Klarinet Archive - Posting 000613.txt from 1998/02

From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: "Professional" vs. "amateur"
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 10:27:46 -0500

On Sun, 15 Feb 1998, Roger Garrett wrote:

> Professional status is not determined by schooling, degrees, titles, etc.
> It is determined by your association with:
>
> 1. A Musician's Union
> 2. Your contract(s) with various employers
> 3. Your income
> 4. Your known playing status/position in the performance world
>
<Snip>

> your professionality.......if you are not a member of a musician's union,
> you are not considered a professional musician.
>
> Roger Garrett
> IWU
>
>

Hold it right there, Roger! Arizona, for one, is a non-union state -- I
am not a member of the union because 1) I don't have to be, 2) the local
union does very little in terms of serving its constituent musicians (now
whether that's the chicken or the egg, I can't say) and 3) I don't feel
that I should have to pay a portion of my performing income to a local
organization that does nothing for me. If I lived somewhere else, I would
probably feel differently, or perhaps would be required to join the union
in order to get a contract, but that's not the case here. I do subscribe
to the AFM newspaper as a non-member.

Our Opera contracts are drawn up using standard national union rates and
language, and considering we are "small potatoes" in the grand scheme of
things, are kept pretty simple. We just got a new contract for
'97-98/'98-99 retroactive to October which gave us a 5% per-service raise
and a new meal per diem for the out-of-town run. (The reason we were
without a contract until now: the local union was given an opportunity to
counter-offer and never bothered to submit one! After 6 months, their
time ran out.)

Just to clarify that, in Arizona at least, one is not required to join the
union in order to be considered a "professional".

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
eastwooj@-----.edu

   
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