Jan 6, 2022 | iMail
The 2022 IAM Calendar, featuring winners of the 2021 IAM Photo Contest, is now available for order.
To order the 2022 IAM Calendar, download an individual order form or bulk order form for Lodges that want to order large quantities of calendars. Calendars are $7 for individual orders and $5 per calendar for orders of 100 or more. Two dollars from each calendar sold are donated to the IAM’s favorite charity, Guide Dogs of America/Tender Loving Canines.
This is a great way to promote the Machinists and the work we do, as well as helping to bring independence and confidence for people who are blind/visually impaired, veterans and children with autism across North America.
View the winning photos and enter the 2022 IAM Photo Contest
The post Order Your 2022 IAM Calendar appeared first on IAMAW.
Jan 5, 2022 | LL S6 Elections, LL S6 Leadership Alerts
Below is a listing for the upcoming E02, 1st shift election for Bath/EBMF on Thursday, January 20, 2022. In the event the election cannot be held on the stated date, the alternate date will be the 1st workday after the cancellation (or the Shipyard re-opens) at the same time and places listed below.
Bath: North Gate, West Gate and South Gate 6:30 a.m. – 6:55 a.m.
MSC Lunchroom 11:30 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.
EBMF Toolcrib 6:30 a.m. – 6:55 a.m.
Candidates are listed alphabetically:
Angela McCarren
Harold Richards IV
John Sevey
*Vote for 1 Steward*
Jan 4, 2022 | iMail
Architectural workers at SHoP in New York City have requested voluntary employer recognition of their union with IAM District 15.
The Union Organizing Committee at SHoP and the IAM recently sent a letter to SHoP partners requesting voluntary recognition. In addition, the union and the organizing committee asked to meet in person with SHoP partners to start a conversation around the challenges facing the architectural profession and how they can work together to begin making positive structural changes. The Union Organizing Committee at SHoP is motivated by a deep care for the SHoP firm and architecture as a profession.
READ: Architects Are the Latest White-Collar Workers to Confront Bosses The New York Times
“Many of us feel pushed to the limits of our productivity and mental health,” reads the letter. “These conditions have become detrimental to our lives and in extension the lives of our families. These concerns are the product of larger systemic issues within the discipline of architecture and are in no way unique to SHoP. From the moment we begin studying architecture, we are taught that great design requires endless time and effort, and in turn demands the sacrifice of personal health and relationships. We are taught that architecture is a greater calling and regardless of how the client is willing to compensate us, we will perform our duty because it is critically important for the greater good.”
The Union Organizing Committee at SHoP is asking SHoP partners to remain neutral and formally recognize the union.
This will be the first union of private sector architecture workers in the United States since the 1940s.
Architectural Workers United is the campaign moniker under which a group of New York City based architectural workers from multiple firms (including SHoP) are attempting to organize unions. The campaign’s goal is to raise industry standards through collective bargaining rights, sector wide union density and political action.
The post New York City Architectural Workers Move to Join IAM appeared first on IAMAW.
Jan 4, 2022 | iMail
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2021 – The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Dec. 28 ruled that is permitting the Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) to intervene as a plaintiff in a case against the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The closure of a large area of prime lobstering territory is having a hugely negative impact on Maine lobstering communities. The MLU won injunctive relief to stop the closure on Oct. 16, but a federal appeals court overturned the decision on Nov. 16, closing off about 967 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean to lobster fishing for a third of the year. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case.
“This matter is the second case to which the MLU is a party in the District of Columbia involving lobster regulations intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale, with the MLU already having intervened as a defendant in a case brought by conservation groups challenging NMFS’s 2021 Biological Opinion,” said Alfred C. Frawley IV, lead attorney representing the MLU. “As an intervener in both cases, the MLU will seek a ruling that NMFS’s biological opinion and recent regulations are arbitrary and capricious in that they do not rely on the best scientific evidence available, but instead rely upon assumptions that have no basis in reality.”
The MLU also remains an active intervener in CBD v. Ross, a case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“The Maine Lobstering Union will continue to use every resource at our disposal to protect both the Maine lobstering community and the environment, which we have been stewards of for generations,” said the MLU’s Virginia Olsen. “We simply ask that decisions that impact the livelihoods of countless communities be grounded in science. Our resolve is steadfast to protect this world-renowned industry and the men and women who depend on it.”
