The Cleveland Institute of Music and its new faculty union are working to integrate 106 staff members into the Cleveland Federation of Musicians. The move comes after almost two years of recurring discord amongst staff, management and students.
Many issues “piling up” led to faculty voting last month to join the union, according to its president Leonard DiCosimo.
"One is the handling of a Title IX case, another is resignation of longtime faculty members, votes of 'no confidence' in CIM leadership from both the students and the faculty sides,” he said.
In April, CIM fired viola instructor Mark Jackobs. DiCosimo said he thinks that’s what spurred grassroots organizing from about two dozen CIM staffers who were already local union members through their work with the Cleveland Orchestra. He said that solidarity is one reason the process has gone smoothly.
“CIM now has a legal responsibility to respond to the numerous concerns and complaints that have been stockpiling up over the past couple of years,” he said. “I want to clarify when I said that CIM was easy to work with, it's also, quite frankly, because they've retained attorneys, and we dryly and directly look at what has to be done."
There’s still an additional 25 people at CIM who might be able to join.
"We're looking at a request to bargain with the institute,” he said. “I would say that the institute has been a just fine partner in these sort of negotiations and dealings. And I like to call them ‘partners in collective bargaining.’"
DiCosimo estimated that eligibility questions will be resolved by November. It comes down to their current job descriptions, he said.
"The definitions are whether they have supervisory or managerial responsibilities,” he said.
The union represents musicians in Cuyahoga, Lorain and Erie Counties as well as large portions of Summit, Ottawa and Huron Counties. After last month’s vote, CIM issued a statement saying it is fully complying with the local union and its representatives.
