May 28, 2020 | iMail
Due to the unforeseen circumstances we are all facing, the deadlines for the 2019 IAM Newsletter and Website contests and 2020 Photo contest have been extended to Friday, July 3, 2020.
The IAM is encouraging all IAM district and local lodge communicators to take part in the contests. This is a great opportunity to highlight our amazing members and their work.
Enter using the links below:
2019 Newsletter and Website Contests
2020 Photo Contest
The contests are open to all good-standing local and district lodges that regularly distribute official newsletters and/or maintain regularly-updated websites, produce videos or post photographs.
The contest is a great opportunity for your hard work to be recognized by your brothers and sisters across the Machinists Union.
The post IAM Photo, Newsletter, and Website Contest Deadlines Extended appeared first on IAMAW.
May 27, 2020 | LL S6 Leadership Alerts, Negotiations
Day 2 of Contract Negotiation
The start of day 2 was approached with some obvious apprehension as day 1 was uneventful. The Company again wanted to show there predictable and regurgitated presentations of doom and gloom. Legally, the Company has the right to present what they want as do we and to delay the process would eventually lead to an unfair labor practice against the Local. So, the Negotiating Committee went back to the table, and when the Company’s presentation started our entire local S6 Negotiations Committee and District Lodge 4 rotated 180 degrees turning their backs to the Company. The Committee had to be present but nothing said they had to watch. After that distraction was over much needed progress was made. 23 no change articles were agreed on as well as the passing of multiple first proposals from both sides. A long day but our Negotiations Committee is there to work. They will continue to stand up, stand strong, and stand united to negotiate a fair contract. More updates will come tomorrow ….
In Solidarity, Local Lodge S6 Leadership
May 26, 2020 | LL S6 Leadership Alerts, Negotiations
Reporting on the first day of negotiations, the first day customarily starts with both parties opening statements, run rules, and desired outcomes. Before starting the Company wanted to establish some ground rules.
Their conversation began with discussions of PowerPoint presentations of where we are and where they think we need to be.
Local Lodge President Chris Wiers stated “We’re not interested in any presentations and it was an insult to think that the negotiation committee doesn’t know where BIW is positioned competitively as well as in the eyes of our customer”.
The Union Negotiations committee is prepared and ready to go wishing to start immediately with no sideline distractions provided by the Company through the way of fruitless presentations.
If the Company still desired to show these presentations the committee would collectively stand up and walk out…. and that’s exactly what happened.
A member of senior management wanted to start with a lengthy presentation and was immediately stopped by our Local Lodge President standing up, united with the entire negotiation committee, three members of IAM District Lodge 4, and 1 IAM Grand Lodge representative, who proceeded to walk out.
We will stand up, we will stand strong, and we will stand united to negotiate a fair contract. We will not be persuaded by doom and gloom presentations and sniveling claims that BIW lacks flexibility.
Our membership swallowed that nonsense in 2015 and we have no tolerance for another serving.
In Solidarity, Local Lodge S6 Leadership
May 26, 2020 | iMail
No one knows better than union members that working people have been hit hard during this pandemic, as they remain on the front lines to ensure this country continues running.
The hardest hit have been the most marginalized workers: women, LGBTQ workers, workers of color – citizens and non-citizens alike.
The AFL-CIO is holding a series of town hall meetings on Facebook to highlight the effect the coronavirus is having on these and other workers, and they will include participants from six of its constituency groups.
Join us on Thursday, May 28th at 2 p.m. ET for the first of these important virtual town hall meetings, where we will hear from Pride at Work’s co-president Gabe González and former National Executive Board Member Be Marston. The meeting will also include leaders and workers from our sibling constituency groups to discuss the impact of this pandemic on their lives.
RSVP today and join us Thursday for this first in a series of virtual town halls highlighting front line workers from historically marginalized communities.
The post Virtual Town Halls to Showcase Working People During COVID-19 Crisis appeared first on IAMAW.
May 21, 2020 | iMail
The IAM is endorsing a congressional push to put workers—not corporate profits—first and include strict corporate accountability measures in any coronavirus relief aid provided by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve.
U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with more than 80 lawmakers, sent the letter advocating for working people to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“In 2008, the federal response to the financial crisis provided hundreds of billions of dollars in a bailout with virtually no conditions,” the lawmakers write. “For working families , the results were unacceptable. Now, faced with an unprecedented economic crisis unleashed by the Administration’s failed response to COVID-19, millions are concerned that they will once again be left behind.”
The IAM has been leading the fight to stop airlines who received billions of CARES Act dollars from reducing the hours, wages and benefits of their employees.
The letter calls on Powell and Mnuchin to apply appropriate constraints to corporations receiving federal dollars from coronavirus relief legislation, including:
- Tax dollars must not be used to reward wealthy shareholders and executives
- Tax dollars must not be used to fuel out of control CEO-to-worker pay ratios
- Workers must come first
- Workers must have a seat at the table
- Companies must be transparent
- No bailouts for “inverted companies”
Read the entire letter here.
The post Coronavirus Relief Must Put Workers Ahead of Corporate Profits, Machinists Say appeared first on IAMAW.
