Tucson Federation of Musicians

TFM is joining the Western Conference in approving a resolution of response to the so-called “Powell Memo”. A coordinated Labor response to the memo has never happened. The resolution is intended to build awareness within the AFL-CIO, and create a movement to reverse the negative impacts the memo has had on the Labor Movement in the US.  The memo was drafted by Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. on August 23, 1971 and sent to the chair of the US Chamber of Commerce as a blueprint for future pro-corporate and anti-labor initiatives. Here are links to the Memo and the Resolution

The following is from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.#Powell_Memorandum:

“…The memo called for corporate America to become more aggressive in molding society’s thinking about business, government, politics and law in the US. It sparked wealthy heirs of earlier American Industrialists like Richard Mellon Scaife; the Earhart Foundation, money which came from an oil fortune; and the Smith Richardson Foundation, from the cough medicine dynasty^[13] to use their private charitable foundations, which did not have to report their political activities to join the Carthage Foundation, founded by Scaife in 1964^[13] to fund Powell’s vision of a pro-business, anti-socialist, minimalist government-regulated America as it had been in the heyday of early American industrialism, before the Great Depression and the rise of Franklin Roosevelt‘s New Deal.

The Powell Memorandum thus became the blueprint of the rise of the American conservative movement and the formation of a network of influential right-wing think tanks and lobbying organizations, such as The Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as well as inspiring the US Chamber of Commerce to become far more politically active.^[15][16]

Thank you to the many members who took time to attend local 33’s latest General membership meeting! A lively and illuminating discussion regarding our wage scales took place.  Some parts of the superseded wage scales in local 33 have not been updated in over six years! While the resulting document did not completely fulfill everyone’s ideals, it was nonetheless unanimously approved! In the opinion of the EB, this represents a significant step forward.  Many different perspectives were shared by members over complimentary food drink. Everyone present contributed to a deeper understanding of the challenges we face in our profession and region. The new document is being emailed to the membership and can be found – along with the meeting minutes – on the members page of this local33.afm website.

Much needed wage scale and bylaws changes are on the agenda for a crucial vote at our next General Membership Meeting. According to Article XIII, Section 2, of our current bylaws, these changes require a quorum of the membership to attend and vote for them to be binding and to take effect. Your President and EB have put vital effort into preparation of these wage scale changes, resulting in much improvement. However, we cannot pass them without YOU – THE UNION!  Your attendance, and involvement in this issue is very much needed!

To summarize, the changes would:

Dear TFM Members:

Your Executive Board (EB) is pleased to announce another application period of our Special Projects Grant.  We have allocated a total budget of $2000 for the year (roughly $500 per quarter) for this fund.  Those monies will be awarded accordingly to qualifying projects at the discretion of your EB.  The purpose of this initiative is to help members defray the costs of professional activities including, but not limited to:  a recording project, performance, or participation in a professional conference.

To apply, you may respond to this email with your application.  Applications can be found at local33afm.org.  Under the Members Page section, click the SPG Application link.  Fill in the required information with as much detail as you can provide.  The deadline for submissions will be

Friday, March 31, 2017 at 11:59 MST.

All involved in the project and benefiting from the funding must be AFM members.

Special consideration will be given to:

•  larger projects which involve more AFM members
•  projects which directly benefit the Tucson community
•  projects that increase the visibility and presence of TFM in the community

As with any grant, funds will be awarded to the best applications in each quarter.  This may mean certain projects will not receive funding in one quarter, though such an application could qualify and be granted monies in another quarter.  We will do our best to give feedback to you and encourage re-application accordingly.

Applicants will be notified of final decisions by Friday April 14, 2017.  If awarded, you will be expected to submit a brief report on the use of the funds within 30 days of the completion of the project.  Please include a brief summary, estimate of attendance, as well as any feedback you received.  Please also include a final budget (especially if it varies at all from your projected budget) and copies of any promotional materials that clearly identify AFM Local 33 Special Projects Grant as a funding source.

Good luck!

In Solidarity,

The TFM Executive Board

Trombonist Mike Becker received money to run his Becker Low Brass Boot Camp, which is an in depth instructional program he has designed for young brass players.  This year, he took the boot camp to Chicago as well as Tucson.

Bassoonist Jessica Campbell and Local 6 member Cindy Behmer formed the Kontra-Cor Duo which received an SPG grant. They performed works by local composers Jay Vosk and Chris Black at the International Double Reed Society conference in Columbus, GA on June 30.  The duo commissioned the works, and the pieces represent a new genre of music:  doubling double reeds!  (For example:  Bassoon/Oboe, Bassoon/English Horn, Contrabassoon/Oboe, Contrabassoon/English Horn)

The SPG is an ongoing initiative of Local #33 which raises the profile of Tucson musicians who are TFM members. It empowers their creativity, and benefits our community.  Money is available for a wide variety of uses in keeping with the vision of the SPG project. If you are a TFM member and are interested in proposing a project, you can find the application on the members page, or you can contact a Local #33 officer!