Collective Representation

John Kretzschmar is a university-based labor educator who serves as the director of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s William Brennan Institute for Labor Studies. He, with the help of organized labor, worked to create Nebraska’s labor studies program back in 1980.

The Institute exists to meet the educational needs of the sisters and brothers in Nebraska’s labor movement and is one of 40 similarly housed programs in colleges and universities across the US and Canada. Programs like this believe that organized labor is the central means by which employees improve their quality of life in the workplace and in their communities.

John grew up in Detroit and moved to Nebraska in 1976 after earning a Master’s of Social Work degree in community organizing from Detroit’s Wayne State University. At different points in his worklife he's been a member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the United Automobile Workers, and is currently a member of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Barbara Nielsen is Labor Relations Manager with the Metropolitan Opera. Prior work experience has included several positions with the American Federation of Musicians (International) and the position of Performance Coordinator for Ms. Jessye Norman. She is currently a violinist with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and has been a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Savannah Symphony.

Ms. Nielsen has served on the Orchestra Committee of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and as Member at Large and Secretary for the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association.

Ms. Nielsen received her Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University with a double major in music and business, and most recently her Master of Professional Studies in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Mark Tetreault is Director of Symphonic Services for the Canadian Office of the American Federation of Musicians. Working from the Toronto Office, Mark provides service to orchestras from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia. His duties include negotiation of collective agreements, assistance in dispute resolutions, representation at industry and union conferences and seminars, assistance to AFM Locals, and maintaining resources of information for bargaining and of best orchestral practices.

Mark was a founding delegate to the Regional Orchestra Players Association and has served as a Director and later as Secretary of the Toronto Musicians’ Association, AFM Local 149.

In addition to his AFM activities, Mark is the Principal Tubist with the [l=http://www.tso.ca]Toronto Symphony Orchestra[/l], a position he has held since 1986. Prior to then, he held the position of Principal Tuba in the Jacksonville Symphony for seven years. Mark is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Mark is married to violinist Leslie Knowles, who is the fiddler in the Ontario-based band Hometown Bluegrass, as well as being a long-tenured member of the Toronto Symphony 1st violin section. Together they have a large family of beautiful, bright and talented children and cuddly cats.

In his free time, Mark enjoys skiing, hiking and playing with his kids.

David Angus is President & Secretary-Treasurer of the Rochester Musicians’ Association, Local 66 of the American Federation of Musicians. He is also third horn of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held for 32 years. An active volunteer, Mr. Angus has served numerous times on the Orchestra Committee of the Rochester Philharmonic and has participated in negotiating most of that orchestra’s collective bargaining agreements over the last 30 years.