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Most jazz musicians don't have a pension. As freelancers, almost all get paid in cash when playing at jazz clubs around the country. Here in New York City it's no different, although there was an agreement back in 2006 to try to rectify the situation:

The disagreement between the union and club owners dates back to 2005, when union leaders joined the night clubs to lobby the State Legislature for a reduction in the sales tax on tickets because the extra revenue would be used to pay for pension and health benefits. In letters supporting the legislation, union officials maintained they had an informal agreement with several club owners to that effect. (A similar trade-off had been made in the 1960s to get pension benefits for Broadway musicians.)

The tax break was passed in 2006, but the union never hammered out a formal pact with the club owners. Five years later none of the clubs have entered negotiations with the union to sign collective bargaining agreements. Those agreements are legally required before the clubs can begin paying into Local 802's pension system.

When the legislation was passed, the union estimated the major jazz clubs each stood to gain about $67,000 a year from lifting the tax. In 2008 the state estimated it amounted to a tax loss of about $2.2 million a year.

It's that "informal" agreement mentioned above which has never been enforced, and really, the Union has no one to blame but themselves. But hopefully this new movement will change all that:

Two years ago, the union elected new leaders who have made pensions for jazz artists a priority.

Some club managers say the plan was flawed from the start. Repealing the tax saved the customers money but never produced extra revenue for the clubs, they say. The owners have balked at raising ticket prices to pay for the pension contributions, though some have suggested collecting donations from patrons.

Bernard Purdie, among many other musicians here, are pissed:

"They are collecting that money, and they are using it for whatever reason they feel like," said Bernard Purdie, a jazz drummer and bandleader, just before going on at Carnegie Hall with Galt MacDermot and the New Pulse Jazz Band. "They have been getting away with it for the last four or five years."

Support the movement to create pension funds for jazz musicians - America's only true art form!

Read more here from the Local 802 Musicians Union:

There was a time when the union would have sat down with the club owners in this city who benefited from the elimination of the entertainment tax that Local 802 worked so hard to achieve five years ago. We would have been willing to do whatever was necessary to find a way to divert the dollars that had once been paid as a tax into the pension fund for musicians who played the nightclubs. The nightclubs, every last one of them, made it clear they have no interest in talking to us. Letters and phone calls went unanswered. Even veteran jazz supporter and critic Nat Hentoff couldn’t get the time of day from club owners on this subject.

Is it time for something new?

Hell yes, it's time for something new! No organization or corporation ever gave up anything without a demand. It's time that the Union demanded from these jazz clubs that they start paying into the pension fund and live up to the agreement they made back in 2005.

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