Justice for Jazz Artists, What No Minimum Wage & No Pension? With John O'Connor, Vice President AFM's Local 802 Keisha St. Joan, jazz vocalist
New York City's musicians' union has been leafleting outside The Blue Note, a major jazz club, in a campaign to gain pension benefits and a minimum wage for jazz artists. The disagreement between the union and club owners dates back to 2005, when union leaders and the night clubs successfully lobbied the NYS Legislature for a reduction in the sales tax on tickets with the extra revenue to be used to pay for pension and health benefits for the artists. While jazz has been recognized by the U.S. Congress as "America's National Treasure," and clubs like the Blue Note, Birdland, the Jazz Standard, Iridium and the Village Vanguard are still filling seats and charging hefty prices, the jazz players find themselves facing old age with no pension and little in the way of Social Security, since much of their pay was in cash and off the books. "It's just a sin that we have no pension," said Keisha St. Joan, 72, a jazz vocalist who was distributing leaflets. "I will not have a pension before I die."
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