Databases, InTune, reporting, FIF, work dues, per cap reporting, the crucial record-keeping and clerk duties that all union officers are responsible for are endless. Each Local is either dependent on InTune or left to their own devices (no pun intended).
Our AFM, or Locals and musicians would all benefit from a modern, secure, easy-to-use AFM-wide database that every Local could portal into, creating ease, efficiency, cost-savings and accuracy in reporting. We know it can be done. At Local 47, a large local with deep needs, we were hobbled by an outdated, Microsoft Access-based system that risked both internet security and systems failure.
We invested in a comprehensive, usable and successful system for membership, dues, jobs, finances and reporting. It is a secure, cloud-based system which has created 24/7 musician access for members and non-members, as well as efficiencies including remote access for staff and officers.
Imagine if the AFM had such a system that your Local could simply pull up on a web browser or on your phone to take care of your local’s reporting needs.
Teamsters do it. SAG-AFTRA does it. The Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund and the AFM&SAG-AFTRA Distribution Fund have all built modern, secure and comprehensive systems that handle millions of contracts and hundreds of thousands of musicians.
There are several Resolutions before the Convention that speak to this urgent need, and I look forward to working with all the proponents on the issue. It’s time for our AFM to invest in a centralized, AFM-wide clean, comprehensive, modern database solution. I’ve helped Local 47 do so, and I’m ready and willing to help the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada move into the technological future.
On to Ottawa!