Musical artists independent contractors vs the hostile work environment of irresponsible club owners
Dear Musicians,
Ever go into a nightclub atmosphere where management says you are too loud, or bullies you? There are tons of examples in establishments across America, around the world actually. A true musician's "local artist" union would be a great advantage so that maniac general managers don't scream and yell at the talent for no reason, other than their own low self-esteem and ego. Current musician unions serve session people and cover bands who play popular music and demand fair wages. The original artists and independent singer/songwriters have no such union to keep unfriendly bar managers from sticking it to us.
What is a Hostile Work Environment and how do we protect ourselves from rejects from society who can only operate in an alcohol environment? Here's one website with a description: Hostile work environment requirements
An employee with an unlikable bad habit or one that repeatedly bothers another coworker isn’t quite enough to create a hostile work environment. So what does?
A true hostile work environment must meet certain legal criteria, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). An environment can become hostile when:
Unwelcome conduct, or harassment, is based on race, sex, pregnancy, religion, national origin, age, disability or genetics
Harassment is continued and long lasting
Back in the 1990s I put together a charity event for a cat rescue out of Somerville. The manager of the club, nothing to do with the owner who was helping us out, took advantage of the charity. The women running it said "Joe, we wouldn't have had anything. We're thankful that we got this." But it was infuriating that a charity for cats was subjected to a manager who was irresponsible and selfish.
A local club today wants W-9 forms, which is fine if they are paying you the amount of money necessary to trigger a W-9 form. One of the people involved with the venue gets downright nasty with the bands, so much so that one artist said he would never play the club again. Then there's the hypocrisy over masks for prevention of COVID. To have a sign at the door and for the very employee to snap pictures of dancers without masks - and posting it - shows that that employee didn't have security ENFORCE the mask policy.
Then, when a COVID infestation appears and they hush it up, the public is at great risk.
We need a union for independent artists who perform mostly their own music.
Watching venues failing to manage properly, be it a GM who evades phone calls or a bar manager barking at bands that they will be blacklisted if they miss one more gig, that is inexcusable behavior.
That, in my opinion, is a hostile work environment musicians face and it does much to damage the community.
How do we artists protect ourselves from maniacal individuals who have little or no experience in our industry, who abuse us and who make "my way or the highway" demands? A union for original artists would go a long way to stopping these creatures from causing undue emotional distress from the very singer/songwriters they demand bring an audience to them. Shouldn't the venue help bring that audience in? They demand us to promote, practice, perform and put up with their malarkey. It's time to bring those bad business practices to an end. A union, a united front, would go a long way to putting those abusive types on notice, wouldn't it?
Joe Viglione, from the school of hard knocks.
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