The Soloist Coalition Endorses Member-Proposed Petition Amendments To AGMA's Constitution

American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) members are about to face a crucial decision. For the first time in the union's history, members are being asked to choose between competing visions for the way the union governance is run. On Oct 29th, 2020, AGMA called a referendum for Nov 16th, 2020 to vote between ten Member-Proposed Petition Amendments (MPA, submitted July 2020), a full rewrite of the AGMA constitution proposed by its Board of Governors, or neither. This Board-Proposed Rewrite (BPR) conceals a significant loss of member rights, and removes board accountability to its members, protecting and entrenching the current climate of Board secrecy and autonomy.

Full SC endorsement statement: www.memberamendments.org/soloist-coalition-endorsement

The Soloist Coalition (SC), comprised of current and future AGMA soloist members, fully endorses the ten MPA, believing they represent the best path forward for members' rights and equity within AGMA. Self-advocacy for all of AGMA's member classifications, a core union value that the SC very strongly believes in, runs through the MPA. The structural reforms they outline for AGMA's board and executive especially support this. Also, in the MPA the rights of members are finally added to the constitution, notably protections for freedom of speech, anti-discrimination, and access to information. The SC's analysis of the MPA is available here.

Over the last nine months, AGMA members have been concerned about possible corruption on AGMA's board, from the cash for non-disparagement deal negotiated with tenor Plácido Domingo, to the over $7-million NYC condo purchased for a new national office without consulting or informing the members, to the discovery that the board has avoided member scrutiny for eleven years by failing to publish its member observation policy.

The SC is extremely concerned that the BoG has decided to present the ten MPA on the referendum ballot as an all-or-nothing bundle, when they were clearly intended to be voted on separately. The membership has no nuanced choice in this referendum. Also, having a ballot with three choices means it is possible that no one choice will have a majority (required to pass such an important decision). These points, combined with the fact that the board never sought member input when crafting their BPR all speak to an alarming trend of the board's mistrust of rank-and-file members.

There are some places where the MPA and BPR agree, but the SC cannot condone the move away from direct democracy and member empowerment that the BPR brings. What's most disturbing is the removal of a right long-held by the members: the BPR strips the members of their authority to remove officers and board members for misconduct. The board makes NO mention of this change in any of their communications. With the BPR, grassroots change for AGMA will be even harder to bring forward, and the board will maintain its secrecy, self-monitoring, and imbalance. The guarantees the MPAs provide are the members' best hope to bring the kind of progressive change to AGMA they have been hoping to see for decades.

Disclaimer: The Soloist Coalition is an independent, grassroots movement of AGMA soloist members and prospective members, working together to improve our union and our industry. The Coalition is not affiliated with or endorsed by AGMA.