Hamilton Musicians Guild
Libretto
October 2012
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
As another summer has come and gone I hope everyone had a busy and productive schedule and took advantage of the good weather. I’ll try to give a brief update of recent developments with the Local. In August Secretary Treasurer Pope and I attended the Canadian Conference in Toronto which ran in tandem with the OCSM Conference. I was able to speak with both Secretary Treasurer of the AFM Sam Folio and President Ray Hair about the progress the Local has made in the previous months. They expressed their approval of the direction the Local was taking and were pleased with our improved financial status.
This was a very positive Conference which saw greater interaction between the freelance players and the symphonic members. There were roundtable discussions on the use of social media to promote the Locals, symphonic freelance rates and the increasing use of recordings for live performances. These discussions were informative and thought provoking. The general impression I got was that the CFM is headed in a positive direction and spoke with one voice. On September 22nd the HPO ratified a very good contract. Thanks to Mark Tetreault of Symphonic Services for his efforts in negotiating this agreement. Also thanks to Brent and Janna Malseed who oversaw the ratification vote. The rapport between the HPO players and the Local is very good.
As some of you may have read HECFI is being supplanted by three entitiesCarmen’s Banquet Hall, Live Nation and Global Entertainment. Your Board lobbied for the retention of John Hertel and HECFI to remain in control. This puts our previous negotiations with HECFI on hold until the new players are in place.
At our next general membership meeting Jenny Hearns from AIL Insurance will give a brief talk about some free insurance benefits available to our members. I hope to see you all on October 29 at the Admiral Inn.
Larry Feudo President Local 293
2013 Annual Dues
The fee for your 2013 annual dues is $140.00 if paid by February 15, 2013. After February 15th, the dues are $150.00 for the year. If you wish to pay for a six month period, the dues are $75.00. If you pay quarterly, the fee is $37.50 per quarter. Please send your cheque to the Local office or bring it to the next General Meeting.
General Membership Meeting
Nomination for Secretary-Treasurer and Delegate to the AFM Convention Date: October 29, 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: The Admiral Inn York and Dundurn Streets Hamilton Admittance is by paid up membership card Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for members wishing to pay dues (cheques only) Social hour to follow Any notice appearing in this bulletin shall be considered an official notice to all members of Local 293 CFM.
Local 293 Brothers and Sisters Bring Hamilton to Its Knees at Super Crawl
There is a new end of summer tradition in town. The annual “Super Crawl”, a cavalcade of culture that takes over the Hamilton downtown, has been a huge hit since its inception and Local 293 members were prominently featured this year. In particular an innovative concert featuring the Hamilton Philharmonic was a highlight of the festival. Paired with Vancouver “beat” poet C. R. Avery their set was hailed by music critic Graham Rockingham as “a risky experiment by the HPO that helped tear down a few more musical barriers between classical and pop culture.” Sounds like the type of job that requires a “professional” and the Hamilton Musicians’ Guild is the place to find them.
Libretto is now Online
Here’s another reminder that you can now receive Local 293’s “Libretto” newsletter via direct e-mail. It cuts cost for the Local and makes for quick and direct delivery. If you would like to take advantage of this offer contact the office by phone or e-mail and state your intention to forego your hard copy.
Report from Elspeth Thomson, OCSM Delegate for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra
The OCSM Conference took place August 15—19, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Toronto, Ontario. Delegates were welcomed by Local 149, Toronto Musicians Association. Ruth Budd, Chair of the first OCSM Conference gave a short address.
Michael Write provided a presentation on “Equity in Collective Bargaining”. On August 16th, we received a report from Robert Fraser on the PCC/LCC meeting. The relationship between the two groups has greatly improved and there is more crossover between the two. Francine Shutzman then gave a briefing on the ongoing negotiations with the CBC. These negotiations are progressing very slowly. The CBC’s position is that “classical music has been over exposed”. The current agreement has become too unwieldy, so the Committee has been trying o streamline it as well as getting one rate for TV and radio.
Delegates heard a report from the Canada Council. Rob McCosh gave a report on the Strike Fund. In the US, a lot of orchestras are cutting their core, therefore there is less money coming to the Strike Fund and orchestras are suspending dues. However, the Strike Fund is still healthy and didn’t lose a lot in the economic downturn.
