union/radio city was Re: [Trombone-l] No Bands

[Jeff Albert]

On Nov 29, 2005, at 3:04 PM, <thetubameister at adelphia.net> wrote:

> Our union(s) also needs to grow a spine - while it might still matter.
>
> Whenever I hear about the Radio City or New York Musicians losing  
> any ground, I roll my eyes at the complicitness of our union to  
> participate in it's own demise.  Some argue the nuances of argument  
> and negotiation, to save a limited number of positions, and thus  
> perpetuating and accelerating the example to the next obstacle and  
> board - "we'll give up anything to work!".  How very shortsighted.

I don't know the inside of the situation, but I do know some  
dislocated New Orleans musicians that were approached about the gig  
before it became very public.  There are always 2 sides to every  
story.  The side that was presented to them (the NO cats) was that  
the NY musicians that had a tenured 10 week a year gig, many of whom  
were making $40k in those 10 weeks) were looking for concessions like  
getting paid even when they subbed out.  Now, like I said this is all  
hearsay, and it came from the management side so take it with an ex- 
lax or grain of salt or whatever.

I guess the point I am getting to is that if we expect management not  
to act like greedy money grubbing bums when they negotiate with us,  
then we owe them the same consideration.  That's the problem with  
labor/management relations.  They are built in an adversarial manner,  
with neither side really being aware of the eco-system they both live  
in.

Many of you know my feelings about the union, so I'll spare you all  
that rant again.  If you don't know how I feel about it and are  
curious, read this: http://www.jeffalbert.com/wordpress/?p=7

Jeff

=====================
Jeff Albert
www.jeffalbert.com
www.scratchmybrain.com