Musicians for ‘Spare’ Change: The Worst Bargain for our Union
Everyone serving on the current boards as part of the Musicians for Change slate must be voted out of Local 802’s leadership. However, to clarify what I wrote in my first piece, I will single out the two culprits in this debacle. I am not the only person who has expressed shock and outrage at Karen Fisher’s and Adam Krauthamer’s managerial style. Both Karen and Adam are widely viewed as unscrupulous and untrustworthy by those who have worked with them closely and under their draconian system of corporatism and oppressive micromanagement.
For my part, I trusted Ms. Fisher when she was the President of the Local 802 staff union, the Organization of Union Representatives (OUR). It was she who nominated me as her successor. I went on to defend her in several meetings with management for her antagonistic social media postings when she was running in 2018, and other infractions. I saved her job more than once. Many former colleagues- union and management- can attest to that, including her former boss, Thomas Olcott. He could have gone through the contractual steps of discipline up to termination for these infractions. He didn’t. And then she took him out.
She claims:
No, her job was never 24/7/365 days a year as she states in her ranting posts. After Adam Krauthamer moved to silence me, I was assigned Ms. Fisher’s previous job as concert business representative. There I discovered many union contracts, her sole duty to administer, which had been expired for years. In one instance, I sat in negotiations, trying to renew a contract for a particular orchestra that operates mainly in the Bronx. The primary reason they did not want to continue the relationship with Local 802 was that they wanted more musicians of color in the band. This was a delicate situation but not unworkable. I had to step up and manage the situation.
But if you still have doubts as to the veracity of my claims, all you have to do is witness the manner in which Ms. Fisher became Financial VP of AFM, Local 802: she betrayed the trust of her own boss, Thomas Olcott. He treated her with respect, dignity, and care. She repaid him by seeking to unseat him while echoing Adam Krauthamer’s smears against Mr. Olcott’s running mate, Tino Gagliardi. If that’s still not enough, simply watch her unload on social media against her opponent. ‘Tasteless’ doesn’t even scratch the surface of her malevolent behavior. Luckily, Joseph Bongiorno wrote his rebuttal and asked her to retract her statements.
This character assassination is typical of her strategy: blame, humiliate, smear, and gaslight. These attacks on Ms. Kruvand and Mr. Gagliardi spread Mr. Krauthamer’s and Ms. Fisher’s special brand of toxicity, instead of actually demonstrating any semblance of a successful track record. The thing is, whether she “likes it or not” (as Mr. Krauthamer likes to say) Tino Gagliardi will be back as Local 802 President in 2022. Is this how she plans to administer AFM Local 802 alongside Mr. Gagliardi should she win? Ms. Fisher’s rants only prove that Ms. Kruvand is best suited for the job given that Ms. Fisher is going out of her way to vilify her future boss. Hardly a dignified or appropriate stance for a titled officer of the largest local of the American Federation of Musicians.
As I stated in my previous piece, Karen has a reputation for routinely mistreating her employees. In one instance, a colleague called in sick. I personally witnessed Ms. Fisher call that employee’s doctor to verify if said employee indeed visited him, a clear violation of the law. That was the last straw in a long line of indignities forced on this person. She ended up quitting her post; she was effectively forced out. Mr. Krauthamer likely applauded this underhanded approach, as he had someone waiting in the wings to fill the post.
Both Mr. Krauthamer and Ms. Fisher seemed to enjoy punishing their employees. They often wrote up staff members for frivolous reasons, violating our union contracts. As a result, I opted to form a line of defense on the fourth floor of Local 802, specifically to combat Ms. Fisher’s direct and often arbitrary disciplinary reports, even if I didn’t represent the other union. In fact, when a new IT director was hired (yes, he replaced the woman whose doctor Ms. Fisher called), it was I who insisted on a private meeting with him and suggested he make sure to be prepared to contest any specious claims made by Ms. Fisher. I explained the legal reasons and why Karen needed to stop crossing those boundaries. He listened objectively, studied the contract, and proceeded to do what was best for his department.
In 2019, Karen Fisher took on the role of Financial Vice President at Local 802, and accepted the six-figure salary, with no actual understanding or experience of the job. This became evident when her running mate Adam Krauthamer soon stripped her of most of her responsibilities as Financial VP and relegated her to the role of Business Representative once I left. It is perhaps even more demoralizing to realize that she unwittingly helped the misogynistic, incompetent, pro-business Krauthamer to achieve his position only to be quickly demoted back to her old job, albeit with the salary she desired above all.
Sadder still to have witnessed the way she behaved in the face of his unbridled misogyny.
A skilled manipulator, Ms. Fisher is singularly responsible for grooming and bringing Adam Krauthamer to the reigns of AFM Local 802. Mr. Krauthamer barely knew the basic ropes of union structure, let alone how to run an institution. It was Karen Fisher who fed him misinformation, sought dirt on her former boss, and lent Mr. Krauthamer a thin veneer of credibility by virtue of her long affiliation with the union local. At the time Krauthamer had never served on a single union committee. Given her success at transforming a french horn player into a union leader, Ms. Fisher knowingly embraced Mr. Krauthamer, who has a reputation for bullying, misogyny, and blindsiding his colleagues and union members. To her credit, when Mr. Krauthamer was openly accused of the mistreatment of several of his female employees, Mrs. Fisher agreed with the accusations. To her shame, she remained silent when the whistleblower who stood up to Krauthamer’s vile antics was summarily fired.
Adam Krauthamer’s lack of skill as a union leader is apparent in the givebacks he engineered, relaxing work rules on Broadway in exchange for relatively insignificant increases in benefits contributions. Once those work rules are weakened, it’s hard to imagine employers will ever agree to see them restored. His lack of respect for the membership, many of whom voted for him, has been blasted all over the news. Remember Charlie Rosen and Be More Chill? While Mr. Krauthamer was enforcing contractual language, the manner in which he treated Mr. Rosen was beyond disgusting.
If you are a union musician and your interactions with Ms. Fisher and Mr. Krauthamer have been positive, I am happy for you. Even I exchanged pleasantries with them on occasion. However, I speak from personal experience as a woman of color who was forced out of her job for being a union leader. Of course, these statements are not entirely unbiased. But if you are a union member and you want to know the truth, seek out people who have worked alongside Ms. Fisher or Mr. Krauthamer. Adam Krauthamer did exactly that before running against Mr. Gagliardi: he went about the building talking to people in secrecy. You have the right to do the same research. They will tell you the real story of two power-hungry hacks, both lacking in skill, tact, and integrity. Seek the truth. Instead of being a blind loyalist, look for proof. Many of us have it available upon request.
Vote with consciousness and solidarity in mind. Do not elect Karen Fisher or Adam Krauthamer, nor anyone who mistakenly hitches their wagon to their tarnished, ill-gotten stars. Musicians for [Spare] Change indeed.
