The Recoding Artist Coalition, representing over 100 top names in the music industry filed a legal brief yesterday opposing a settlement with the managers of the health-care and pension fund for members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists union (AFTRA). The settlement would have provided only a few hundred dollars apiece to most of the 20,000 artists who feel that they have been cheated out of millions that the major record companies owed to the fund, but that the fund?s managers never collected on. AFTRA?which is a separate organization from the fund?has also opposed the settlement, and accused the health and retirement fund of failing to provide a fair deal to the artists.
See "Artists Put Pressure on for Benefits", CHUCK PHILIPS, Los Angeles Times, June 2, 2002