We then broke into Committees to discuss our individual topics and after lunch there was a closed session roundtable Delegate reports.
On Friday, we had sessions discussing various Conference topics. The first topic was talking about having a code of ethics concerning the audition procedure. The next topic was the relationship between orchestra members and our Locals. We, as OCSM reps can encourage our orchestra members to attend union meetings. We had a wonderful talk from Bruce Ridge from ICSOM. This is the 50th Anniversary of ICSOM. He was amazed at the bravery and ingenuity of the founders and suggested that our present challenges must be faced with the same ingenuity and bravery. There is a positive message out there and one of the important points he made is that “the arts are the only organization which studies its failures to form a model for the future”. We then heard from Carla Tehmeier-Tatum from ROPA. She encouraged everyone to be proactive. It is very important to change the negative message which are too pervasive. It is important to identify those managements which have achieved a formula for success.
We heard presentations from Gail Kruvand from RMA, Jim Biros from the TMA, Mark Tetreault from SSD, Bernard LeBlanc, SSD (Quebec), Jay Blumenthal from SSD (New York), Mark Steinmetz and Chris Boyce from CBC on accessible, digital online music service, Debbie Newmark from SSD (US) on Integrated Media Agreement.
On August18th, there was a joint session with OCSM and the Canadian Conference of Musicians with round table discussion with facilitators on four difference topics.—the relationship between Orchestra Committees and Locals, local tariff and symphonic CBA minimums not aligned, Canadian Locals and social media and how to deal with recordings that accompany live performances.
Delegates received reports from Katherine Carlton of Orchestra Canada and reports from the difference Committees.
Full report is available in the members only area of the Local 293 website www.hamiltonmusicians.org
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
As we are now coming into the fall, I hope that all of you had a musically enjoyable and profitable summer season this year. I usually go right to finances in my Libretto report, but I would like to open this report first addressing our membership stats. Thanks to the AFM’s extension of the amnesty program (which was only suppose to run to the end of June) we have signed 42 new members since our last publication for a total of 68 since January. This brings our membership up to 388 with 14 suspensions which would take us to 402, so please check the list to make sure your dues are current. We still have just over two and a half months of amnesty time left and since this program hasn’t been granted in at least ten years, it’s important to continue to talk to fellow musicians about the savings and benefits of becoming a member. Our financial situation remains strong with $17,203.92 in the checking account and $4450.76 in the savings account. At the time of this report, we have paid the AFM $13,909.00 in per capita for the three quarters of the current year and $6,000.00 in per cap arrears. These figures relate the fact that Local 293 is on solid financial ground which is a testament to the Officer’s on the Board who scrutinize every directional move with great care and planning. This concludes my report, see you at the meeting.
J.M. Pope
Welcome New Local 293 Members
Kyle Brownlee, Stephen Lensink, Frank Rocchi, Antoinette Krusto, Joseph Greulich, Nathan Hew, Tobin Simpson, Tony Verna, Robin Howe, Morgan Clamp, Brandon Strychowsky, Johnathon Paige, Timothy Shaughnessy, Justin Faragher, Gordon Sobota, David Della Valle, Mathew Fong, Michael McMillan, Andrew Eichinger, Babalola Fadipe, Andrew Hamm, Ryan Locke, Adam Shoji, Kenneth Taylor, John Kirby, Kevin Beeby, Devin Moody, Randy Rodrigues, Peter Van Jelvoort,William Turner, Kelly Durant, Cameron Brunt, Donald Tuer, Kathleen Caron, Eric Heideman, Jeffrey Buchner, Jake Warren, Simon Edwards, Josh Dawson, Leslie Smith, Christian Fedele, and Tyler Baynton.
Members Suspended
Jose Contreras, Lisa Duncan, Julie Fader, Paul Henderson, Adrienne Lloyd, Kyomi McCloskey, Frank Musico, Laura Petracca, Monica Tietz, Michelle Truman and Graham Walsh.
Members Expelled
William Dillon, Jeffrey Filardo, Jeremy Knowles, Taylor Knox, Dave Lalonde, Patricia Pedersen, Michael Shultz and Mark Thompson.