The Maine Lobstering Union (MLU) is an affiliate of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) District 4 and the only union-based cooperative in the lobster industry owned and operated by Maine lobstermen. The MLU supports Maine’s lobster community and is committed to the sustainability and safety of Maine’s lobstermen and women and all wildlife that occupy and rely upon the fishery.
The post Maine Lobstering Union Granted Intervener Status to Protect Fishermen appeared first on IAMAW.
Jan 4, 2022 | iMail
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has passed and been signed into law by President Biden. The legislation totals $768 billion for national defense programs, including extensive funding for IAM-built programs.
“The Machinists Union is the largest defense labor union in the United States and we tirelessly fought for all of the Machinists Union priorities included in this bill,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “This act will go a long way to ensuring our members and their families have a stable future. The legislation will also provide much-needed wage increases for our military men and woman while expanding their healthcare benefits, parental leave and in-home child care.
Thanks to the IAM’s lobbying efforts, the 2022 NDAA authorizes funding for the following IAM- built and maintained programs:
- 85 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters
- 12 F-18 Super Hornets
- 4 C-130J Super Hercules
- 17 F-15 Eagles
- 14 KC-46 Tankers
- Two P-8 Poseidons
- Three DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class Destroyers
- Two Virginia-class Attack Submarines
- Robust funding for ramp up of Columbia-class Ballistic Submarine program
Other highlights include:
- Renews, expands and improves oversight into domestic content in critical defense acquisition programs.
- Supports Administration efforts to increase public availability of Department of Defense reporting on waivers of certain domestic preference requirements.
- Establishes strong, recurring oversight mechanisms to detect and deter egregious violations of domestic preference laws.
- Improves the legal framework to mitigate risk in critical defense supply chains and across the broader acquisition process, using leading-edge digital tools, technology, and approaches to enhance supply chain transparency.
- Tightens restrictions on acquisitions of certain printed circuit boards for which supply chains may be susceptible to interference by the Chinese government.
The law also authorizes $27.8 billion for nuclear weapons activities allotted for the Department of Energy and fully funds the Department of Defense budget for the National Security Launch Program.
The post IAM Advocacy Results in Major Funding for Machinists Built Programs in the 2022 NDAA appeared first on IAMAW.
Jan 4, 2022 | iMail
As Rachel Steele prepares to earn her doctorate in 2022, she looks back on how much an IAM scholarship meant to her back in 2003. Her father, Thomas Steele, was working for Boeing that year and she was featured in the IAM Journal as one of several scholarship winners. The younger Steele feels the timing of her PhD candidacy, her dad’s retirement and the current call for scholarship applicants is special.
She says her father ”worked tirelessly when we were growing up. He had to travel a lot, so he wasn’t always home and now as an adult, I realize how much of a sacrifice that was.”
Rachel originally wrote to IAM District 837 President and Directing Business Representative Tom Boelling, looking for a way to thank her dad in a follow-up to the 2003 edition of the IAM Journal.
“We’re so proud of Rachel and what she’s accomplished,” Boelling said. “We congratulate her on reaching the highest academic level of her educational career and congratulate her father, Thomas, on his retirement from Boeing.”
“Thank you for having the foresight for creating a scholarship,” Rachel said.
Her advice for applicants? “Have confidence, especially if you’re a first-generation student. You deserve the recognition. It’s an amazing privilege. Be true to yourself. Tell your story in your own voice. Everyone has a story.”
“Congratulations to both Rachel on her upcoming doctorate and Thomas on his much-deserved retirement,” said IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Steve Galloway. “The IAM has always placed a high value on education, from funding scholarships for IAM members and their families to advocating for a national investment in skills training. Rachel’s story shows how important the IAM Scholarship is to so many IAM families. Any eligible members or their children may apply for this life-changing scholarship to college or technical school.”
To apply for the 2022 IAM Scholarship Competition, your packet must be completed and postmarked by February 11, 2022.
The post A Girl, A Scholarship And A Dream appeared first on IAMAW.
Dec 30, 2021 | iMail
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md., Dec. 30, 2021 – A group of 460 Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) full and part-time employees across the county’s 19 branches have voted 77% in favor of joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The vote was tallied today in a mail-in ballot election.
The IAM is in the process of scheduling negotiations with BCPL management. County statute stipulates that negotiations must conclude by March 1, 2022.
