New Works Magazine: Music In Halifax 1985

7: "We've earned a reputation
                      that must be dealt with."

The Atlantic Federation of Musicians is the Atlantic Canadian local of the American Federation of Musicians. The purpose of the Federation, like all other trade unions, is to increase the bargaining powers of its members. "You can't bargain with an employer all by yourself," says Peter Power, who has been in the Federation since the age of 15 and President of the Atlantic local since 1966.

When a musician belonging to the Federation is hired, the employer signs a standard contract provided by the Federation. "Naturally, it only includes employment for our own members," Power says.

The Federation provides retirement benefits, health and instrument insurance and other benefits to its members. The Federation has established a minimum pay scale which all (union musicians receive.

An employer has the choice of hiring only Federation members or hiring only non-union musicians. "If a club decides to go one way or another we can't stop them," Power says. But if a bar or club does hire non-union musicians, it will be placed on an Unfair to Musicians list and Federation members will be instructed not to work for that employer, at risk of penalty.

Power says there are no employers on that list in Halifax. "We've earned a reputation that we must be dealt with," he says.

The slogan of the American Federation is "We're the professionals." And it's the professional, the career musician, that the union is designed to serve.

"Tony Quinn, Frank MacKay, those kind of people, they're going to be musicians a long time, probably for their whole lives. The union offers them a good thing," Brian Hiltz says.

Although union member Hiltz says he has no problem with the union, ("I think a lot of people who aren't in the union have a problem with the union."), there are other musicians whose performance styles or musical tastes don't give them much opportunity to play in commercial establishments, who don't get along with the union so well. These musicians would like to take what they can get, on both sides of the line, but are instead forced to pay union fees higher than any likely income, losing the opportunity to play in noncommercial performance spaces or of foregoing the possibility of work in the music establishment for the opportunity of performing in nonprofessional venues.

Ridge of Tears is a young band playing mostly original music, strongly influenced by many of the post-Punk musical rebellions. No one in the band is in the union. "It's not that we're opposed to the union," vocalist Chris Logan says. "It's just that we can't afford it."

Power recognizes that what some musicians want to play won't get them work. "That's a hazard of the business. We run into that all the time." Power says he always tells musicians, "The boss isn't always right, but he's always the boss."

A musician can change his music to get work if he needs it. But what about the colour of his skin?

Flexx, all eight members, has joined the union. "Whether you like it or not, the union has got to be in it," Jeremiah Sparkes says.

But many Black musicians aren't sure they agree. Corey Adams let his membership lapse after his last job at the Odeon. "They ask for your money," he says, "but that doesn't guarantee you're ever going to get to play."

Power says the union makes allowances for musicians who want the opportunity to play unpopular music in front of an audience. The Music Performance Trust fund allows the union to pay musicians scale for performances for nonprofit organizations. Performances in the Public Gardens and in front of the municipal buildings were paid for by the union.

Power also says the union tries to set low rates for the coffee house providing that the owners aren't trying to make a profit out of the musician's willingness to play. "If the musician wants to do it — and we're working for the musicians — then it's ok."

Power refers to the Grafton Street Cafe as an example of cooperation between the union and the coffee house for a good cause. The union and the Cafe worked out a deal whereby union musicians, if they were asked to play several numbers in a night would receive a minimum wage.

"It wasn't actually a whole whack," Priestly says. "But it didn't help a lot." She says, "It was great for the musicians, but in the end it wasn't because they didn't have a place to play."

Hard work by musicians outside the established, and well paying, businesses may be necessary to keep local music invigorated by innovation and variety. But should the audience expect that of the musician? Power says, "It's only the musicians they'd ever ask to give away their time and talent during work hours." - Craig Benjamin

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