More than 1,500 Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions
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Warehouse workers, school, bus drivers, teachers, mechanics, telecommunication and manufacturing worker all have recently won a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions.
More than 350 employees at IKEA Distribution Center in Perryville, Md., voted by an overwhelming margin to join the Machinists (IAM ) despite opposition from IKEA managers who hired Jackson-Lewis, the well-known union-busting law firm. District 4 Business Representative Joe Flanders says the workers, “were able to see through the scare tactics.”
Last year, the Danville, Va.-based employees at Swedwood, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IKEA, voted to join the IAM.
In DuPont, Wash., more than some 350 workers who repair military helicopters and do site maintenance site maintenance and repair work for defense contractor URS Corp. Wash., voted to join IAM District Lodge 751. The workers have been without a pay or cost of living increase for more than four years, says new IAM member John Davis, and “a bunch of people got fed up.”
In Avon, Ky., 219 workers (see photo) at Allsource Global Management at the Bluegrass Station base voted to join the IAM. They are material coordinators for the distribution of military equipment. Read the rest of this entry »
Ohio Plant Fire Costs 60 Jobs, IAM Reaching Out to Help
AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer sends us this report.
Until a fire tore through the facility late last week, Janesville Acoustics was one of the world’s largest producers of acoustical and thermal fiber insulation, and a leading producer of automotive decorative trim and molded fiber products. It took 62 fire fighters and 26 pieces of equipment to battle the massive blaze.
The Newcomerstown, Ohio, plant is a total loss and the fire put 92 workers, including 60 Machinist (IAM) Local 1285 production and maintenance employees, out of work.
The fire couldn’t have come at worse times says IAM communications representative John Carr. Read the rest of this entry »
Ship Pilots, Machinists, Deputy Sheriffs, Bakers and Communication Techs Join AFL-CIO Unions
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The 250 members of the Panama Canal Pilots Union recently voted to affiliate with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The pilots guide the ships that transit the historic canal. Says ILWU President Robert McEllrath:
Both unions will benefit from this new affiliation that will provide each with more solidarity and support. With more of our employers now operating around the globe this kind of strategic alliance makes a lot of sense.
In Kent, Wash., the 165 workers at Hytek Finishes voted to join the Machinists (IAM) after a four-month battle. The workers specialize in various types of metal finishing and coating for aerospace manufacturers, including the Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter.
Machinists Pres. Buffenbarger Tells Ohioans Vote NO on Issue 2
Deborah Dion with the Ohio AFL-CIO field program sends us this.
Machinists (IAM) President Thomas Buffenbarger electrified hundreds of working families and community activists in Cincinnati yesterday when he spoke about the urgent need to mobilize working families to get out the vote to defeat Issue 2/Senate B 5. As Buffenbarger told the crowd:
Issue 2/SB 5 is a deliberate attack on the collective bargaining rights of 360,000 Ohioans. SB 5 deprives workers of their rights and their abilities to seek and maintain the great standard of living that all Americans strive for.
Following the start of early voting in Ohio this week, Communications Workers (CWA) President Larry Cohen also traveled to Ohio, going door to door with Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga to get out the vote. To find out information on how to early vote, click here. Read the rest of this entry »
Workers Take to Capitol Hill to Stop Korea, Colombia and Panama Trade Deals
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Virginia Hewitt has seen firsthand how bad trade deals kill good jobs. Hewitt worked for 14.5 years at the Salina, Kan., Hawker Beechcraft plant building private jets. But little more than a year ago, she and most of the nearly 600 Machinists (IAM) Local 7090 members saw their jobs shipped to Mexico.
“I know about bad trade deals. I had to leave my house, sell my things and move to Georgia because of bad trade deals.”
Hewitt was one of the more 200 union members who came to Capitol Hill today to tell their home state lawmakers to vote “No” on proposed trade deals with Korea, Colombia and Panama. They told their senators and representatives Congress needs to focus on job-creating legislation like President Obama’s American Jobs Act, not job-killing trade deals.
