Musicians Deliver More Than 12,000 Petition Signatures to Lionsgate Films Urging Them to Stop...
Source: AFL-CIO News blog
Jackie Tortora
Shipping quality U.S. jobs overseas has been an issue affecting all workers and musicians and members of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) are fighting back.
Today in Santa Monica at Lionsgate Films headquarters a group of musicians dropped off a petition with more than 12,000 signatures urging the production company, which benefits from taxpayer-funded film credits, to uphold industry standards and score their films in the United States ensuring American musicians are recording the music that makes movies come alive.
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer María Elena Durazo joined the musicians to drop off the petitions at Lionsgate.
In April, musicians launched the Listen Up! campaign nationwide and have made multiple attempts to engage Lionsgate in a dialogue about the negative impact that offshoring film-scoring work has on working musicians as well as local communities. Through an online campaign, AFM has gathered signatures from thousands of supporters and are confident that the show of widespread support will motivate Lionsgate to speak with musicians.
FULL title: Musicians Deliver More Than 12,000 Petition Signatures to Lionsgate Films Urging Them to Stop Shipping Jobs Overseas
FULL story at link.
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MariaEDurazo &CM McKeon deliver 12k petitions
= new reply since forum marked as read
not normal union activity.
For example, I'm working here in Spain with a very talented Spanish composer/musician who would very much like to get into the (international) film-scoring business. AFM says he should not be allowed to, based on nationality/country of residence. WTF?
In that case all sorts of barriers ought to be raised by all other countries in the world to prevent US/Canadian cinematic (& TV etc, I suppose?) products being sold in their markets, thus fostering non-US/Canadian production and providing work opportunities for non-US/Canadian artists - not a bad idea, come to think of it, what with all the 'Americanisation' screwing with minds and work opporunities in so many non-American world cultures.
If you don't mind me saying so. 
Is the talented Spanish composer/musician unionized?
No, and I will take it up with him again. http://spme.es/
But, hell, especially in current economic circumstances, you do know that the 'under-the-table', 'grey' economy represents at least 25% of the entire Spanish economy, don't you? (which, btw, means that the real Spanish economy is at least 25% larger than 'official' numbers would suggest).
... In the UK, on the other hand, last I heard it is not at all easy to work professionally without being a member of the Musicians' Union. http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/
Peace 
as a Brit ex-analyst/programmer software engineer, always freelance, always insecure. Dropped out back in the 'nineties, exiled myself in Spain and did more fun things while playing the markets since then (I was analysing/programming in the City of London, made a small pile before it was too late, and learned a thing or two about how those newly-computerised 'financial wizards', 'masters of the universe' think they work...).
But patriotism is a double-edged sword, often wielded by people blinded by their own jingoism. Me, I'd prefer to see global international democratic socialism, the more bottom-up the better, eliminate national entities and nationalism altogether, while encouraging, where sensible, much more localism. But then I'm a European...
Especially in the case of 'Hollywood' and other US-based (and/or UK-based, English-speaking) media industries, the product is not ever intended only or even mainly for the US market. The market is indeed international, so the production process should be too.
Weird, huh? I'm about to turn 60 this year and I'm still impossibly Utopian. Attempting to invest some of my relatively meager/meagre savings into doing something socially useful...
