QUESTION GUIDE for AGMA MEETING ON JUNE 1ST AT 12PM EST 1. How many soloists make up this 400 person shop vote? Explain to us how the vote on this will be counted. Can one or more groups vote "NO" and the bargain fails? Does the AGMA Board of Governors have the ability to override/veto the shop vote? 2. Every artist is entitled to a confidential, secure vote. If we cannot get an extension on the voting window, then we must have an anonymous vote by a 3rd party. We must hear the outcome of the official shop vote from a 3rd party. 3. We want to extend the voting window by a reasonable amount. Because of the urgency of the announcement of the tentative agreement, and the subsequent voting window, there are many artists, particularly foreign artists, that have not been informed of the impact this CBA will have on their future at the Met. Many of them have allowed their membership to AGMA to lapse during the pandemic. Many people don't even know if they are eligible. Have you reached out to all the eligible voters in the shop? 4. Clarify the contract dates affected by the new CBA. Please confirm that the cuts apply not only to fully-executed existing contracts, but to any new contracts that are executed between now and July 2024, potentially cutting fees for 5 years beyond that...all the way to 2029. Why hasn’t this been clear to all soloists and why is it ok to continue cutting our fees when everyone else’s salaries snap back in 2024? 5. What’s stopping AGMA/MET from creating addendums in 2024 that extend the new CBA? How can we be assured these cuts will not continue beyond 2024? 6. Why has it been decided that the soloists take the brunt of the cuts? Presumption about our yearly income? Shouldn't working dues be based on our total income after expenses? 7. Multiple times throughout our town hall meetings, you have said something along of the lines of "the chorus won't accept that." How often was the chorus polled throughout this CBA negotiation? Why wasn't the group that makes up the majority of the body of the shop polled with similar questions? 8. Which managers were consulted during these negotiations? We know of at least 3, who do not represent soloists in all earning categories, and instead, have direct ties to AGMA's Board of Governors and/or negotiating committee, which smacks of conflict of interest. Why weren't all managers involved and kept informed as the details of the negotiations progressed? 9. If managers couldn't be involved in a more robust capacity, why weren't we? How many soloists did you reach out to, in order to achieve fair representation, a quorum, within the negotiating committee that could actively advocate for soloists' needs? 6 out of 36 is not enough. As you have gone to great lengths to break down the soloist distribution of contracts at the Met, you should have gone to great pains to make sure each earning bracket was represented in the negotiations. Since the negotiations were done virtually, it is possible that this time around, it might have actually been achieved. Please tell us about your efforts on this front. 10. Since AGMA only technically negotiates nothing beyond our minimums, why don’t soloists pay the 2% working dues ON THOSE MINIMUMS ONLY. We have managers who negotiate the excess of our fees and they receive a commission as well. This is double dipping from all sides. 11. So many top artists have tenure with the company. There are artists at the top of the earning categories who have worked at the Met for more than a decade to get to those cachets. 4-8 years of cuts are a punishment for those artists who have grown with the company over many years. We do not get those years of our lives or our voices back. Although the cuts get reinstated for the chorus, who sing the same repertoire no matter their age, soloists are a CROP, who by nature experience a maturation and a decline. 12. When it comes to Most Favored Nations, what exactly constitutes a better deal? What is the baseline that this is judged by? Can you list a couple of possible scenarios of "better deals" that could bring us back to the table in a more favorable way? 13. What strings, if any, are attached to the new provision referring to artist rehearsal fees being paid up front (upon arrival at the Met)? What if an artist falls ill, has an emergency, is fired, or decides to quit a production? Can that artist's rehearsal fees be guaranteed? Or will the Met ask for them back? Please lay out in detail what the conditions are for this "gain." 14. The 6% cut that applies to the lowest fees garnered by soloist contracts at the Met also apply to covers, do they not? There is at least 1 cover for every single role that is sung at the Met. The TOP cover fee is $3,000 whether you are covering Barbarina or Turandot. And covers have employee status, and therefore cannot write off expenses, and are subject to federal, NYS and NYC taxes. The percentage of singers at this How is this 6% cut not pulling the rug out from under singers tier is 27%. who are already barely able to afford to work as it is? 15. We want to go back to the bargaining table with a thought for a money saving proposal: DON'T CUT THE COVERS' FEES. OR THE DEBUT OR LOWEST PER PERFORMANCE FEES. Save money instead with a reduction in rehearsal time. This not only saves the Met money, it saves us money. The Met schedules around 6 weeks (or more) of rehearsal time for a new production. 3 weeks is about the standard for a remount. Can those weeks be renegotiated down to 4 weeks (max) for a new production, and 2 weeks for a remount, thereby saving us on housing costs and the Met in rehearsal compensation? For example, we can even go further by saying that an artist that has participated in a solo role in a production in the past 3 years can rehearse even less time for the remount. As a model, many of us have worked at other comparable repertory opera houses that mount revivals in less than 1 week, while still rehearsing 6 weeks for new productions, and retaining the same quality throughout. This saves considerable amounts of money and puts the major emphasis of rehearsal burden onto new productions. 16. A union is an organization that by definition provides access to paid sick days, health insurance and other protections to its members. Can you explain why the soloists have been blatantly ignored in these regards? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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