FIM

FIM Rules

Name and domicile

1. The International Federation of Musicians (FIM) is an inter­na­tion­al organ­i­sa­tion, to which musi­cians’ unions and equiv­a­lent rep­re­sen­ta­tive organ­i­sa­tions from all coun­tries, may affiliate.

2. The domi­cile of FIM shall be the place where the Secretariat is estab­lished, name­ly 21 bis, rue Victor Massé 75009 Paris, France. It may be trans­ferred by deci­sion of the Executive Committee, sub­ject to reg­u­la­to­ry steps being car­ried out to this end vis-​à-​vis the com­pe­tent admin­is­tra­tive authorities.

Object and Purpose

3. The object of FIM shall be to unite musi­cians’ unions of var­i­ous coun­tries into one glob­al orga­ni­za­tion for the pur­pose of pro­tect­ing and ele­vat­ing the eco­nom­ic, social and artis­tic sta­tus and inter­ests of music performers.

4. In order to achieve its objec­tives, FIM is com­mit­ted to the following:

a) encour­ag­ing and assist­ing in the organ­i­sa­tion of musi­cians, whether employed or self-​employed, into musi­cians’ unions in all countries;

b) unit­ing musi­cians’ unions through­out the world;

c) tak­ing the geo­graph­i­cal diver­si­ty of its mem­bers into account with regards to the make-​up of its bod­ies, and its Executive Committee in particular;

d) increas­ing and strength­en­ing inter­na­tion­al col­lab­o­ra­tion between musi­cians’ unions through, for exam­ple, the pro­mo­tion of bilat­er­al agree­ments and/​or twin­ning schemes between FIM affil­i­ates and/​or coop­er­a­tion with unions dur­ing indus­tri­al or work relat­ed disputes;

e) pro­tect­ing mem­bers of the music pro­fes­sion against the illic­it use of their per­for­mances, record­ed or otherwise; 

f) pro­mot­ing nation­al and inter­na­tion­al pro­tec­tive leg­is­la­tion in the inter­ests of musicians;

g) enter­ing into agree­ments with oth­er inter­na­tion­al organ­i­sa­tions in the inter­ests of mem­ber unions and of the profession;

h) encour­ag­ing non-​national musi­cians to observe and respect the min­i­mum rates and con­di­tions of the coun­try in which they are working; 

i) obtain­ing and com­pil­ing sta­tis­ti­cal and oth­er infor­ma­tion in ref­er­ence to the music pro­fes­sion and pro­vid­ing such infor­ma­tion to mem­ber unions;

j) secur­ing the legal reg­u­la­tion of profit-​making employ­ment agen­cies for musicians;

k) assist­ing mem­ber unions to over­come visas, work per­mits and oth­er dif­fi­cul­ties that might be expe­ri­enced when work­ing abroad by inter alia:
 — reg­u­lat­ing the trans­fer of mem­bers of one nation­al union to another;
 — pro­tect­ing the inter­ests of for­eign musicians;

l) pro­vid­ing moral and mate­r­i­al sup­port for mem­ber unions in the inter­ests of the pro­fes­sion and in accor­dance with the objects of FIM;

m) use all efforts to make music a her­itage com­mon to all peo­ple, tak­ing into account the preser­va­tion of nation­al and region­al iden­ti­ties to fos­ter inter-​cultural dialogue;

n) hold­ing inter­na­tion­al con­gress­es and conferences;

o) main­tain­ing close col­lab­o­ra­tion with WIPO, the International Labour Office and UNESCO, and con­tin­u­ous rela­tions with all inter­na­tion­al organ­i­sa­tions which could be of ser­vice to FIM.

Membership

5. All musi­cians’ unions which agree to abide by the rules and oth­er reg­u­la­tions of FIM may apply for mem­ber­ship of FIM. Admission shall be effect­ed accord­ing to Art.7 and 8, sub­ject to the fol­low­ing excep­tion: a union com­pris­ing less than 300 mem­bers may be admit­ted only at the dis­cre­tion of the Executive Committee.

6. Application for admis­sion shall be sent in writ­ing to the Secretariat. Included with the appli­ca­tion, the appli­cant union shall pro­vide a copy of its Rules/​Constitution and infor­ma­tion regard­ing the union’s juris­dic­tion and num­ber of mem­bers. Notice of such appli­ca­tion shall be sent to all affil­i­at­ed unions by the Secretariat who shall also pro­vide an opin­ion regard­ing the appro­pri­ate­ness of the application.

7. Should no objec­tions be raised with­in twelve weeks, the admis­sion of the appli­cant union shall be effect­ed by the Secretariat. However, an objec­tion to the admis­sion of a new musi­cians’ union may be raised by any mem­ber union and shall be sub­mit­ted to the Secretariat by reg­is­tered or record­ed let­ter, or by elec­tron­ic mail with acknowl­edge­ment of receipt, with­in four weeks after receipt of the noti­fi­ca­tion of the appli­ca­tion for admis­sion. The objec­tion shall include in detail the argu­ments and rea­sons of the object­ing par­ty to the admit­tance of the appli­cant union to FIM.

