Musicians' Union Urges Support Of Grammys
Leaders of the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television Radio Artists met with the president of the Writers Guild of America Tuesday to urge him to accept a waiver offer from the producers of The Grammy Awards.
John Cossette Productions, Inc., which produces the Grammy Awards telecast, made the written offer to the WGA to sign an interim agreement so the show can go forward as planned on Feb. 10, 2008.
"We have a very strong tie, that is the AFM and AFTRA, to the Grammy awards show because after all this is our members that receive this award," Thomas F. Lee, international president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM), AFL-CIO, told The ShowBuzz. "We thought that this was very similar to the SAG awards in which your own members are being honored by your own industry. In this case, we and the Grammy Foundation are coalition partners in just about every piece of legislation that goes up on Capitol Hill and on all kinds of humanitarian efforts."
Lee said that the meeting with WGA president Patrick Verrone and senior union leaders from AFM and AFTRA went well.
Photos: 2008 Grammy Nominations Announced
"We made a strong and very thorough presentation to Mr. Verrone, and he very appropriately couldn't give us a positive or negative reaction, but he assured us that this would be taken to the board," Lee said.
AFTRA and AFM issued a joint statement to their membership Tuesday, urging them to "support the important work of The Recording Academy by participating in the Grammy events. We also strongly encourage all participating union members to express support for our ongoing efforts to ensure that musical artists and creative talent receive fair compensation for their work in digital media, as well as support for our brothers and sisters in the WGA."
Many of the singers, announcers, dancers, hosts, and presenters on the Grammy awards telecast, as well as many of the nominated recording artists, are AFTRA members, while many of the musicians are members of AFM or, in some cases, both unions.
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow also released a statement Tuesday, saying that he met with Verrone on Jan. 8 to also urge him to agree to the waiver.
"We also want to underscore that the Grammy Awards telecast is now, and will always be, a union show," Portnow said in a statement. "More than 700 proud union members work for months to create the music industry's gold standard of awards shows. That includes approximately 250 AFM members, 150 AFTRA members, and 2 WGA members."
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards is scheduled to be broadcast live from Los Angeles on CBS on Feb. 10, 2008.
By Judy Faber