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American Federation Of Musicians Drums Up Support For The “Hard Fight Ahead” At NYC Rally As Live-TV Contract Talks Begin
The American Federation of Musicians held a rally September 4 in Manhattan ahead of the union's contract negotiations on a TV Videotape Agreement.
A brass band played Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” on the sidewalk as pedestrians streamed by, a man with a bullhorn led unison chants, and demonstrators held up picket signs with messages aimed at company bosses. About an hour before negotiations, musicians and union representatives from Los Angeles, Nashville and New York made their demands clear outside: better pay, higher residuals, more comprehensive health care and limits on the use of artificial intelligence as a replacement for entertainment workers — issues that also drove last year’s marathon walkouts by WGA and SAG-AFTRA. In the crowd was a member of both AFM and SAG-AFTRA: Janice Pendarvis, one of the backup vocalists featured in the acclaimed 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, and the musical leader of a memorable picket outside NBCUniversal in August 2023 in which singers performed the classic protest anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.”
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