Re: Unions, Florida Phil, Seattle Audition


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Posted by Seattlite on October 22, 2000 at 17:31:51:

In Reply to: Unions, Florida Phil, Seattle Audition posted by Ralph on October 22, 2000 at 15:53:38:

The reason the Seattle Symphony is not unionized is due to the old Seattle musicians union and what it did back in the 60's and 70's. The symphony used to be under that union, but because of horrible management, pretty much every musician in the Seattle area abandoned it. This local union (not associated with the AFM) covered every type of musician, classical and non-classical. My father used to be a blues and rock guitarist throughout the 60's in Seattle and has told me many a story about how useless and corrupt the union was. Last year, I had an opportunity to talk to a Seattle Symphony musician, who'd been there since the late 60's, about why they weren't unionized. He basically gave me the same story my father had. This orchestra member indicated that since they got out of that union decades ago, the orchestra has done very well on its own, and has not felt the need to unionize. Besides, the musicians make a lot of extra money playing for movies and such, on top of good salaries.
The orchestra's non-AFM status has nothing to do with the AFM. They are in the opera musicians union (the Seattle Symphony does double as the Seattle Opera Orchestra). It also doesn't have anything to do with the culture of Seattle- the town is extremely pro-union (try Boeing). It mostly stems from that old union.


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