. After forking over my money I was handed my union card and a book with the names, phone numbers and instruments they played of the other local 802 members.

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 8:26 am

Oh man, please don't get me started. I've had a lot of experience with the Single Engagement Club Date division of Local 802, and their actions make it pretty evident that the only thing that really matters to them is their own revenue. They put on a whole bullshit song & dance about protecting the musicians from unscrupulous employers, but when it comes right down to the back-room negotiations, they're both pretty much in bed together, since they both have they same goal: P R O F I T. Even the pension plan is a joke. There's a lot of debate within the union membership about whether or not there will even be enough money to be able to pay out all projected pensions in the future.

On the other hand, unions like SAG & AFTRA seem to really have their acts together. Great pay, great benefits, and they really seem to care about their membership.

So I'm not so much anti-union as I am anti-Local 802.
:p:

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 8:39 am

Yeah cnegrad, it sounds like we both share a lot of similar experiences when it comes to 802.

Back when I joined (a very long time ago) I was playing with this group that came from Elmira, NY. I'll always remember that I had to pay them $240.00 (a lot of money in the early '70's) just to join and then send them an additional $30.00 a quarter. The other members of my band couldn't believe it. They all paid their union $25.00 per year! And they were afforded the same benefits that I got - the glory of being allowed to play in other "union" rooms. I was sooooo happy when they lost their strangle hold on the other clubs.

Man, are you still a member and, if so, why?

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 8:48 am

Nope, I walked away many years ago. I just couldn't take the hypocracy anymore. Of course then I had to deal with grief from all the union offices that I worked for after that. The union was pressuring them to fire me after I quit them. The said that union rules prohibited the offices from hiring a non-union musician. They also told the union musicians in the office that they were not alllowed to perform with non-union players. Basically I told them that they had to decide for themselves if I was a valuable enough player to keep me on staff, and tell the union to deal with it. They always found a way to keep me on, and I was eventually able to negotiate a deal with my employers that paid far beyond union scale. NY Local 802 is just as corrupt and uncaring as any aspect of the record industry, period. That's my take on the whole issue.
:p:

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 9:08 am

Good for you man!

Yeah, I quit them right after they lost their court battle with that little new upstart union in the mid '70's. - and the funny thing is I never really had any union problems after that. I do know that when I was touring with one group on Pickwick/Delite they would tell the local union reps that we all were union (even though none of us were) and that was that! It was funny in retrospect. By contrast, and I guess in support of what Tommy P. was saying, I've been a member of ASCAP for sometime now and I feel that they've been a fairly decent organization - and membership dues are only $15.00 per annum!!!

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