It was a hard-won negotiation for the members at IAM Local 1406 who work for GE Datex-Ohmeda in Madison, WI but their solidarity and strength brought home a strong machinist contract for these working-class heroes who put their lives on the line during the pandemic.
“It is great to hear that the members of IAM Local 1406 took an overwhelming stance to demand a better contract,” said IAM District 10 Directing Business Representative Alex Hoekstra. “The members now have a long-term agreement with benefits and wages which support the tireless work they have performed throughout this pandemic.”
The members at IAM Local 1406 are the frontline workers who built anesthesia, respiratory and infant care machines during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak that were used around the world to save lives. Without much fanfare or recognition, these machinist members made history during the pandemic, answering the call when this country needed it the most.
“Every ventilator we get off the end of our line and out of our building is saving a life,” said IAM Local 1406 member Trevar Smedal, who works at Madison’s GE Datex-Ohmeda manufacturing plant. https://t.co/xvXii39Ezz
But in spite of the sacrifices made by workers, the negotiation process was not a simple feat. After two contract extensions, a ratification vote in which the membership overwhelmingly turned down the first proposal and strong support to strike if necessary, on July 29, 2021, IAM Local 1406 members voted yes for a five-year agreement that recognized their hard work. The ratified contract offers significant wage increases, managed health care premiums and an appreciation award for the long hours and work performed by the membership during the pandemic.
“The members had no choice but to turn down the first proposal offered by the company,” said IAM District 10 Business Representative Joe Terlisner. “Not only did it lack long-term financial stability but it negatively impacted health care costs. The bottom line was that it did not reflect the appreciation and value the members deserved who risked their lives to save others during the pandemic.”
“IAM members at Local 1406 answered the call and put everything on the line when our country needed them the most. For that, our union couldn’t be more proud,” said IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Steve Galloway. “We are equally as proud of the solidarity our members exhibited during this negotiation. They sent a strong message to the company that they deserved better. Their courage and fortitude is a win for working people everywhere. Congratulations to all and thank you to all those at the bargaining table who never backed down from doing what was right and just for these working-class heroes.”
Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa. Every July 18, people around the world honor him by making a difference in their own communities.
Mandela’s values and his dedication to the service of humanity were clear throughout his life. He fought for race relations, promotion and protection of human rights, gender equality, the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, the fight against poverty, and the promotion of social justice, and the impacts of his efforts echoed well beyond the South African nation he led as president. They are also the values at the forefront of the struggle for equality and respect that brothers and sisters across the labor movement are currently fighting.
The IAM’s history of alignment with Mandela’s values is well documented. On April 27, 1994, South Africa held its first national election in which non-whites were allowed to vote, where Mandela, a civil rights icon who the apartheid government had jailed for rallying the majority-black country against apartheid, won the election. IAM General Vice President George Poulin was in South Africa just two days before the historic vote to investigate a Crown, Cork & Seal plant where workers had been on strike for over a year. (The IAM represents U.S. workers at the company.) South African trade unionists took Poulin to an election rally in Cape Town, where he was called to address a pro-apartheid crowd of 700 people. “It sort of propelled me into what was a serious thing that was happening in that country,” Poulin said in an oral history conducted by the Southern Labor Archives. He told the crowd a vote for Mandela is a vote for working people of all colors.
Even before that historic election, the IAM joined other North American unions in calling for “selective disinvestment” from multi-national corporations whose operations bolstered the racist apartheid system, a 1985 edition of The Machinist reported. In addition, former IAM International Affairs Director Ben Sharman found himself staring apartheid in the face on a 1986 trip to meet with South African metal workers’ unions, where he had been invited to the funeral of a South African labor leader killed by the apartheid police force. On his way to the funeral in a black township, Sharman was stopped by police. They issued him a summons, written in Afrikaans, to get out within five minutes. “It was written in a language I didn’t understand,” said Sharman. “But I did understand the machine guns,” Sharman told The Machinist.
Thousands of South Africans were killed by police forces, and trade unionists were among the most targeted groups. Organized labor, one of the country’s few racially mixed institutions, threatened a system that paid black workers an average of $5 per hour less than their white counterparts in the same plant. Only 20,000 South Africans were union members in 1970. By 1985, that number had grown to more than one million. They began taking up issues such as women’s rights, health and safety and the right to negotiate on behalf of their members. A two-day strike in 1984 shut down a major South African industrial center. South African labor unions, and international allies such as the IAM, would become a key bloc in a growing movement that eventually took down apartheid.
