Constitution Day, celebrated every year on September 17, commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. Article I, Section II of the U.S. Constitution mandates a count of the U.S. population every 10 years.
The data collected helps determine where more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed to states and communities each year.
In addition to determining funding for healthcare, infrastructure and education, census data also determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and your political representation at all levels of government.
This year the Census Bureau is encouraging all who are able to respond online at my2020census.gov. This conserves natural resources, saves taxpayer money and makes data processing more efficient.
Your participation in the census is very important and required by law. Your answers and information is kept completely confidential. Be a patriot, fill out your census and get counted.
IAM airline members are mobilizing this Thursday, Sept. 17 in 32 cities in over 20 states, either in person or virtually with Senators and Senate staff, to demand that Congress act now to pass legislation that would stem hundreds of thousands of layoffs slated to begin on October 1, 2020.
The Senate has taken two vacations and still hasn’t passed a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act. Time is running out. IAM members must act now to tell your Senators to support a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act.
Here’s how you can take part in the IAM Airline Day of Action:
Call your Senators at 866-829-3298 to urge them to pass a clean extension of the PSP through March 31, 2021, and to save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.
Tweet at Majority Leader McConnell and your Senators.
– We need your help, @SenateMajLdr. Without a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram, hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers will be furloughed when the program expires on September 30th. Please get to the negotiating table now.
– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Congress needs to put politics aside and get a deal done now to save the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of airline workers. Pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram today.
– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] In a few short weeks, airline workers will not have healthcare during a pandemic. Congress needs to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.
– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Airline workers have worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it’s Congress’s turn to take care of these heroes. They need to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.
“The Trump Administration and strong bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate all agree that airline workers and the industry as a whole need further aid to prevent hundreds of thousands of layoffs and great harm to the U.S. economy,” said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “The IAM calls on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to support the U.S. airline industry. This industry drives over a million jobs and pumps trillions of dollars into our economy. We cannot turn our backs on this most vital sector of our economy.”
“The airline Payroll Support Program has been one of the most successful jobs programs in U.S. history,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Congress must stop the partisanship and extend relief for hundreds of thousands of airline workers. These men and women will make their voices heard in November and they will remember who stood with them and who stood against them to save the airline industry and their livelihoods.”
Hundreds of IAM Local 774, District 70 members and supporters rallied in downtown Wichita, KS last week in a show of solidarity and support of their negotiating committee amid contract negotiations with Textron Aviation.
“Textron Aviation manufactures the industry’s best-in-class aircraft,” said District 70 President and Directing Business Representative Cornell Beard. “Our skilled machinists are who make that possible. They deserve a best-in-class healthcare plan, pension improvements and job security. We have union members from around the community attending the rally to show a unity of purpose as we fight for the future of working people. The community deserves better from Textron Aviation.”
Union members marched around the city’s landmark Century II Convention Center to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where contract negotiations were being held. The rally was orchestrated to show Textron Aviation representatives that Local 774 members are insistent on items like an improved healthcare plan, be in a new collective bargaining agreement.
In expectation of having a last, best and final offer from Textron, a contract ratification vote is scheduled for Saturday, September 19, 2020. The current contract expires on September 20, 2020.
The 2021 IAM Scholarship Competition is accepting applications. The competition is open to members of the IAM and their children throughout the United States and Canada. The deadline for applications is February 12, 2021.
In 2020, the IAM awarded 16 scholarships valued at $64,000. The winners were selected out of over 300 applicants.
The IAM also has a vocational-technical two-year scholarship available to both members and their children.
The IAM Scholarship Fund, which is used exclusively to make these awards possible, was established by the delegates of the 1960 IAM Grand Lodge Convention.
If you would like to receive a scholarship packet by mail, or have any questions regarding the program, please call our Scholarship Department at 301-967-4708.
U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are calling on Institutional Casework Inc. to reconsider their plan to close Jamestown Metal Products in Jamestown, NY and work with local officials to overcome financial challenges the company may be facing. Institutional Casework Inc. announced in May that they would close the historic Jamestown plant, which has been operating in Western New York since World War II, and layoff all 80 IAM Local 2495 (District 65) workers at Jamestown Metal Products.
Schumer and Gillibrand reasoned that the plant has shown tremendous capacity and productivity, proving that the plant can still be profitable for the company. The plant has benefitted from its partnership with the IAM’s skilled and productive local workforce and proven to be a critical player in Institutional Casework’s portfolio and integral to the fabric of Western New York.
“The working families of Jamestown and the surrounding communities built this company,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Jimmy Conigliaro Sr. “Generations of dedicated workers, their families, and communities stood by Jamestown Metal Products during wars, conflicts and economic disasters. Leaving these workers high and dry during the pandemic is selling them, their families and all of these communities out to the lowest bidder, and it is despicable.”
Workers and officials were told that the closure date would be in early September, but the plant remains open and is still processing orders, with no announced date to end operations. Both senators believe this is further evidence that the plant can be viable and should continue operations in Jamestown.
“While we understand that Institutional Casework Inc. has fallen on hard times during the pandemic, the human cost of closing Jamestown Metal Products is simply too high,” said Schumer. “Jamestown’s closure will have ripple effects throughout the entire region, weakening Western New York’s ability to rebuild after the pandemic.”
“This pandemic has put enormous strain on historic businesses across New York and unfortunately, Institutional Casework is no exception,” said Gillibrand. “However, closing Jamestown Metal Products means the region will lose 80 more jobs at a time when people need them the most.”
