Front row, left to right: Local 839 President Kathy Peterson, 1st Shift In-plant Rep David Eagle, District 70 DBR Steve Rooney, BR Becky Ledbetter.  Middle row: 2nd shift In-plant Rep Howard Johnson, Headquarters GVP Rich Michalski, IP Tom Buffenbarger, Local 839 Communicator Dennis Williams.   Back Row: IAM General Counsel Christopher Corson, Grand Lodge Representative Don Barker, Aerospace Coordinator Ron Eldridge, District 70 BR Mike Burleigh.

The bargaining committee for members of Local 839 at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, KS, recently completed an intense week of negotiations preparation at the Winpisinger Center, where they are readying for a bargaining session that could change the face of the aerospace industry.

The future of the U.S. aviation industry was a frequent topic of discussion. The workers in Wichita and Spirit’s leadership share a mutual interest in outlasting the current recession and ensuring Wichita remains the Air Capitol of the nation for years to come.

“Aerospace is the last great American industry,” said International President Tom Buffenbarger, who met with the committee. “It is vibrant, innovative and highly productive. We remain the unquestioned world leaders. What we do here during the next six months will chart the course for this industry, our members and our nation for years to come.”

During the week-long training, the committee also met with Headquarters GVP Rich Michalski, Spirit AeroSystems President and CEO Jeff Turner and Spirit AeroSystems Vice President of Labor Relations Sam Marnick.

Both sides are exploring a completely new collective bargaining model that would protect the interests of IAM members while bringing long-term stability to employment and production. If successful, it will mean no more business as usual, for the union or the company.

“It is time to move beyond the old ways of bargaining that have been used since the 1930s,” said Buffenbarger. “We must be innovative in collective bargaining. We must find ways to move forward where both the company and the workers benefit together, neither one profiting at the expense of the other in adversarial roles. We owe it to our community, our families and this nation to find that new way.”

In the Massachusetts Senate race last Tuesday, Scott Brown won the unemployed vote by five points and the union vote by three percent. He won blue-collar males by 27 percent and he won blue-collar females by 13 percent. His victory was propelled, in large part, by a statewide unemployment rate of 9.4 percent.

Jobless Americans are angry. And they have every right to be.

They were last in line when  Washington doled out the goodies. Banks, insurance companies, investment firms and government contractors got trillions -- yes, trillions of dollars -- in the last fifteen months. Now the politicians have the gall to say, “Wait! We need to focus on deficit reduction.” What they really mean is “Wall Street got the gold mine; you got the shaft.”

It's time to send those politicians a WARN Notice: Either start putting Americans back to work or start looking for a new line of work yourself. UCubed's jobs activists are sending that message right now from www.unionofunemployed.com. You can send that same message by clicking here.

And they are building communities all across this country. Over 6,200 folks visited the UCubed website and chalked up 59,200 page views. More important, jobs activists started 46 cubes in 20 states.

So please pass this link along to all your friends: www.unionofunemployed.com.

Tell them to send the politicians a WARN Notice. Urge them to start a cube. And ask them to join the fight to end this Grave Recession.

According to the grant’s project description, the aim is to “build a skilled workforce to support companies that generate power, and assist local manufacturers in retooling their workforce.”

“America needs to train and re-train our workers to meet and sustain the skills needed in today’s global competition,” said Western Territory GVP Gary Allen. “Congratulations to Directing Business Representative Bob Petroff and District 24 for going after and receiving this job-training grant money.”

District 24 is part of a joint venture that includes labor organizations, training schools and renewable energy companies. Together, the partnership aims to expand workers’ skills to adapt to changing needs of green employers, and will educate and train unemployed and dislocated workers with the skills necessary to work in the green industry.

“Our outstanding award recipients were selected because their proposed projects will connect workers to career pathways in green industries and occupations through critical, diverse partnerships,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in announcing the grants.

“Yesterday’s victory could not have happened without the hard work and cooperation of many of our union brothers and sisters,” said NFFE-IAM National Organizing Director Cassie Kerner. “I am so grateful to everyone who lent a hand on this campaign.  Thanks to everyone’s perseverance, the employees of HRM will now have a much-needed voice in their workplace.”

The organizing campaign began in the spring of 2008, when NFFE-IAM began collecting signatures from HRM employees who were interested in union representation. The effort overcame a number of hurdles over the next several months, but was eventually able to finalize a bargaining unit for voting purposes. HRM employees in Albuquerque will now be covered by the Master Agreement negotiated by the NFFE Forest Service Council.

Special thanks go out to National Business Representative Gary Johanson, Organizing Director Kerner, Forest Service Council President Ron Thatcher, National Vice President Jozef Drozdowski, IAM Organizer Terri Friend and the members of NFFE-IAM Local 2197 for all of their hard work in this campaign.

“The IMF and its affiliates around the globe stand together with the members of IAM Lodge 1555 in their fight for decent wages and conditions. Metalworkers everywhere support their stand against corporate greed by saying NO to unfair contracts,” said IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina in a letter sent to IAM President Tom Buffenbarger.

Renold has refused to negotiate to resolve the dispute and has instead hired replacement workers in an effort to break the strike.

