President's Report
Fellow Musicians,
The first things I hope you noticed were the opening lines, OPEN ME & READ ME. We get all too many calls saying "but I didn’t know..." This newsletter is our official communication with you; please do not ignore it. We are trying to stay in touch with you regarding the issues that are important to you. If there’s something you like in here, tell us. If there’s something in here you don’t like, tell us that too! Any issue that involves YOUR money will get top billing, but there are a lot of items you need to be aware of. Take 5 minutes and at least scan all the items to make sure nothing that you’re interested in escapes your attention.
We are slowly but steadily making progress here at the Local. A lot, and I mean a lot, of past members are returning to the union in belief that we are going to make a difference; I believe we will. Our computer system still lacks what we would like for it to do, but we’re making progress, we know you want us to be accountable for all your hard-earned dollars paid in, and we plan to be more efficient in the matter of record keeping very soon. You’re tired of hearing "be patient," but please...be patient!
Leaders, I have assembled a computer disk that will make your life much easier when it comes to filing contracts and pension reports. It’s an extremely easy and efficient program that will hold all your data, make filling out contracts a snap, prints out a form for your records with whatever information you want to see and then prints a form for the AFM that only shows scale, pension, work dues and social security numbers for record keeping. Call me and come in for a test drive. IT’S FREE!!!
An idea was brought to me for our members doing recording work. Rather than us sending you bills for $0.58 in electronic work dues owed, how about we’ll open escrow accounts for each of you. You deposit $100.00 and we’ll deduct the work dues for electronic media only and send your check and a balance statement. No waiting for your $$$. Call Lisa Fox, your Vice-President and Electronic Media representative, and let us know what you think.
Since our scales went so long without adjustment, we’re finding more and more areas in which we need to correct deficiencies. If you’re interested in giving your input, call me. I’m going to be heading a full review of the entire process throughout the year. I am reviewing the scales of the major markets around the country to see how we compare. If you’re interested in getting your voice heard, speak up now or forever hold...(you know the rest). There’s an interesting article in the International Musician about the importance of setting scales that reflect the current market value of your product. Read it, call me, be involved!
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