agma “likely” to strike nyco
The American Guild of Musical Artists said in a memo to members that “given the changes that George Steel wants to make in our contract, members are advised that the possibility of a strike against New York City Opera is likely.” At issue is what AGMA characterizes as Steel’s intention to eliminate guarantees of work for chorus and production staff. [via Bloomberg News]
Any AGMA members out there willing to forward a copy of the memo to lacieca@parterre.com?
La Cieca, you mentioned soaps… but I must call you on forgetting to mention telenovelas. I have it on good authority that Tieta do Agreste and Roque Santeiro are favorites among choristers.
Mr. Gordon, Both SAG and The Writers’ Guild are, as you say, run by elected officers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t those elected officers working professionals in their fields?
Here’s the current Board of Directors of SAG:
NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2008 – 2009
Alan Rosenberg, President
Connie Stevens, Secretary-Treasurer
Anne-Marie Johnson, 1st Vice President
Sam Freed, 2nd Vice President
David Hartley-Margolin, 3rd Vice President
(listed alphabetically)
Angeltompkins
Adam Arkin
Scott Bakula
Molly Ballard
Bonnie Bartlett
Justine Bateman
Mark Blum
Joe Bologna
Amy Brenneman
John Carter Brown
Suzanne Burkhead
Keith Carradine
Seymour Cassel
Tom Chantler
Paul Christie
George Coe
Dave Corey
Roy Costley
Rebecca Damon
Anne DeSalvo
Maureen Donnelly
Cece DuBois
Nancy Duerr
Abby Dylan
Morgan Fairchild
Frances Fisher
Joely Fisher
Nancy Giles
Traci Godfrey
Elliott Gould
Valerie Harper
David Hartley-Margolin
Sumi Haru
Virginia Hawkins
Robert Hays
Todd Hissong
Mike Hodge
Ken Howard
James Huston
Jim Hutchison
William Katt
Lainie Kazan
Ed Kelly
Diane Ladd
Art Lynch
Kent McCord
William Mapother
Richard Masur
Mary McDonald-Lewis
Helen McNutt
Bill Mootos
Esai Morales
Sue-Anne Morrow
Debra Nelson
Pamela Reed
Sam Robards
Stephen F. Schmidt
Matt Servitto
Nancy Sinatra
Renee Taylor
Kate Walsh
Sharon Washington
Angela Watson
JoBeth Williams
Jenny Worman
Liz Zazzi
here’s the current board of the Writers’ Guild West:
Officers & Board of Directors
2008 – 2009
Patric M.
Verrone
President
E-mail
David N.
Weiss
Vice
President
E-mail
Elias
Davis
Secretary-
Treasurer
E-mail
Board of Directors
To send an e-mail, click a name below.
John F. Bowman
Katherine Fugate
David A. Goodman
Howard Michael Gould
Mark Gunn
Karen Harris
Nick Kazan
Kathy Kiernan
Robert King
Peter Lefcourt
Aaron Mendelsohn
Joan Meyerson
Phil Alden Robinson
Howard A. Rodman
Tom Schulman
Dan Wilcox
So your argument that AGMA is nothing like those guilds is egregious; you are exactly like those guilds. You’re all presumably run by your members, whether elected to offices or not, and have your members best interests at heart.
In point of fact, you all have nearly identical mission statements, to wit:
AGMA is a democratic union, governed by its members.
All union officers are performing artists chosen through elections in which every member in good standing is eligible to vote. The Board of Governors, the governing body of AGMA, is responsible for final approval of all contracts, management of union funds, and for protecting all members from unfair or unsafe practices and conditions. Any active member in good standing is eligible to run for a seat on the Board. Elections for the Board are held in three-year cycles and elections of all officers are held biennially.
mr. Gordon, your refutation of my comparison to SAG and WGA is egregious, as a google search just showed. You are all run by your members, whether elected to office or not, and all of your members must vote to ratify contracts. Furthermore, you all have nearly identical mission statements, as perusal of all three websites just showed.
ftr, Gordon did not go to the media first. In one of the many articles buried recently in a Saturday Times Edition, Steele referred to concessions that would have to be made by the Unions – obviously a stupid thing to say, and showing his inexperience in dealing with Union negotiations. Gordon then immediately made his first public utterance concerning the ability of AGMA to strike NYCO. But the first shot across the public bow was by Steele.
D’agilita advises NYCO to employ no chorus at all and minimum orchestra. Baroque and contemporary operas using between 14 and 20 instruments, simple sets with few stage hands, a smaller space and eliminate most of the administration and NYCO will survive. Within the nexr few days I will be posting a list of operas, both one acts and full length which would be suitable.
For starters:
Monteverdi L’Orfeo
Argento The Vouage of Edgar Allen Poe
Cavalli L’Ormindo
Hoiby A Month in the Country
@84- you think the chorus is being difficult, just WAIT until the orchestra get wind of a plan to reduce their numbers…
Well, if all else fails, I saw NYCO should use the same computerized orchestra we used at Operaworks. One man sitting at a computer console, using his mouse to control tempo and volume. And NYCO should only perform single character operas, such as La Voix Humane.
Or for operas that require a chorus, how about doing it a la Sing It Yourself Messiahs? Give the audience scores, and have them sing the chorus parts. A good time will be had by all.
or the stage hands….. or the 27 people in the development/marketing department
Hey, d’agilita, maybe “Lauren, Queen of La Scala” could pack the State Theater if NYCO offered her in thrice-daily showings of those two Pasatieri masterworks she just recorded.
Of course, the crowds would be clamoring for Deborah Drattell’s immortal LILITH as well.