[Fmpro] Unions and futures

[Rick Blanc]

We can all certainly enjoy our own beliefs and form our own philosophies of what things mean; I'm just presenting mine.

I believe many unions, and maybe particularly the musician's union, are anachronisms, like an army fighting the new war with the old battle plan.  Music as art will struggle through history as it generally has.  The music "business" however is market driven.  And the marketplace is transnational.  Who is going to control it, and by what authority?

The idea that Eastern Europeans are "allowing themselves to be abused" for $20/hr. is absurd.  First the obvious: what does $20 represent in buying power in Bratismava compared to LA?  What did the last job that abused soul have pay?  I worked in Vienna once with Bulgarian musicians who were being paid so little (not an American company) they had to bring food with them in their suitcases because they couldn't afford to eat on the Austrian economy.  I took a few of them out for McDonald's or Chinese and they were thrilled.  My point is these people are happy to work, and $20/hr. is a very decent respectable wage that will help them improve their lives.  

As for American unions: they need, in my opinion, a new and different vision to deal effectively with the future.  So far I see no evedence of any vision at all.

Rick