From the President

We would like to let you know about some positive and some not-so-positive things that are taking place for musicians in South Florida. On the positive side, we feel fortunate that last week the Actors Fund sent a representative to South Florida to give us a very informative seminar on healthcare called "Every Artist Insured."

Also beneficial to musicians are the AFM's many recent legislative successes; you can read about them in the January 2011 issue of International Musician. One of the current bills that the AFM is working on is a bill that will make it easier for musicians to carry musical instruments (large or small) when they fly on an airplane. To gain support for this piece of legislation in Congress, the AFM needs to show the problems that musicians face every day with the airlines. If you have any complaints about occurrences with an airline within the past year, you can help by forwarding details of your experience to Hal Ponder at hponder[at]afm[dot]org.

On the not-so-positive side, some musicians have complained to us that the Sunshine Pops is slow in paying its musicians. It is not unusual for Sunshine Pops musicians to wait six weeks before being paid for services rendered. Union musicians decided long ago that two weeks was long enough to wait for their checks, but unfortunately this orchestra is not party to a union contract and is not abiding by the rules like most of the other orchestras in town. If you want assistance in organizing for a union contract, contact us and we will help you. There is nothing else, short of refusing to work for them, that we can do to make them conform to industry standards. If we continue to agree to work under substandard conditions, we continue to be the enablers. It is up to us to work together if we want to improve our professional lives.