Tino Gagliardi Elected President Of NYC Musicians Union Local 802

Tino Gagliardi has been elected president and executive director of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians in New York City.

Gagliardi, a Broadway trumpet player, ran unopposed for the office he previously held from 2010-18, when he led contract negotiations for Broadway, the Lincoln Center resident orchestras and Radio City – all of which have struggled to return to business during the pandemic. He succeeds Adam Krauthamer as the local’s top officer.

“It takes courage and dedication to run for office, and I commend everyone who ran in this year’s Local 802 union election,” Gagliardi said in a statement. “My job is to represent all of the musicians in our union, regardless of who they voted for. If one thing became clear during the campaign, it’s that the Covid crisis is far from over and will require all of us to find ways to come together for the benefit of our membership. My administration will help us grow, protect, diversify and rebuild Local 802 to best serve the hard-working musicians of NYC. I look forward to continuing the important work of helping musicians recover and move forward so they can provide NYC with the best that live music and culture has to offer.”

In the local’s contested races, Karen Fisher was reelected financial vice president, and Harvey S. Mars, formerly the local’s in-house counsel, was elected recording vice president.

“We’ve been hit very hard by the pandemic,” Fisher told Deadline. “We lost the majority of or work dues and about 50% of our membership dues in 2020, with Broadway and Lincoln Center orchestras and concerts shut down. It’s been very tough, but we’re optimistic.”

Broadway has been tentatively reopening, and the Lincoln Center orchestras are, for the most part, back to work, but the Omicron Covid-19 variant has been forcing more and more shows to suspend production. “We all want to get back to work but we keep getting thrown for loops through these variants,” Fisher said. “Every day something new happens. But we’re confident we’re not looking at a complete shutdown.”

“Musicians are really suffering a lot,” she said. “They’re always the first out of work and the last back to work in any economic downturn.”

Mars, a trombonist and labor attorney, had been Local 802’s lawyer until his election. A member of the local for the past 28 years, he told Deadline that he is “retiring from the practice of law to devote full-time to being recording vice president.”

The local bills itself as “the largest local union of professional musicians in the world,” and according to annual financial statements filed with the Dept. of Labor, it had nearly 5,000 members in 2020. Less than 1,000 members voted in the election, mostly through absentee ballots.

In the local’s other races, nine members were elected to the executive board; nine were elected to its trial board; five were elected as delegates to the American Federation of Musicians convention; three were elected to the New York City Central Labor Council, and two were elected delegates to the New York state Federation of Labor.

See all of the election results here.

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