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From the July 2006 issue of The $100 Plus Club News #101
More on Musicians Local 802
From the editors: Democracy has thrived in Musicians Local 802 for a long time; and so when an internal dispute erupted and seemed to be discussed heatedly and openly by rival officers in the local's own tabloid, our $100+ Club News reported the news, we thought, as an illustration of how differences of opinion could be discussed freely in a democratic union. The story began: "Democracy seems to be alive at Musicians Local 802 in New York..." And it ended two pages later, "No matter what candidate wins the election ... the overall winner will be union democracy..."
It was not and is not our intention to mix into the dispute; but, for the story to make sense, we did have to present some of the details. Still, we thought all local 802 musicians would be pleased by our comments on the democratic quality of their union. Were we ever wrong! Never has there ever been such a storm of protest over anything we have published.
Only now is it clear how deeply and how bitterly the two sides are counterposed. We print here everything we have already received. Perhaps more may be coming. To help our readers disentangle what follows, even at the risk of further accusations of muddying the facts, we will try to explain why our correspondents are so angry.
The most sensitive subject, at the root of our correspondents' ire, relates to the bargaining between the orchestra at the Radio City Music Hall and management. We wrote that Local 802 President David Lennon "according to reports, bypassed the union's member-based negotiating committee in bargaining with Radio City Music Hall...." And that "Recording Vice President Dennison and Executive Board Member Jay Schaffler suggested that [Lennon] sign a letter of apology requested by RCMH management...." before it would conclude an agreement. It is this aspect of our report that provoked the strongest reaction. Obviously we should have made even clearer that we were reporting only a charge against Lennon, not certifying its validity.
From Jack Gale, Local 802 Executive Board Member:
P.W. Sondor's recent article on Local 802 contains much false "information". This is no doubt due to reliance on "reports" from unnamed sources. Thank you for the opportunity to correct this information in your publication.
Firstly, the article refers to reports that claim "President Lennon bypassed the Union's member-based negotiating committee in bargaining with Radio City Music Hall (RCMH), much to the consternation of the RCMH negotiators and others".
This is outrageously untrue! The member-based negotiating committee was indeed bypassed, but it was bypassed by two other officers, not involved in the negotiations, not by President Lennon!
Lennon worked closely with the committee at all times, as you have surely heard from the members of the RCMH committee (who have written to you about this preposterous allegation). Dennison and Schaffner pressed the rank & file committee, the Executive Board and President Lennon to sign not just "a letter of apology" (as the article calls it) but rather, an unlawfully demanded specific letter written word for word by James Dolan himself (CEO of Cablevision) in which the Union would (as a condition of further talks) state that it had "lied" about management's demands and would publish the letter in the NY Times at the union's expense.
After the rank and file committee adamantly opposed the signing of such a letter, Dennison and Schaffner went around the elected committee, the Executive Board and President (and chief negotiator) Lennon by conveying their support for management's position to the employer, thereby empowering management to refuse to negotiate during a critical period while the orchestra was being replaced with recordings, with the knowledge that pressure was being applied inside the Union (by Schaffner and Dennison) to knuckle under to management's extortion.
The employer's demand for the letter was only withdrawn after the Local filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB charging management with extortion.
It was these treasonable acts which were the basis of charges against Dennison and Schaffner, not simply their "openly criticizing the RCMH negotiations and contract" as Mr. Sondor states. These charges were withdrawn because of an unavoidable 4-month delay in convening a meeting to hear the charges (resulting from bylaw restrictions) and the prospective impact of such a weighty unresolved issue interfering with the Union's functioning over that long period of time.
President Lennon is indeed in political "hot water" because of certain financial indiscretions on his part including the personal use of his union credit card referred to in the article. It is, however, not true that charges arose in January "that he was charging personal expenses on the Union's Am Ex card, some of which he had not repaid." Lennon had never concealed his use of the card. His personal use of the card had ended and he had repaid the charged amounts before the end of 2005, a month before the matter was raised in January of 2006.
Mr. Sondor is correct in pointing out the extremely rare democratic policy of a union publishing such harsh critical letters against an incumbent President in the union's journal but, as for Dennison and Schaffner wanting "more" democracy, the record tells a different story. In undermining the negotiating position of a democratically elected committee and by letting management know that union officers were on the employer's side on this issue, they struck at the heart of union democracy and the rank-and-file committee system.