Local Lodge 1580 President, left, and Communicator Tammy Ives delivered holiday gifts that were donated by local members to area charities.

Machinists at Local 1580 in Wellsville, NY, made the 2009 holiday season a memorable one by supporting The Salvation Army, ARC Children’s Home and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“The members at Local 1580 are a vital part of this community,” said District 65 Business Representative Ron Warner. “The idea began last year while they were in the midst of tough negotiations. The local ended up ratifying a three-year agreement with Dresser-Rand that restored many of the past sacrifices our members had made to keep the plant operating. They decided to build on that success this Christmas and to thank the people of Wellsville for their support during those tough negotiations.”

The lodge’s generous gift-giving was chronicled in the Wellsville Daily Reporter. Local 1580 President Chris Green and Communicator Tammy Ives reported that collection boxes were placed around the plant and workers quickly filled the boxes with food and toys. About 400 IAM members helped collect the donations, which were delivered to the three charities before Christmas.

“Local 1580 is what community service unionism is all about,” said Eastern Territory GVP Lynn Tucker, Jr. “Helping those who face uncertainty in these troubled times is at the core of the IAM motto, ‘Service to the Community.’”

While this is the first year the members took a collection such as this, it was clear from their enthusiasm that it wouldn’t be the last.

The IAM filed the suit alleging Pratt did not “make every reasonable effort” to keep jobs in Connecticut as required in the IAM contract with the company. Pratt is trying to close an engine overhaul facility in Cheshire, CT and the Connecticut Airfoil and Repair Operations center (CARO) in East Hartford, CT and move the work to Columbus, GA, Singapore and Japan.

During the trial, the Hartford Courant reports that “lawyers for the union established that all or nearly all of Pratt’s top executives were committed to closing the plants as early as January 15, 2009 – more than seven months before workers were told of the possibility” and that a “Pratt executive testified that the company deliberately concealed those plans from workers, even when asked about rumors of them in early 2009.”

Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also filed a brief in support of the Machinists union. "Pratt was contractually obligated to undertake every reasonable effort to preserve these Connecticut jobs," the brief says, as reported on LegalNewsline. "The State and the Union have asserted throughout this matter - and the evidence has now conclusively shown - that Pratt failed in this duty.

"Pratt should not be permitted to eliminate jobs, causing harm to Connecticut's economy and profound financial distress to hundreds of families, in violation of its binding contractual promises to its workers."

Judge Hall is expected to make a final ruling by the end of the month.

IAM District 142, representing Hawaiian’s mechanic & related employees, is in mediated negotiations with the assistance of the National Mediation Board for an amended contract.

With a new video, editorial and a growing list of partners, the IAM community service project known as Ur Union of Unemployed, nicknamed UCubed, is beginning to resonate among labor organizations and unemployed workers, who have created more than 40 individual “cubes” to share their experiences and gain the benefits of collective action.

Using social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, the word about UCubed is spreading from city to city, worker to worker and from organization to organization. The AFL-CIO has joined the effort as a supporting partner, as have AFSCME, AFT, NEA, IUPAT, CWA and others. For more information about joining the partnership, contact UCubed@iamaw.org.

International President Tom Buffenbarger recently described what led to the creation of an organization that focused exclusively on organizing and assisting the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans. “We have to do something, and if the government can’t hear the cries and anguish of American workers, then we need to magnify that voice,” said Buffenbarger. “This is where we hope UCubed will be our avenue.”

Bybee contends that Martha Coakley's defeat reflects a fundamental unwillingness of national Democrats to clearly distinguish themselves from the corporate lobbyists swarming around them. If the Massachusetts experience is not to be repeated, Bybee says Democrats will need to answer the age old labor refrain, “Which side are you on?”

IAM Legislative Director Matt McKinnon is quoted in the article, arguing that it was the failure of Obama and the Democrats to more clearly stand with the people against corporate interests that sunk the candidacy of Coakley against Scott Brown.

Click here to read the full article.

(from left) U.S. Congressman John Garamendi, Chairman of US House Education and Labor Committee - George Miller, IAM Western Territory GVP Gary Allen (at podium), Executive Secretary of the California State AFL-CIO Art Pulaski is seated at right.

A vocal contingent of Machinists union members took part in a recent rally in Concord, CA, to support passage of the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act of 2009. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Michael Michaud, (D-ME), would revamp U.S. trade policy to provide a measure of protection for American workers and include enforceable labor, environmental and human rights standards. The legislation would also create a path to transform existing "free trade" policies, including NAFTA, CAFTA, and the WTO.

“Our cheap labor trade policies have failed to deliver on the promise of globalization. Instead, they have created untenable trade deficits, eroded our manufacturing base, and placed tremendous downward pressure on wages and benefits for ordinary Americans,” said Western Territory GVP Gary Allen.

Also attending the rally were House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), who became the 128th and 129th voting members of the House Democratic Caucus to endorse the TRADE Act, giving it a majority of the 256-member caucus.

“We need to push policies that will reverse the damage caused by previous trade agreements so that we can create jobs, not ship them overseas," said Miller, a 35-year House veteran, who has opposed all of the major trade deals dating back to NAFTA, "These trade agreements – I didn't vote for any of them. They were wrong then, and they're wrong now.”

