Newsletter Archives: March 2007
03/01/07 Official Business
2007 Annual Dues
This is a reminder that if you have not paid your 2007 Annual Dues, your membership has now been suspended. Only by working together can we exert our collective influence on those that hire us to increase wages and improve working conditions. Your membership gives this organization legitimacy to negotiate on your behalf with employers. Please contact us if you have been suspended so that we can hear your concerns and assist you in reinstating your membership. And if you have already paid your Annual Dues, thank you!
Membership Drive
Please remember that the membership drive runs through the end of March. New members can join without having to pay Initiation Fees--a savings of $115! Please tell your nonmember friends about the benefits of membership.
03/01/07 Member Benefits
Grants Help Teenagers Learn To Drive
Union members now can cut way down on family stress—and on their auto insurance premiums, too.Make teaching a teenager to drive easier – and safer – with a grant of up to $250 to help pay for a “behind the wheel” driver’s education course. The grants are available only to union members insuring their cars with Union Plus Auto Insurance. Classes are offered locally and typically cost between $300 and $600.
03/01/07 Double Times
Thank You for Doing the Right Thing
We would like to thank the following organizations for doing the right thing for musicians of south Florida. By paying union scale and making pension contributions on behalf of musicians, they are showing that they respect the work musicians do for their organizations. The willingness to abide by the standards that musicians have set is sincerely appreciated and helps raise the bar for all of south Florida.
Thank you to:
- Chamber Music Management, Brian Stanley, contractor
- Florida Classical Orchestra, Kurt Hagen, contractor
- Florida Sunshine Pops, Kurt Hagen, contractor
- Key West Pops, Gerry Miller, contractor
- Orchestra Miami, Gerry Miller, contractor
- Palm Beach Symphony, Michael Ellert, contractor
- Philharmonia, Gerry Miller, contractor
03/01/07 That Union Thing
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied an appeal to overturn a National Labor relations Board ruling stating that tribal gaming operations are subject to the National Labor Relations Act. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in California had argued that its sovereignty and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 prohibited federal interference by the Labor Board. The Court based its denial on the fact that casino operations are not a traditional attribute of self government and that most of the casino's patrons and employees are not tribe members. The ruling means that casino employees may seek union representation under the protection of federal law.
03/01/07 Industry News
State Senator Burt Saunders of Naples has proposed a Truth in Music Law which would impose misdemeanor charges on impostor bands. Look-alike and sound-alike impostor bands are popular in retirement communities and colleges and at fundraisers throughout Florida. A similar law has been enacted in five other states and is being considered in thirteen others.
