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Vancouver Musicians Win Legal Battle Against The American Federation of Musicians

By Michael Vincent on September 20, 2014

Photo by Christine McAvoy
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Photo by Christine McAvoy

Michael Vincent | In a two year-old battle that has potentially wide-reaching consequences for musicians’ unions across Canada, the B.C. Supreme Court have ruled that the Vancouver Musicians’ Association  (VMA) Local 145 had the right to bargain without interference from the U.S. based parent union.

According to a report by the Vancouver Sun, the B.C. provincial court ruled against The American Federation of Musicians Union (AFM) a.k.a. the Canadian Federation of Musicians, asserting they hampered the bargaining rights of Local 145, which represents about 2,000 performers, directors, arrangers, orchestrators and copyists across the province.

The quarrel started after the VMA felt their interest were not being adequately addressed by the AFM. The local decided to negotiate a contract (the Vancouver Film Orchestra Agreement) without the approval of the AFM, allowing Vancouver area union members to take jobs in Vancouver’s lucrative film industry.

As a result of the initiative, the VMA’s nine board members were ousted and given punitive fines totalling $500, 000 by the International Executive Board on the AFM. The VMA members were also given lifetime expulsions for bylaw infractions and not living up to their oath of office. The local was placed in trusteeship while the two battled each other in court over the right to bargain without interference.

The board members won a temporary stay after a BC court ordered the parent union action must wait and hear the results of the pending decision on the case by the B.C. Supreme Court.

Justice Carol Ross stated the bylaw was problematic and should not apply in B.C. because it ran counter to the association’s fundamental purpose, which is to act as a collective bargaining agent.

“The only way to preserve the primary purpose of the AFM Bylaws is to declare Article 15, section 6(b) void and unenforceable as against the VMA and its members. Therefore, I set aside the trusteeship imposed on the AFM over the VMA,” she wrote.

In a statement to the Vancouver Sun, the local’s ousted president David Brown, said, “It’s been a long road, but it’s great news that the democratically elected representatives of Vancouver’s professional music community are back in charge of their local union […] The trusteeship is over.”

International Executive Board was disappointed by the ruling and is considering an appeal.

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For more history behind this story see below:

American Federation of Musicians in NYC fines the entire Vancouver Executive Board 50K each

Vancouver Executive Board win legal injunction against AFM

David and Goliath: Composer fights back against $50 K in union fines

 

Michael Vincent
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