Q & A

Q: Why does the orchestra want a union contract?

A: So many reasons! If you ask five different True Concord musicians why they want a union contract, you’ll get five different answers (at least!) That said, here are some of the recurring themes:

  1. We want to be safe at work. It is dangerously loud far too often. There are no protocols in place to protect our physical safety, our hearing, or our expensive and delicate instruments. Access to on and off-stage has often been dangerously cluttered and steep.
  2. We deserve fair compensation as recording artists. Remember: when SAG-AFTRA went on strike in 2023, they did so because the studios wanted the actors to be recorded once and paid for one day’s work, after which the studio would be allowed to use the actors’ images and likenesses for any project, for no additional fee. It sounds ludicrous, and yet: this is what True Concord does to its musicians. Musicians show up for one week of work, and their performances are captured for later broadcast; other times, their performances are captured for commercial release. They have never been paid any residuals for any of those recordings, including the ones that won Grammy nods. This isn’t just unfair, it is morally indefensible.
  3. We deserve greater hiring stability and transparency. As it stands, hiring is opaque and often appears disorganized.
  4. True Concord sources union musicians. Most of the orchestra is local: most play or have played with the Tucson Symphony, a union group. Some play with the Arizona Opera, another union group. True Concord must work with their artists to support the professional standards they have come to expect.

Q: Couldn’t True Concord simply work with the musicians as a group to come to an agreement without getting the union involved?

A: No, because the musicians are “the union.” Any attempt to bargain with musicians in a collective group would be collective bargaining by definition. Collective bargaining is the heart and soul of unionization. A union is the most effective way for a collective group to function in negotiation with management.

Q: I’m all for workers’ rights, and I believe that artists deserve fair compensation, but is it really necessary to get a third party like the American Federation of Musicians involved?

A: The musicians themselves are the American Federation of Musicians. Therefore, it is impossible that the American Federation of Musicians could be a third party. Rather than a mysterious, nefarious bogeyman, it is simply the means by which orchestral musicians can come together to bargain their own fair contracts.

Q: What is the NLRB, and what is its role in this effort?

A: The National Labor Relations Board is the federal government agency that safeguards our right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act. It oversees union elections and processes unfair labor charges against employers. The musicians filed a petition for a union election in the spring of 2024. They still await a ruling on that petition. Regardless of any NLRB ruling, management has and continues to be free to voluntarily recognize the union.

Q:  What can I do to help?