Mar 11, 2003
You know what really drives me nuts, the hypocrisy inherent to almost every Union in America, and the tactics they use to get what they want. I don't totally blame the Unions for their tactics though, I also blame big business for how poorly they respond to Unions.
This past weekend the AFM (Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians) held a strike because The League of American Theaters and Producers wanted to eliminate any imposed minimum number of musicians required for a musical — currently 24 to 26 - in orchestras. The deal they finally cut, brought the minimum to 18-19. The Producers felt that in many cases they could replace musicians with a digital orchestra.
Local 802 said that the Producers were being greedy and selfish, and wanted to take away jobs. I don't believe that, but that doesn't matter. If the Union believes that producers are greedy and selfish, and that those qualities are bad qualities, how dare they hold a strike?! I have yet to find a reasonable argument justifying any strike. What this Union effectively did, in our terrible economy, is keep NYC from making approx. $61 million dollars, and made the individual shows loose about $7 million dollars. Why? because they felt that their jobs were more important than everyone else's - including the jobs of the ushers, box-office people, vendors, etc... If that's not greedy and selfish, I'm not sure what is.
No matter how Local 802 feels about the idea of not having an orchestra, the bottom line is that the people who are putting their money on the line, believe they can't afford the orchestra anymore. Furthermore the investors and producers feel that they could provide a very high level of quality digitally, while making their investments profitable (below I included some of theater's economics). If the musicians are right, and the quality of the productions falls substantially, audiences won't come, and the producers will respond by replacing the digital orchestras with real orchestras. But the market has to decide, not the musicians. Often times people forget that America is a capitalist country. The market dictates what should and shouldn't be.
I'm going to pause for a second and make clear that I'm not against the idea of Unions. In fact, generally I believe in them. If employees can realize their collective force, as long as they're working for the collective good of the employees that comprises the Union, I believe only good can come. Management can better understand the impact of a decision on employees when the Union can explain, with one voice, that a given decision will adversely impact the employees of that company. And the Union can speak on behalf of all the employees when they feel a change needs to be made, and make the process of negotiation easier, and gain a lot for all the employees.
My issues with Unions arise when Unions abuse their power, and disregard everyone they impact; for example, when they strike in order to get what they want. The
bottom line is that when Union members come to work every day, they are doing that on their own accord. No one is forcing them to go to work, and no one is forcing them to work at any particular company. Conversely, the company doesn't have to hire these people, and can change the terms of employment as necessary to keep the company profitable, and be responsible to the investors. If the employees don't like the new terms of employment, they are free to go find a job elsewhere.
Furthermore, I hate it when I hear Union members say that they should be paid more money, or get more whatever from their company, or that the company makes a lot of money and is hoarding too much and that more should be given to employees. If these people understand so much about economics, why don't they go open their own company?
In defense of Unions though, I do recognize that many companies have taken advantage of their employees because they felt they could, and didn't treat their employees well. As such, Unions have had to resort to extreme tactics. I certainly feel that if a company puts employees first, they will always do that, and always find ways to make sure that their employees are treated fairly. Starbucks and GoreTex are two companies who have been very successful at doing that. I recommend vising : GoreTex and reading about their corporate culture, which is quite amazing.
Here's some info from the NYTimes:
Broadway Musicians Reach an Accord
By ROBIN POGREBIN and STEVEN GREENHOUSE
NYTimes, 3/11/03
Before the strike, the producers said they wanted to eliminate minimums altogether, calling them an archaic employment guarantee that had become increasingly onerous in an age of escalating production costs. They succeeded in reducing the minimums for the largest theaters by seven musicians. The base wage for Broadway musicians is $70,000 a year; with benefits included, their overall compensation comes to more than $90,000. Reducing a pit orchestra by seven players, therefore, can save more than $630,000 a year.
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