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settled jurisdictional disputes. For example, only radio and
television commercials were subject to the unions’ fee schedule.
Health and disability insurance benefits were also provided
through the unions and not by the companies that retained
petitioner’s services. The unions continued coverage if
petitioner met a certain annual income requirement under the
union contract. If petitioner failed to meet the income
requirement in any given year, the unions would discontinue
coverage. Moreover, petitioner did not receive vacation time
from the unions or companies that retained his services.
Petitioner also participated in pension plans offered by the
unions. At the time of trial, petitioner was fully vested in
these pension plans; however, the record does not reflect whether
petitioner was fully vested during the year in issue.
During 1994, petitioner hired three agencies to procure work
assignments from interested companies: Don Buckwald in New York,
Voices Unlimited in Chicago, and Cunningham, Escott & Dipene in
Los Angeles. These agents worked with “buyers”, the producers of
commercials, video games, toys, television, cable or radio shows,
who engaged petitioner for his services. An interested company
would request demonstration tapes from an agent, review the
tapes, hold auditions, make its decision, and then call the agent
to negotiate the terms of the contract.
For radio and television commercials, petitioner’s agents
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