A further indication of their wish to avoid democracy has been their recent advocacy of an Executive Board motion for President Lennon to resign. The Board has no power to remove (or even hear charges against) a sitting President but this faction of the Executive Board prefers a symbolic (and politically damaging) Board motion to the filing of charges which, according to the bylaws, must be heard by a committee of rank and file members elected for that purpose by the membership.
The most truly democratic resolution of such matters lies in the electoral process itself but efforts are clearly underway to force Lennon out of office before the election without an official membership hearing or a vote of the electorate.
Sincerely,
Jack Gale, Local 802 Executive Board Member since 1988
From Andy Rodgers, Chair, Local 802 Radio City Committee:
I write in response to an article I have been forwarded by P.W. Sondor concerning Musicians Local 802, its President David Lennon and the Radio City Orchestra Committee.
As Chairman of the Radio City committee I take issue with the facts reported in the article "Democracy Alive in Musicians Local 802". The entire premise that Lennon bypassed the negotiating committee is patently untrue.
I was there.
I would insist that Mr. Sondor forward to me the "reports" that he speaks of and their sources. Why did Mr. Sondor not attribute his "reports"? Why did he not contact me or members of my committee for our input?
Your article is reminiscent of the unattributed propaganda sent to Union Members by Jim Dolan's Cablevision lawyers who were successful in sowing dissent at Local 802 and eviscerating the contract of the Radio City Orchestra. Are you really a pro-union organization?
Sincerely, Andy Rodgers
From Bud Burridge, Local 802 Radio City Negotiating Team:
Your recent article regarding the expansion of democracy in Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians would be heartening, were it not for several inaccuracies and omissions. The real question might be, are feuding factions interested in democracy at all?
Problems in Local 802 indeed became larger during the Radio City negotiations, though, as I understand it, there had been a rival faction within the administration from the beginning. As a member of the Radio City negotiating team, I can assure you that President Lennon never bypassed the committee OR the Orchestra. The only public dissent, at that time, came from Mr. Dennison and Mr. Schaffner, union officers who were in no way involved in the negotiation. Dennison went so far as to stand with management on the Radio City picket line urging striking musicians to sign the letter demanded by management (a demand, by the way, removed from the table by management after Local 802 filed charges of extortion with the Labor Relations Board). The charges later brought against Dennison and friends concerned their efforts to publicly undermine the union during a perilous negotiation, not for mere opposition views to administrative policy.
The Allegro newsletter has indeed printed letters of dissent, even the rambling, factually inaccurate letter by former President Glasel, Bud Burridge, (who makes no secret of his personal hatred of President Lennon). The "Concerned Musicians" website, oddly, contains no dissenting views on its message board.
Dissent and open dialogue are of course essential to democracy, but only effective when practiced by both sides.
An extremely concerned musician, Bud Burridge
From Richard Spencer, Radio City Orchestra Member:
You write:
"The problems developed last October when Lennon, according to reports, bypassed the union's member-based negotiating committee in bargaining with Radio City Music Hall (RCMH), much to the consternation of RCMH negotiators and others. When Recording Vice President Bill Dennison and Executive Board Member Jay Schaffner suggested he sign a letter of apology requested by RCMH management to advance the negotiations, Lennon allegedly refused and the talks broke down. Subsequently, the world famous Christmas show was performed to canned music and a less than satisfactory contract was agreed to."
This simply is not true...where are you getting this stuff from...I am a member of the Radio City Orchestra and this is not what happened...I don't know what you are smoking but I know it can't be legal...you speak of democracy...it's more like hypocrisy...find the truth before you start spreading lies and half-truths...there is nothing noble in what you are doing here...nothing!!!
Richard Spencer
From Michael Comins, MEMBERS Party Steering Committee:
Politics is a hard business. There are complex issues involved that you have not been made aware of. Your 802 article contains both half-truths and some outright lies. For balance, perhaps you'll print the following:
[Ed.-- The rest of the message was from this page on the Members Party website.]
Michael Comins, MEMBERS Party Steering Committee
For more on Local 802, see:
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