The rally was part of the AFL-CIO’s mobilization to stop the trade agreements that included today’s National Call In Day to tell Congress to stop the trade deals. (There’s still time: Call your member of Congress at 1-800-718-1008. You also can send your message via e-mail by clicking here.)
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the Korea trade deal will cost 159,000 U.S. jobs while Panama routinely tramples workers’ rights and shelters money launderers and tax dodgers.
Craig Ashford, a member of IAM Local 1414 in San Mateo, Calif., says the United States should not reward a nation like Colombia where more trade unionists are killed than any other nation on the globe with special trade privileges.
Bayer Workers Fight to Keep Promised Jobs
Two years after being granted tax subsidies in exchange for creating family-supporting jobs, management at Bayer Pharmaceuticals in Berkeley, Calif., steadfastly refuses to keep its commitment. Instead, it wants to outsource work done by members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 6.
IAM: Documents Prove Boeing Out to Punish Workers for Strike
The Machinists (IAM) local that has charged the Boeing Co. with unfair labor practices for opening a second assembly line at a plant in South Carolina has unveiled selected internal company documents the union says shows the company moved the work to punish workers for exercising their right to strike.
IAM District 751 released 15 pages of documents from longer PowerPoint presentations to the Boeing board of directors in 2009. The documents were culled from among selected PowerPoint slides, which calculate the risks and benefits of locating the work in Washington or South Carolina, repeatedly point out that one of Boeing’s goals was the reduction of union power. IAM says the documents appear to demonstrate the importance Boeing gave to that goal, despite numerous risks of a move to South Carolina listed in the presentations.
United Continental Fleet Workers Choose IAM
Fleet service workers at United Continental Holdings yesterday voted for representation by the Machinists (IAM).
In the five-week-long election, 97 percent of the workers who cast ballots supported union representation, while 3 percent voted against representation. Of those who favored representation, 51.4 percent, or 5,572 employees, voted for IAM, while 48.5 percent, or 5,257 employees, chose the Teamsters, and a handful of workers supported other unions and individuals.
United and Continental merged Oct. 1, 2010, to form Chicago-based United Continental Holdings, but the two airlines continue to operate as separate operating subsidiaries. Prior to the vote, IAM represented United employees and the Teamsters represented the ramp, cargo, and operations workers at Continental and Continental Micronesia.
IAM District 141 President Rich Delaney said:
This election was contested by two unions that have rich histories and deeply rooted belief in the trade union movement. It was conducted with a minimum amount of animosity between us.
Machinists Leaders Met with Pope, Discuss Ties Between Faith and Labor
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| IAM President Tom Buffenbarger discusses revitalizing the bond between the labor movement and the Catholic Church with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome. |
This is a cross-post from the Machinists (IAM). The labor movement and the faith community have long held shared goals of equality and opportunity. Each Labor Day, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and the AFL-CIO sponsor the Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar program, which highlights these shared goals. Click here to find out more.
In a bid to reinvigorate the long-standing ties between labor and the faith community, a delegation of IAM leaders from the United States and Canada met recently with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome.
In addition to the audience granted to the IAM delegation, the pope met privately with IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, who shared a concern of many that Catholic bishops are not as supportive of the labor movement as they once were.
IKEA Workers Build Solidarity, Vote for Machinists
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For two years, management at IKEA’s Danville, Va., subsidiary Swedwood fought the workers’ choice to join the Machinists (IAM). But after yesterday’s overwhelming 221-69 vote, the workers who assemble furniture for IKEA stores have that voice at work.
Coretta Giles says working conditions—especially heat inside the plant—and low wages are two of the biggest issues she wants resolved. She told the Danville Register and Bee she voted for the IAM:
So we can have a voice. So we can all be heard and have another leg we can stand on when we need to.
The Danville plant is not air conditioned and, says Bill Street, director of the IAM’s Woodworking Department, is routinely 15 to 20 degrees hotter inside than outside. Working conditions on normal summer day are oppressive, but the recent heat waves have made it nearly unbearable, he says.
