CASE Arts Law LLC, September 7, 2014 • Bargaining Notes
In other words, this is union-busting, plain and simple.
As an attorney, I cannot envision any scenario in which I would advise my musician or union clients to accept the kind of demands the ASO is making. It defeats the very purpose of being in a union. It makes a mockery of the protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act and the entire scheme of federal labor law.
The ASO’s true agenda is further revealed in email from the ASO’s President and CEO Dr. Stanley Romanstein, rejecting the musicians’ most recent counter-proposal. In that email (a copy of which I obtained from a source), Romanstein declares that the ASO’s deficits have been “created in large part by adhering to a traditional operating model.” What’s needed, he says, is a “contemporary operating model,” one that will “provide the flexibility” the ASO purportedly needs.
Let’s all just agree: from now on, whenever we hear an orchestra manager pontificate about a supposed need for a “contemporary operating model,” or a “new business model,” or “flexibility,” it’s just code for an anti-union agenda. It’s a crutch used by managers who aren’t smart enough or imaginative enough to figure out how to run an orchestra in today’s evolving musical environment. They find it easier to simply blame “the union.”
The fact remains that the “traditional business model” – talented union musicians, performing under a guarantee of employment and negotiating in good faith for fair compensation, benefits, and work rules – is not broken. It works just fine, so long as the right people are in a position to make the right decisions for the organization. Obviously, Romanstein isn’t one of them.
In other words, this is union-busting, plain and simple.
As an attorney, I cannot envision any scenario in which I would advise my musician or union clients to accept the kind of demands the ASO is making. It defeats the very purpose of being in a union. It makes a mockery of the protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act and the entire scheme of federal labor law.
The ASO’s true agenda is further revealed in email from the ASO’s President and CEO Dr. Stanley Romanstein, rejecting the musicians’ most recent counter-proposal. In that email (a copy of which I obtained from a source), Romanstein declares that the ASO’s deficits have been “created in large part by adhering to a traditional operating model.” What’s needed, he says, is a “contemporary operating model,” one that will “provide the flexibility” the ASO purportedly needs.
Let’s all just agree: from now on, whenever we hear an orchestra manager pontificate about a supposed need for a “contemporary operating model,” or a “new business model,” or “flexibility,” it’s just code for an anti-union agenda. It’s a crutch used by managers who aren’t smart enough or imaginative enough to figure out how to run an orchestra in today’s evolving musical environment. They find it easier to simply blame “the union.”
The fact remains that the “traditional business model” – talented union musicians, performing under a guarantee of employment and negotiating in good faith for fair compensation, benefits, and work rules – is not broken. It works just fine, so long as the right people are in a position to make the right decisions for the organization. Obviously, Romanstein isn’t one of them.
The firm’s founder and principal, Kevin Case, has a unique combination of legal experience, superior credentials as an attorney, and a background as a classical musician that makes him particularly qualified to understand the needs of artists and musicians. Unlike many entertainment law firms that are focused on finding the next pop star, Case Arts Law LLC is dedicated to representing working musicians and other performing artists and fine arts clients, with a focus on the ever-changing labor, business, and intellectual property issues and disputes that such clients encounter.
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