Frequently Asked Questions

We are a movement of musicians standing together to build a more democratic, powerful, and transparent union. Changing laws, new technologies, and growing corporate profits have all worked to divide musicians by genre, region, and worktype. This has led to the decline of musicians' access to worker protections and the AFM's inability to expand the working class of the music industry. The Voices Power Unity caucus is dedicated to growing a powerful union by reuniting musicians regardless of genre, region, or worktypes to begin solving the issues facing working musicians everywhere. The VPU steering committee is led by rank and file members, officers, and candidates together.

"WE HEAR YOU"

We believe that a powerful American Federation of Musicians can only be built with many hands working together. Through conversations with rank and file members and officers from across the country and from many different music fields, the Voices Power Unity caucus continues to build its strategic platform and hone in on the campaigns that we know will be most deeply and widely felt for our members and musicians everywhere. Below are just two campaign examples we have committed to execute after the conversations we've had so far. The Voices Power Unity caucus will continue to lead with the value that WE HEAR YOU and will continue to build campaigns with you that cut at the heart of the issues you're experiencing.

VPU Action items:

- VPU commits to assigning an organizer dedicated to Independent Musicians

- VPU commits to allocating the resources for a campaign to Retune Intune software

The Voices Power Unity caucus is ready to not only meet our power-building challenges externally, but also internally. The VPU candidate slate brings together skilled officers and leaders from across our international region that have proven their commitment to building participatory and powerful spaces with musicians. The VPU caucus believes in their candidates' abilities learned from past experience, as well as their wisdom to seek training and help when needed. Most importantly, we know that the AFM is not just our President or our IEB; we do not intend to limit our union to its leaders; the strength of our union is in its members. We will seek out and listen to the advice and experience of ALL of our members.

Additionally, the VPU caucus looks to past leadership development success and commits to restarting the in-person officer training program collaboration with the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute. We have heard many officers request this program be restarted, and we also commit to resource program expansion to rank-and-file members. Finally, VPU caucus is filled with leaders who serve as delegates to Central Labor Councils and AFL-CIO bodies across the country. We believe in the importance of standing with the broader labor movement and plan to meet with labor leaders from various organizations to deepen relationships and to systematically interview them for advice on growing the music labor movement.

VPU Action Item:

• - Mine the experience and expertise throughout our union
• - Meet with labor leaders and systematically interview them for advice on growing the music labor movement
• - Send rank and file delegation to 2024 Labor Notes Conference for skill building and leadership development
• - Restart in-person officer training program in collaboration with AFL-CIO Organizing Institute and begin resourcing program expansion to include rank and file members.

One of the first questions we must answer if we want to build power for change is: "Who are our people?" The Voices Power Unity caucus aims to bring together ALL musicians, throughout Canada and the United States, spanning every genre, members and nonmembers, and in all workplaces like clubs, studios, and concert halls. That means the VPU caucus is open to ALL musicians. You can start building power TODAY in a number of ways: Fill out the contact form, attend an upcoming VPU mtg, or reach out to a member of the leadership slate today to begin building the relationships we need for visionary change for musicians.