Last Month at the Local
Negotiations with Broadway Across America begin this month, and we spent last month preparing.
What is involved in preparing for negotiations? In addition to Local officers, we also have musician representatives at the negotiating table, so representatives needed to be selected. We surveyed members to find out what their concerns are, and compiled that data into a chart. We also surveyed other cities to see what Broadway Across America and other theaters pay musicians elsewhere. While comparable data is useful, cost of living in every city is different, so we also analyzed cost of living increases compared to wage increases for the last decade. Coincidentally, AFM Touring Director Michael Manley was in town last month visiting with musicians traveling with the Broadway shows, so we had an opportunity to talk to him about traveling theater musician wages and conditions (Michael has been involved in negotiations for the traveling theater musicians, "Pamphlet B"). Once we have all of this data, we sit down to put this into a proposal, crafting language and determining what our priorities and bottom line are. Usually the preparations take much more time than the negotiation itself!
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