Tag Archives: EMD

Get paid on time! Reports your sessions in advance

The AFM and Local 47 want to make certain that musicians are being paid on time.

Visit bit.ly/session47 when you receive an AFM-covered Electronic Media session call and let us know – anonymously – when it is to occur. By doing this, it will give Local 47 a view of what is coming down the pipeline and empower us to assess late fees owed to you by the employer in addition to your original session wages.

This anonymous form can be filled out for all AFM Electronic Media sessions.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Electronic Media Division Administrator Rebecca Gurnee at emd@afm47.org or 323.993.3143.

Alert Re: Underpaid Recording Sessions

It has come to our attention that during the “Shelter in Place” order that was issued in March, and up to present many of you may have not been paid the full amount of hours worked on recording projects. Local 47, in consultation with the AFM national office has been conducting audits with several of our payroll companies to ensure proper payment of wages and benefits for your services.

If you believe you have not been paid the full extent of the payment due to you, Local 47 requests you submit the name of your project using this online report form. Your identity will be kept anonymous.

That Thing That is Taft Hartley

by Gordon Grayson, EMD Administrator

Every Monday the Local sends a stack of automatically generated letters to all sorts of non-member musicians from all sorts of places for all sorts of engagements. These Taft-Hartley Musician Notifications refer to multitudes of musical employment, but all have one particular thing in common: my signature. The letters are something of a blunt tool, meant to apply to all manner of varied circumstances of employment that today’s musical workplace presents, but they most assuredly are intended to inform rather than offend. They do seemingly never cease to generate curiosity and/or concern among their recipients, who inevitably call the phone number at the bottom to discuss – also mine. Sometimes once a day, sometimes five, I have the opportunity to wax philosophical on the subtle intricacies of congressional legislation as it relates to collective bargaining, labor and union employment… Taft-Brother-Truckin’-Hartley, baby! Continue reading →

Calendar Politics, or What to do When Asked to ‘Hold That Date!’

by EMD Administrator Gordon Grayson

On stand-by calls, or the dreaded “avail” call, Section I (“General Conditions”), Paragraph 1 (“Stand-by Calls”) of both the AFM Basic Television and Theatrical Agreements state, unequivocally: “There shall be no stand-by calls.”

Similarly, Exhibit A (“Minimum Wages and Other Working Conditions”), Section I (“Instrumentalists, Leaders, Contractors”), Paragraph F (“Advance Notice of Sessions and Contract Info”) of the AFM Sound Recording Labor Agreement also states in pertinent part: “Stand-by calls shall be prohibited.” Continue reading →