Boston professional musicians’ union mishandled elections, federal complaint alleges

A federal complaint alleges that the union that represents more than 1,600 professional musicians throughout the Boston area mishandled its elections for seven officers last December and should redo the contest, court filings show.

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The Boston Musicians’ Association, Local 9-353 of the American Federation of Musicians, disqualified some candidates whose memberships had been suspended for unpaid dues, yet let other similarly situated candidates go ahead and run for office, according to a nine-page civil complaint.

The complaint calls for the union to void the election of its secretary/treasurer and six members of the board of directors that were decided in December and hold a new election for the offices.

Union officials quest for comment from the Globe.

Leah B. Foley, US Attorney for Massachusetts, filed the complaint on June 22 in federal court in Boston on behalf of Keith E. Sonderling, the acting US Secretary of Labor.

The complaint alleges that the union violated labor law when it “allowed some, but not all, candidates to run for office despite membership suspensions,” which “affected the outcome of the election for the offices of Secretary-Treasurer and Board of Directors.”

The complaint said saxophonist Mark Pinto was allowed to run for secretary/treasurer despite unpaid dues from March to June 2024. His opponent, clarinetist Marguerite Levin, however, was disqualified because she had been suspended on March 31, 2024 for late payment of dues. As a result, Pinto ran unopposed and won.

Similar scenarios played out in the election of six board of director members, according to the complaint.

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The union violated federal laws that regulates union elections “by failing to apply its candidacy qualifications in a uniform manner when it disqualified some candidates because they lacked continuous good standing but allowed other candidates who lacked continuous good standing to run for union office,” the complaint said.

The law is supposed to ensure that every member in good standing is eligible for candidacy for office.

According to the union’s bylaws, to run for office, a candidate “must be a member in good standing for two consecutive years prior to an election,” the complaint said.

The bylaws define a “member in good standing: as a ”member who is current in payment of membership dues,” the complaint said.

The complaint calls for a redo of the election supervised by the Department of Labor.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia Benjamin of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit is handling the case.

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No court dates have been set.