Local 99 General Meeting
Tuesday, October 7th, 2025
At the Local 99 Hall / Online
325 NE 20th Ave, Portland, OR 97232
5:45 pm – food (provided by the board), 6:30 pm – meeting
The primary purpose of this meeting is to 1) discuss the state of our union; 2) to nominate candidates for President, Executive Officers, and Delegate to the AFM Convention; 3) to ratify the $1 dues increase required by our Bylaws, and 4) to discuss and vote on an amendment to our bylaws regarding member use of members’ email addresses.
If there is a quorum (at least fifteen members in attendance), the members in attendance will be able to vote on the dues increase and the resolution. If there is no quorum, the meeting will be considered a meeting of our Local 99 Executive Board—members will still be able to speak, but will have no vote. A quorum is not required to nominate candidates.
Membership status
Only Local 99 members are allowed to attend meetings, though the meeting attendees can vote to allow non-members. NOTE: Provisional members and members not in good standing may not vote or run for office. If you do not know your membership status, please contact the Local 99 office.
Attending the meeting
This meeting will be held both in person and online, via Zoom conference software. If you do not have a microphone, speaker, or camera on your device, or do not have reliable internet, it is recommended you join in person. To facilitate a smoother meeting, especially with regards to our secret ballot voting (see below), please register for the meeting ahead of time by going to this webpage: afm99.org/gm-fall-2025/
Voting at the meeting
There is one item on our meeting agenda—our dues increase—that requires a secret ballot vote; because this meeting is hybrid, that vote will be done electronically. You must register (see “Attending the meeting” above) to receive the electronic vote link. When the time comes for this vote, the link will be sent out to each attendee (either by email or by text, depending on what you selected when you registered for the meeting); you will use this link to vote.
Agenda
Quorum requirement: 15 members
- Call to order
- Roll call of officers
- Approval of Minutes of the June 10th, 2025, general meeting
- Reports of officers
- Reports of committees
- Communications
- Nominations
- President (term 2026-2028)
- Executive Officers (two positions open, term 2026-2027)
- Executive Officer—Oregon Symphony (one position open, term 2026-2027)
- Delegate to the 2026 AFM Convention (one position open)
- Dues increase
- Resolution – Member email policy bylaws amendment
- New business
- Good and welfare of the Association
- Adjournment
Nominations for President, Executive Officer (two positions), Executive Officer—Oregon Symphony (one position), and Delegate to the AFM Convention
Four positions on our Executive Board are up for election this year:
- President (2026-2028 term)
- Executive Officers (two positions open, term 2026-2027)
- Executive Officer—Oregon Symphony (one position open, term 2026-2027)
To be nominated to any of these positions, a member must be in good standing and have completed all requirements for attaining full membership, i.e. attended an orientation. A member may self-nominate. If the nominee is not present at the meeting, the nominator must present a written statement of acceptance of nomination signed by the nominee. If more candidates are nominated than positions to be filled, a mail-ballot election will be scheduled no sooner than 30 days nor later than 60 days after the nominations meeting.
You can read all of the official duties of our Local 99 officers/delegates in our bylaws; here is a summary:
President
The duties of the President include:
- Preside at all meetings
- Appoint all committees
- Represent the Union as a delegate to all bodies with which the Union is affiliated
- Maintain regular office hours totaling at least twenty hours per week
Executive Officers
The duties of Local 99 Executive Officers are to:
- attend bimonthly board meetings
- exercise general supervision of the interests, affairs, publications and assets of the Union
- approve all expenditures of the Union and direct the Secretary-Treasurer as to how to deposit and/or invest the Union’s funds
- assist its members, promote good labor-management relations with employers of musicians, recruit competent nonmember musicians, maintain the minimum standards established by the membership
- perform such other duties as may be determined by the Board
- be active in upholding the mission of the Union
An added duty of the Executive Officer—Oregon Symphony is to act as liaison with Local members who are part of the Oregon Symphony bargaining unit and communicate the interests and concerns of the bargaining unit to the Executive Board.
Executive Officers are compensated $50 per board meeting attended in its entirety.
Convention Delegate
In addition, we are electing a delegate to the 2026 AFM Convention, to be held June 19-23, 2026, in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). This triennial convention is the highest governing body of the AFM, and the convention delegates make important decisions on the future of our Federation, including electing the International Executive Board. By virtue of their office, Local 99 President and Secretary-Treasurer are delegates, but Local 99 has a third delegate to elect. Local 99 pays for travel, lodging, and food for the convention.
$1 Dues increase proposal
Article V, Section 3(c) of our Bylaws states:
All membership dues shall increase by $1.00 per year, effective January 1st, subject to a member ratification vote at each fall General Meeting.
That is to say, this yearly dues increase is built into our bylaws, but does need to be approved by membership every year. If this increase is ratified, dues would go up to $200/year for regular members, $128/year for youth members, and $109/year for Life members. This dues increase requires majority approval by secret ballot.
Resolution – Member email policy bylaws amendment
Be it resolved that the following section be added to the Local 99 Bylaws, Article VIII – Duties of Members:
SECTION 16. No member shall add another members’ contact information (e.g. email address, mailing address, phone number) to a mass mailing list without their permission. However, a candidate for Local 99 office may use a mailing list provided by the Union for the express purpose of that candidacy.
Submitted by Alicia Waite
This Bylaws amendment requires approval of two-thirds of members present and voting.