Posted by Joe Baker on September 12, 2000 at 08:58:48:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Strike Votes _vs_ mgmt -vs- union-bustin posted by Tim Erdman on September 12, 2000 at 07:58:08:
Thank you for your polite response. In the interest of not misleading anyone, I want to be really clear: I have NO professional orchestra experience, and not a lot of other gigging experience. My opinions are based upon philosophical tenets and experience in other employment venues.
We definitely agree that 'freedom' is a two edged sword. Thomas Jefferson said "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance." I think our disagreement stems from a disagreement about the definition of 'fair' and the proper way to handle abuses (and, possibly, what an 'abuse' is).
To me, 'fair' means that you pay people what the market will bear. If a good oboe player is more rare than a good violist, the oboe player should be making more money. That's 'fair', to me. I suspect (please correct me if I'm wrong) that you consider 'fair' to mean everyone makes the same money. This is a fundamental difference in philosophy.
As to 'abuses', they occur from time to time in all fields. Sexual harrassment is against the law, and should be handled the same whether it is an orchestra or an engineering firm. Abuses like failure to pay for services rendered, while they could be handled after the fact in court, should in fact be handled differently. Money in escrow until after the gig seems like a good solution, and the AFM or other organization -- as a professional organization, not a union -- would be an obvious facilitator.
Mind you, as long as musicians want to be in a union, they should; but I would hope that you would graciously afford others the right to not be in one.