Executive Board Meeting Number 99-2, 19 April 1999

Meeting called to order at 11:24am. All officers and Board members in attendance except Guy Scafati and Randy Singer. Also present were former Trustee Richard Gabriel and IR James Kitchings.

New member applications (YTD 14 new and 12 reinstated) read and approved.

Treasurer's Report: Total membership now in the low 800's after 103 members suspended for failure to pay annual dues. For the first quarter of 1999 income is above budget (mainly from Boca and Local Work Dues and Initiation/Reinstatement fees) and expenses at or just below budget. FPO escrow account (earmarked for the next negotiation) now totals $17739. Life Insurance premium history discussed, as well as potential for this expense to increase significantly in the near future. Newsletter publishing will now be in the even months to better inform membership of Annual Dues, elections, etc. in a timely fashion.

VP Report: $109,000 in contracts filed so far this year. Our members were seen sidelining in a movie and a few commercials recently. The Local's presence is growing. Sunfest will be a Union job for the first time this year, and a half-hour television show will be produced from the festival. Board member Ballard asked about forming an Entertainment Labor Council to facilitate movie companies producing films in this area.

President's Report: Many grievances with the FPO at this moment, including a demotion, failure to fill vacancies, appointment of Associate Conductor, non-renewal. FGO still has not signed side-letter to FPO CBA. Matter is being sent to the NLRB. PBO organization going well; members are unified and negotiations begin in May. SOA or PBP will be the next target to organize. MCS asked for another variance to the CBA and it was granted. They still owe musicians' salaries, work dues, pension from last season but they just held their annual fund raiser and should be able to settle their debts soon. Ballard mentioned that both PBP and SOA are taking advantage of their members and we need to go after both immediately. FPO "Return from OSP" agreement is in FPO committee's hands and the deadline for resolving this is long past. The Federation is encouraging immediate action on this matter.

Convention resolutions will be published in the May IM and Board members were encouraged to read them and bring their opinions to the next Board Meeting. Local will pay disputed AFM 1994 late fees in anticipation that they will be refunded after the Convention.

Old Business: After investigating into Health Insurance Benefits for members, it was determined that the Local might be liable should the carrier drop the policy, and the matter was tabled.

Two applicants for Office Clerk position have been working well and learning quickly. Apana made a motion to appoint them both as co-clerks to share the open position; MSC.

New Business: Apana appointed chair of Bylaw committee; Ballard and Bahler appointed co-chairs of Scale Committee. Discussion of Atlanta Local policy of having members pay higher annual dues and not charging work dues on casual engagements. This policy appears more cost-efficient than policing for gigs that are not filing contracts.

Ballard asked about progress on the referral program and hiring a Casual Rep. She also questioned if we ran an ad for the clerk position and if officers are being accountable for the hours the Bylaws require them to work. She noted that SOA is ripe for picking and we need to organize that orchestra immediately; we cannot continue to put this off and let them get away with violating contracts and treating our members unfairly.

Apana noted that our primary goal should be the education of members, audiences, and purchasers. We need to change the way our members do business and make them ask upfront what the gigs pay and if there is a contract on file. We need to train them to be responsible. We need to make audiences aware of the AFM by having a presence at conventions, festivals, conferences, make them call us first when hiring musicians, and convince them that without the players there is no orchestra. We need to show purchasers that we will not tolerate contract violations and we need to make attractive offers to get new organizations to sign on (referrals, generic low-rate CBA's for church gigs, etc.) We cannot allow events like the GCO contract (where the job resulted in other union musicians being hired for less pay and students hired for next to no pay) to happen again.

Meeting was adjourned at 2:05pm.