Day: April 1, 2019
Union & Partners Provide Help in Times of Hardship
In times of hardship, the solidarity of our union is there to provide help. Secretary-Treasurer Aaron Pino explains some of the ways. Bill Collins Benefit Fund, the AFM’s Lester Petrillo Memorial Fund. Also, the AFM partners with The Musicians Foundation as well as MusicCares.
Read more
MUSICIANS IN THE PARK A GREAT SUCCESS
Growing from the relationship between Local 72-147, Klyde Warren Park and the support of Music Performance Trust Fund, many new things are happening in downtown Dallas. On March 28 Local 72-147 presented its first ever “Musicians in the Park” Community Performance.
Read more
Pension Update: Critical & Declining Status Projected – What to Expect
As of March 31, the AFM-EPF’s fiscal year of 2018-19 has come to an end. In February, we were notified that actuaries project a strong likelihood that the Fund will enter “critical and declining” status after being in critical status since 2010. You may find the text of the full notification, which is posted on afm-epf.org.
Over the next two months, the Fund’s actuaries will collect and analyze the year-end data and prepare actuarial projections to determine whether our Fund will remain in “critical” status or move into “critical and declining” status for the new fiscal year.
I recommend that you visit the Fund’s Website and check out the “Staying Informed” tab for more detailed explanation, but I wanted to provide as clear an explanation here as possible.
Read more
Financial Assistance In Time of Need
One of the most under-publicized things a union does is to help people in need. Examples from the recent past include the plumbers union donating their time to install pipes and filters for people with poisoned water in Flint, Michigan; and here in Texas, many unions donated food, labor, and financial assistance to Hurricane Harvey victims, including the AFM. As President Williams has written, musicians can be the most vulnerable people in the world when health crises occur – even a short illness can result in critical lost income beyond the cost of health care. I wanted to bring to your attention to four different resources where you can get help for yourself or a fellow member in need of financial assistance due to illness, injury, or disability.
First, our local has its own fund in our Musicians Federal Credit Union called the Bill Collins Benefit Fund, which was established by Bill Collins III in honor of his father, Bill Collins Jr. Its purpose is to help members who are temporarily unable to work as a musician, or are in need of financial assistance, for medical reasons.
Read more