Senators Release Multiemployer Pension Reform Proposal

from Pension Fund Notes
November 21, 2019

U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) yesterday released a proposal that would provide financial relief to troubled multiemployer pension plans and make some structural changes to the multiemployer pension system. Sens. Grassley and Alexander are chairmen of the Senate Finance and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees, respectively. We are encouraged to see activity in the Senate to try to address the nationwide multiemployer pension crisis.

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Participation in Committees, Membership Meetings & Events

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, and wish you all the best as we gear up for another great holiday season this December.

This time of year we always look back on the year, its ups and downs, and plan forward for the next year. At our last Membership meeting on November 11, we had a discussion about making more of these meetings, increasing attendance, and our sense of community in our local. After a discussion of how member participation is how we really make our union stronger, one member who had just joined this year commented: “Ask not what your union can do for you, but what you can do for your union…”

We carried this discussion on to our next Executive Board meeting, and from this arose plans to build new standing committees with the purpose of bringing our union more together and getting more done. We are beginning with a Member Engagement Committee to help schedule and plan our Membership Meetings and Orientations, and develop them into really special events. Our first of these is scheduled for the morning of February 22. We are looking for folks to help come up with ways to program the events so they bring special opportunities to our members, along with access to union business, discussion and fellowship. Please contact me or Frederick Nichelson, who has volunteered to chair this committee as we get it going. Let us know soon, as February 22 will be here sooner than we all think!

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Negotiations Finally Begin with LCSO

After months of refusing to negotiate the very changes in the Master Agreement between Las Colinas Symhony Orchestra (LCSO) and Local 72-147 requested by the LCSO initially in April 2019, LCSO Management finally agreed to meet with the Union on October 30 nearly three weeks after the Union forwarded a proposal to Management to settle all disputes. This was an effort to end a lockout created by Management’s refusal to acknowledge the signed contracts of the Winds, Brass, Percussion, Harp and Keyboard (WBPHK) players last September.

At the October 30 meeting, Management made a verbal counter proposal to the Union’s offer, but fell short of honoring these musicians’ signed contracts.

Following this meeting, the Union delivered a counter proposal to Management on 1 November.

In the subsequent meeting which took place on November 7, Management failed provide a counter proposal for settlement.

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Our Fundamental Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act

Underneath these actions has been a campaign to undermine
their basic rights under federal law, which are set forth principally in Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act:

Employees have the right to unionize: to self-organization, to form, to join or assist labor organizations

To Bargain Collectively through representatives of their own choosing

To engage in Concerted Activities: that is, when two or more employees act together to improve their terms and conditions of employment

These rights are basic rights of employees, and are central to the power we have to advocate for musicians. We also have the right to seek the protection of them through the processes of the the National Labor Relations Board. Please read more about our ongoing fight to oppose this effort of the LCSO to take away each of these fundamental rights.

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