Mandela famously said, “Today we should all ask ourselves: What have I done to improve the surroundings in which I live?” Every year on Mandela Day, people around the world are called to take action and inspire change by making a difference in their communities.
If you would like to donate your own time to public service, here are some ideas to take action and inspire change:
Find a group in your town that could benefit from your time. Whether a food pantry or a soup kitchen, groups giving back to our union siblings in need can certainly use the help.
Team up with your Local Lodge or District Lodge to help an organization for veterans, the disabled, or the blind.
Make a new friend. Get to know someone from a different cultural background. Only through mutual understanding can we rid our communities of intolerance and xenophobia.
Help someone get a job. Put together and print a CV for them, or help them with interview skills.
Buy a few blankets, toiletries, socks and shoes, or grab the ones you no longer need from home and give them to someone in need.
IAM District Lodge 66 member Mike Davis recently got the chance of a lifetime to meet President Biden. After the president gave a speech pushing his $1 trillion infrastructure plan at the La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility in Wisconsin, Davis was one of a select few union leaders chosen to meet the president backstage.
“This is the first time I have ever met any president so the whole experience was very exciting to see and take in,” said Davis, a Local 1115 member who works at Crown Cork and Seal and is also President of the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “I was able to be backstage and up close to the president so it made for an even more thrilling day. I couldn’t have been more proud to represent the IAM and our local unions.”
“Mike was a very deserving member to be selected with the honor of representing the IAM at President Biden’s visit to La Crosse,” said IAM District 66 Directing Business Representative Jana Kirch. “He is not only a respected leader in our union, but also fights for the rights of all workers in Wisconsin.”
President Biden told Wisconsinites the proposed infrastructure plan will create millions of good paying jobs. The president was joined by U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Gov. Tony Evers (D) in talking about the ways the package would also improve Wisconsin infrastructure.
“It’s refreshing to see and experience a White House now focused on unions and working Americans,” said IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Steve Galloway. “In just his first 150 days, President Biden and his administration have already spearheaded a number of legislative actions, appointments and bills the Machinists Union have been fighting for, for so many years.”
“President Biden thanked me for all our union has done and said he truly appreciated our support,” added Davis. “It’s a moment I will cherish, honor and never forget.”
Riders and supporters raised more than $100,000 for Guide Dogs of America this June as part of the Second Annual Kourpias K-9 Classic. The five-day and nearly 1,200-mile motorcycle ride, hosted by the IAM Southern Territory, started in Marietta, GA and finished in Fort Worth, TX.
Pressure continues to mount for Cascades Containerboard to bargain in good faith and agree to a first labor contract with more than 100 workers at its Niagara Falls, N.Y. manufacturing facility.
IAM Canadian General Vice President David Chartrandrecently joined the chorus of labor and political leaders urging the Québec-based manufacturer to work toward a contract with its New York state workers.
“It’s frustrating and embarrassing to see a Québec flagship act in this way, especially since Québecers are shareholders in the company through the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec,” Chartrand said. “All workers deserve to be treated with respect and fairness, whether they are from Québec, New York State or elsewhere. We stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers and support them in their struggle.”
The facility’s group of more than 100 workers voted to join the Machinists Union in April 2019, and have been attempting to bargain for a fair contract for more than two years.
Members recently rallied to call for a first contract. It has now been more than two years since the National Labor Relations Board certified Cascades workers’ vote to join the IAM in June 2019. It is highly unusual for companies to delay bargaining to this extent after workers organize with the IAM.
Working conditions at the facility are key issues for Cascades employees.
IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Brian Bryant has called Cascades’ actions as “shameful” and vowed that the IAM “will continue to mobilize to help our brothers and sisters at Cascades secure a first contract.”
Such negotiations are unusual, IAM District 65 Directing Business Representative Ron Warner told Le Journalde Montreal.
“This kind of thing normally takes 6 to 12 months to settle. Not two years as is currently the case,” Warner told the publication.
Other lawmaker support for IAM workers includes U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) who recently wrote a letter to Cascades President Charles Malo, urging the company to “negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement expeditiously.”
(@MachinistsUnion) April 21, 2020
(@MachinistsUnion)