8. If an objec­tion is raised, the Executive Committee shall decide for or against the accep­tance of the appli­ca­tion. Should the Executive Committee decide against accep­tance of an appli­ca­tion, a reject­ed union shall have the right to appeal against the deci­sion of the Executive Committee to the next Congress. The union shall be informed of this right by the Secretariat by reg­is­tered or record­ed let­ter, or by elec­tron­ic mail with acknowl­edge­ment of receipt. On appeal, the union may be admit­ted into mem­ber­ship by major­i­ty deci­sion of the Congress.

9. An admis­sion may be revoked by deci­sion of the Executive Committee if it should appear that:

a) the admis­sion was effect­ed only as a result of decep­tion by the appli­cant union, or

b) a mem­ber union was unable in due time to raise a well found­ed objec­tion for the sole rea­son only that the mem­ber did not receive, or did not receive in due time, knowl­edge of the appli­ca­tion for admission.

Termination of membership

10. Membership may be ter­mi­nat­ed by:

a) res­ig­na­tion;

b) expul­sion.

11. Any mem­ber union that has com­plete­ly ful­filled its finan­cial oblig­a­tions may resign from mem­ber­ship on 31^st December or 30^th June by giv­ing six months’ pri­or notice to the Secretariat by reg­is­tered or record­ed letter.

12. Expulsion may be ordered by the Executive Committee for con­tra­ven­tion of the rules or of res­o­lu­tions of the Congress. The expelled union may appeal to the next Congress. Pending the deci­sion of the Congress, which shall be final, the appel­lant union shall have no oblig­a­tions or rights of any kind with the excep­tion of the right of appeal.

13. FIM pro­motes democ­ra­cy, trans­paren­cy and good gov­er­nance as essen­tial val­ues of the labour move­ment. FIM mem­ber organ­i­sa­tions as well as appli­cant organ­i­sa­tions declare that they endorse and agree to abide by these principles.

14. The Executive Committee may sus­pend from mem­ber­ship any mem­ber union which is not in com­pli­ance with its oblig­a­tions or has breached FIM rules or any spe­cif­ic deci­sion of Congress. Such deci­sion may be the sub­ject of appeal to the fol­low­ing Congress. A mem­ber union sus­pend­ed from mem­ber­ship in accor­dance with this Article shall retain all oblig­a­tions of mem­ber­ship but exer­cise no rights of membership.
Unless oth­er­wise decid­ed by the Executive Committee, a mem­ber union that hasn’t com­plied with its finan­cial oblig­a­tions for 2 years will be sus­pend­ed. This union will remain sus­pend­ed until those oblig­a­tions are fulfilled.
Unless oth­er­wise decid­ed by the Executive Committee, a sus­pen­sion for over 2 years will result in the member’s affil­i­a­tion being terminated.

Rights and Obligations of Members

15. Member unions shall have auton­o­my in respect to their organ­i­sa­tion, admin­is­tra­tion and finance, and full free­dom of action in respect to their col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing pol­i­cy, but in all mat­ters of inter­na­tion­al impor­tance shall observe a com­mon policy.

16. Member unions shall accept the oblig­a­tion to car­ry out the deci­sions of the Congress and the Executive Committee by all means at their disposal.

17. Member unions shall bring their rules into con­for­mi­ty so far as is prac­ti­ca­ble with the rules of FIM.

18. Each mem­ber union shall send an annu­al report to the Secretariat on impor­tant devel­op­ments in its own coun­try, by e‑mail where pos­si­ble. In addi­tion, any mat­ters of inter­ests to oth­er mem­bers shall be report­ed to the Secretariat. Members unions shall pro­vide such infor­ma­tion as may be request­ed by the Secretariat.

19. Financial oblig­a­tions of mem­ber unions to FIM are paid by mem­ber unions as follows:

a) entrance fee on admission;

b) annu­al mem­ber­ship fees at the begin­ning of each busi­ness year;

c) any oth­er fees as and when decid­ed by the Congress.

The Executive Committee shall have the author­i­ty to grant excep­tion­al reduc­tions of the fees and con­tri­bu­tions due to FIM to those mem­ber unions who are unable to com­ply with their stan­dard finan­cial oblig­a­tions. It may in par­tic­u­lar autho­rise the pay­ment by such unions of a reduced con­tri­bu­tion for a spec­i­fied peri­od of time, renew­able at the dis­cre­tion of the Executive Committee.

The union con­cerned shall only be enti­tled to have the num­ber of del­e­gates to Congress that is in pro­por­tion to its fees and con­tri­bu­tions paid in the Congress period.

Special arrange­ments for pay­ment may be grant­ed at the dis­cre­tion of the General Secretary.