Garamendi said that he would not support trade deals unless they provide the protection that every human being on this planet deserved. “We should not reward deplorable labor and environmental conditions abroad only to see jobs exported at home. There is nothing 'free' about oppressive labor conditions.”

“In the last decade the U. S. has lost over five million manufacturing jobs; jobs that have historically been the key to a middle class life,” said GVP Allen. “We have seen employers move to places where they can repress worker rights, disregard the environment, and engage in illegal trade practices. This legislation requires that we fix our failed trade agreements before we enter new pacts.”

The IAM filed the suit alleging Pratt did not “make every reasonable effort” to keep jobs in Connecticut as required in the IAM contract with the company. Pratt is trying to close an engine overhaul facility in Cheshire, CT and the Connecticut Airfoil and Repair Operations center (CARO) in East Hartford, CT and move the work to Columbus, GA, Singapore and Japan.

During the trial, the Hartford Courant reports that “lawyers for the union established that all or nearly all of Pratt’s top executives were committed to closing the plants as early as January 15, 2009 – more than seven months before workers were told of the possibility” and that a “Pratt executive testified that the company deliberately concealed those plans from workers, even when asked about rumors of them in early 2009.”

Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also filed a brief in support of the Machinists union. "Pratt was contractually obligated to undertake every reasonable effort to preserve these Connecticut jobs," the brief says, as reported on LegalNewsline. "The State and the Union have asserted throughout this matter - and the evidence has now conclusively shown - that Pratt failed in this duty.

"Pratt should not be permitted to eliminate jobs, causing harm to Connecticut's economy and profound financial distress to hundreds of families, in violation of its binding contractual promises to its workers."

Judge Hall is expected to make a final ruling by the end of the month.

IAM District 142, representing Hawaiian’s mechanic & related employees, is in mediated negotiations with the assistance of the National Mediation Board for an amended contract.

With a new video, editorial and a growing list of partners, the IAM community service project known as Ur Union of Unemployed, nicknamed UCubed, is beginning to resonate among labor organizations and unemployed workers, who have created more than 40 individual “cubes” to share their experiences and gain the benefits of collective action.

Using social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, the word about UCubed is spreading from city to city, worker to worker and from organization to organization. The AFL-CIO has joined the effort as a supporting partner, as have AFSCME, AFT, NEA, IUPAT, CWA and others. For more information about joining the partnership, contact UCubed@iamaw.org.

International President Tom Buffenbarger recently described what led to the creation of an organization that focused exclusively on organizing and assisting the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans. “We have to do something, and if the government can’t hear the cries and anguish of American workers, then we need to magnify that voice,” said Buffenbarger. “This is where we hope UCubed will be our avenue.”

Bybee contends that Martha Coakley's defeat reflects a fundamental unwillingness of national Democrats to clearly distinguish themselves from the corporate lobbyists swarming around them. If the Massachusetts experience is not to be repeated, Bybee says Democrats will need to answer the age old labor refrain, “Which side are you on?”

IAM Legislative Director Matt McKinnon is quoted in the article, arguing that it was the failure of Obama and the Democrats to more clearly stand with the people against corporate interests that sunk the candidacy of Coakley against Scott Brown.

Click here to read the full article.

(from left) U.S. Congressman John Garamendi, Chairman of US House Education and Labor Committee - George Miller, IAM Western Territory GVP Gary Allen (at podium), Executive Secretary of the California State AFL-CIO Art Pulaski is seated at right.

A vocal contingent of Machinists union members took part in a recent rally in Concord, CA, to support passage of the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act of 2009. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Michael Michaud, (D-ME), would revamp U.S. trade policy to provide a measure of protection for American workers and include enforceable labor, environmental and human rights standards. The legislation would also create a path to transform existing "free trade" policies, including NAFTA, CAFTA, and the WTO.

“Our cheap labor trade policies have failed to deliver on the promise of globalization. Instead, they have created untenable trade deficits, eroded our manufacturing base, and placed tremendous downward pressure on wages and benefits for ordinary Americans,” said Western Territory GVP Gary Allen.

Also attending the rally were House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), who became the 128th and 129th voting members of the House Democratic Caucus to endorse the TRADE Act, giving it a majority of the 256-member caucus.

“We need to push policies that will reverse the damage caused by previous trade agreements so that we can create jobs, not ship them overseas," said Miller, a 35-year House veteran, who has opposed all of the major trade deals dating back to NAFTA, "These trade agreements – I didn't vote for any of them. They were wrong then, and they're wrong now.”

Garamendi said that he would not support trade deals unless they provide the protection that every human being on this planet deserved. “We should not reward deplorable labor and environmental conditions abroad only to see jobs exported at home. There is nothing 'free' about oppressive labor conditions.”

“In the last decade the U. S. has lost over five million manufacturing jobs; jobs that have historically been the key to a middle class life,” said GVP Allen. “We have seen employers move to places where they can repress worker rights, disregard the environment, and engage in illegal trade practices. This legislation requires that we fix our failed trade agreements before we enter new pacts.”