The successful vote comes after years of organizing, which included the IAM winning a new state law allowing BCPL employees to collectively bargain. The law, sponsored by State Del. Cathi Forbes and State Sen. Shelly Hettleman, went into effect on July 1, 2021.
BCPL employees are seeking more transparency and communication from BCPL leadership and healthcare benefits for part-time employees.
“This is so exciting for Baltimore County Public Library workers,” said Anita Bass, a BCPL Circulation Assistant III at the Essex branch. “This will empower the staff of BCPL to continue to do the important work of fulfilling BCPL’s mission and vision. We need a system in place to protect and support each other and a legally binding contract will give us that. I believe in the BCPL mission and I know the IAM will help us accomplish that mission.”
“Baltimore County Public Library employees have always been a critical pillar to our community, and now especially during the pandemic,” said IAM Grand Lodge Representative Bridget Fitzgerald, lead organizer on the campaign. “I could not be more proud of these professionals for joining together and standing strong for what they deserve. This is a victory for them, their families and all of Baltimore County, which rightfully relies on a strong and inclusive library system.”
“The IAM has used and will continue to use every resource possible to give BCPL employees a greater voice in their workplace,” said IAM Organizing Director Vinny Addeo. “My personal thanks go to Grand Lodge Representative Bridget Fitzgerald and the entire Organizing Department staff for their unrelenting dedication to this campaign, as well as Associate General Counsel Laura Ewan and Chief of Staff Monica Lee Silbas for their professional guidance through the legal and legislative aspects of this campaign. Also, thanks to all IAM Departments and the Eastern Territory for their steadfast support.”
BCPLunited.org | @BCPL_United | goIAM.org | @MachinistsUnion
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is one of the largest and most diverse industrial trade unions in North America, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive and other industries.
The post Baltimore County Public Library Employees Vote Overwhelmingly to Join Machinists Union appeared first on IAMAW.
Dec 22, 2021 | iMail
Save the date, as the IAM and our allies will gather virtually on January 16-17 for the 2022 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference.
Register now for the 2022 AFL-CIO MLK Civil and Human Rights Conference.
We will build on our victories and strategize about the continued fight for economic and racial justice with—and also within—the labor movement.
The theme of January’s conference is “Honoring Our Past and Protecting Our Future.”
The 2022 observance marks the 26th year of the conference where we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, reinforce the longstanding bond between the labor and civil rights movements, and both prepare and empower participants to carry on the fight for justice and equality. This year’s conference will be virtual.
This year’s conference will focus on the past, present and future connection between the labor and civil rights movement, the importance of strengthening our rights and the critical role that workers play in shaping our democracy.
Sessions and trainings will be held online so everyone can attend safely.
Register now for the 2022 AFL-CIO MLK Civil and Human Rights Conference.
The early registration fee is $35 and a general fee of $50 will become effective on January 4, 2022.
The post Join Us at the 2022 AFL-CIO MLK Civil and Human Rights Conference appeared first on IAMAW.
Dec 20, 2021 | iMail
Sisters and Brothers,
As the holiday season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped to shape our union. While many of us will spend time with family, friends, and other loved ones, there are many, like our men and women serving in uniform, who are far from home.
I’d also like to extend my gratitude to all IAM members who will be working tirelessly during the holidays, moving travelers and goods safely worldwide. You sacrifice time away from your families so millions of travelers can spend time with theirs.
I’d like to wish every IAM member and their family peace, love and health this holiday season. Your hard work throughout the year is what makes our union as strong as it is.
In solidarity,
Richard Johnsen
IAM Chief of Staff to the International President
The post A Holiday Message from IAM Transportation appeared first on IAMAW.
Dec 20, 2021 | iMail
Dear Sisters, Brothers and Friends of the IAM,
As 2021 comes to a close, I can’t help but be astounded by how our union family has come together and made a difference in the lives of so many during what was another tumultuous year. Whether on the job or off the clock, when working people come together, they can – and usually do – change the world, making it better for everyone.
For all the workers who will be on the job making sure our loved ones remain safe during their holiday travels and celebrations, here’s hoping you take time to recognize the hard work and determination we see you bring to the job every day.
To all the working-class heroes, my gratitude runs deep for all you do, both for our countries and our communities. From myself and your Executive Council, we wish you and your families a happy and healthy holiday season.
In solidarity and gratitude,
Robert Martinez Jr.
IAM International President
The post A Holiday Message from International President Martinez appeared first on IAMAW.
