Dear Colleagues,

Last month we shared with you the imminent prospect of the Pension Fund (AFM-EP Fund; U.S.) being certified as being in the Red Zone, or Critical Status. We also wrote to you about the legal requirement for the Pension Fund to then develop and implement a Rehabilitation Plan should that occur. Today new information has appeared on the Fund website, afm-epf.org.  We recommend that you go to that site and read all of the new announcements concerning the Notice of Critical Status and the Rehabilitation Plan.

Notice of Critical Status

For Plan Year Beginning April 1, 2010 and Ending March 31, 2011

The purpose of this notice is to inform you that, on April 15, 2010, the actuary for the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (the “Plan”) certified to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and also to the Plan’s Board of Trustees (“Board”), that the Plan is in critical status for the plan year beginning April 1, 2010. Federal law requires that you receive this notice.

Our Commitment to You

Those of us in the Recording Community have been following these profound changes at our Pension Fund very closely. We all understand that anxiety and fear are real emotions being sparked by real problems at the Pension Fund.

We will be studying these complex new changes and working to help you understand how these changes will affect you.

Unfortunately, AFM politics have governed Union Trustee appointments and removals in recent years. Politics needs to be removed from this equation. It is time for our Union to behave honorably and create renewed confidence in the Fund’s operation. Our Union owes this to us, to our families, our colleagues, and to the next generation of musicians. RMA promises to stand shoulder to shoulder with each of you to do our best to ensure that this crisis is dealt with effectively, rationally and honestly.