Monthly Archives: June 2015

Just Sue Us

Dear Member:

Have you been thinking that our union has seemed to be on a “legal rampage” lately? Maybe that’s because we recently filed three different lawsuits against major Hollywood studios in less than two months.

These studios have violated our contracts either by recording scores outside the United States or Canada or reusing soundtrack clips without appropriately compensating musicians.

When we addressed the inappropriate reuse of clips during contract negotiations, one company representative said, “Just sue us.”

Resolving contract violations through grievance meetings or neutral arbitrators makes sense. No one wants to go to court. Musicians working under AFM Jingle and Broadway Touring contracts for example file grievances—not lawsuits—when there are contract violations. But our film contract lacks a grievance and arbitration process.

So we are going to court as one of the many ways we fight to uphold industry standards.

Musicians standing together have the power.

In Unity,
Ray Hair
AFM President

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