The following is the current training schedule for September 2018.
Wednesday 9/12
SAT, Shop Steward Training
Monday-Tuesday, 9/17+18
Guam, Shop Steward Training
Wednesday 9/19
Guam, Local Lodge Officer Training
Wednesday 9/26
SJC, Shop Steward Training
For more information please contact Mac McGovern, Director of Education at mac@iam141.org or 570-350-0497
| Helping Hands: September 2018 | Download |
September is Recovery Month. There is some great information about the recovery process from SAMHSA (substance abuse and mental health services administration). SAMHSA.gov is a terrific resource and has lots of resources. Some of the resource pages are listed in this months newsletter.
Thank you for the support you are giving those around you – it is important and meaningful to those who need your help!
Bryan
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
Some of the best people work in unions.
Nestled about five minutes from Charlotte Douglas International Airport lies Renaissance West STEAM Academy. (“Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math”) An unlikely addition to the low-income section of Charlotte where it’s located, Renaissance West Academy seeks to reach some of the most at-risk students in the area – right in the neighborhoods they call home.
For many of the K-6 students, the meals they get at school are the only meals they get all day. Every student at Renaissance West STEAM Academy qualifies for the school’s free lunch program. Plastic food bins donated by IAM Victory Lodge 1725 in Charlotte are filled throughout the week with donations for families who take them home over the weekend.
Despite the many challenges they face, however, the students at Renaissance Academy are thriving. Much of this success is due to the toughness and resilience of the kids, but the whole community has joined to support the school’s goals. Faith-based networks, city agencies, and community groups all play a role, with union activists leading the way.
When students at Renaissance West STEAM Academy head to class this week, they will be sporting brand new book bags, each one emblazoned with the IAM emblem and stuffed with school supplies. The bright red drawstring bags and supplies were gifted to the kids thanks to an ambitious donation drive spearheaded by Community Activist and Charlotte’s Victory Lodge 1725 Recording Secretary Helena Thornton.
A long-time supporter of the students at Renaissance West, Helena knew first-hand how great the need for school supplies was. She first got involved at Renaissance West when the President of Victory Lodge 1725 Mike Jones encouraged her and others to volunteer. The young students nicknamed her “Miss Lady.”
Helena Thornton. Photo courtesy of Louis Gilmore, Photographer for Victory Lodge Local 1725 CLT
Helena teamed up with Renae Miller, the Chairwoman of the Women’s and Human Rights Committee at Victory Lodge 1725. The two of them came up with a plan to make sure that the students would start off the school year well-prepared, with the confidence and dignity that comes with having everything they need for class.
But, which students would get the bags and supplies? It didn’t seem fair to set up some kids with new bags and leave others out, since every student at Renaissance West faces hardships.
For Helena, the answer was clear: Everyone would get a bag. And while it didn’t seem possible for her small local lodge to buy the more than 500 book bags they would need, she upped the ante and also planned to stuff them with enough supplies to get each student outfitted for the classroom.
Helena has been employed at American Airlines for 12 years, and for 9 of those years she has been a union activist. After becoming a Shop Steward, and later Women’s Committee Chair, she became Local 1725 Recording Secretary back in May 2015 and was elected to her first full term this year. She knows how to take on a project, even one as big as this one.
The first calls Helena and Renae made were to District 141. After that, things began falling into place. Donations from the District combined with contributions from the Obie O’Brien Local Lodge 1776 in Philadelphia, and even more donations from members covered the cost of having the bags made.
Getting the school supplies, however, was proving to be tougher than expected. It was at that point that Helena got a phone call from IAM Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja.
“That was a surprise!” Helena said, laughing. “My phone rings out of the blue, and suddenly I’m talking to Sito Pantoja.”
“But, he was very thoughtful, and he asked me what we needed, and he told me that he would help. And, he sure did!” A few days after his phone call, Helena got six heavy boxes full of supplies, many of them displaying the IAM emblem just as the bags were. “We got pencils, rulers… more than 400 packs of index cards…” Helena struggled to recall everything that the students reaped from that single donation. “It was a huge help. Without his donations, I’m not sure how we would have reached our goal.”
After finally collecting everything needed, Helena rounded up volunteers, friends and family to help pack the bags. “We started bagging, bag after bag. We had entire families packing bags for three straight days. After the first day, we packed about 250 bags. We had 700 notebooks, plus pencils, crayons, wipes, napkins, hand sanitizers. We made sure that the little kids had the sanitizers. For the older kids we focused more on the notebooks, the pencils, the markers.”
“After I finished, I was exhausted. I had never seen so many pencils. We had 4000 pencils!”
When it was all done, all 550 students at Renaissance West STEAM Academy had the supplies they needed to start the school year, all packed into a brand-new, bright red book bag proudly emblazoned with the IAM logo. Not only that, but all of the school’s 27 teachers had book bags as well, stuffed with extra supplies for the kids.
It was then that the magnitude of the job became apparent. “I didn’t realize what we had done until I saw kid after kid with the red bags. I was in tears,” Helena said.
“These kids need somebody to show them that they are important. They need to be able to say ‘somebody’s there for me.'”
If you are a member of Victory Lodge 1725 in Charlotte and would like to volunteer for the next big project, contact Helena Thornton at calhounh95@yahoo.com.
District 142 General Chair Sean Ryan and District 141 Assistant General Chair Mark Baskett discuss the ongoing contract negotiations to American Airlines membership.
Chances are, Dave Roderick has met the next President of the United States.
As he puts it, Dave has been “Woke” for a long time, since he was a teenager. And, in that time, he has pretty much seen everything and met everyone that has ever had a direct impact on the world that he’s lived in.
He has met or personally knows every major political player in American politics today, from Republicans like Ted Cruz and Susan Collins, to Democrats and Independents like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He has worked with both Hillary Clinton and John McCain, who recently lost his battle with cancer after serving in the Senate for more than 32 years.
Not surprisingly, Dave Roderick’s years of high-level political activism have led to his becoming the Director of Legislation for IAM District 141. In this role, Dave is responsible for keeping public policy makers informed and educated on matters of importance to airline workers. In other words, he needs to keep our nation’s policymakers as woke as possible.
The IAMAW, or the “Machinists Union” as it is called by many of its 600,000 members, is the largest collection of aerospace workers on the planet, with District 141 representing the largest single group of airline workers within the union.
This year, Dave Roderick represented the 42,000 members of IAM District 141 at the Pride @ Work Convention, which seeks to build bridges between important decision-makers within the labor movement and the thousands of LGBT workers that are covered by union contracts in North America.
The Pride @ Work Convention was held this year in Phoenix, Arizona. Dave is also the first openly gay Legislative Director in the history of IAM141.
How did you get started as an activist for LGBT issues?
Since about the time I was 15 or 16. I don’t think of it as working for “LGBT” issues as much as fulfilling my social responsibility. When I was younger, I mostly worked as an ally for persons of color, for example. This eventually led me to work within the Equal Rights communities, which led to LGBT activism.
I’ll always be interested in human rights. I was lucky to have had the opportunity to study this topic at the Winpisinger Center, which our union operates, and provides trainings on how to be more effective as a human rights activist.
What was your first project?
One of my fondest memories was while I was in high school. My very close friend (who was black) and I formed a group that we called “SIT,” or “Students Involved in Togetherness.”
There were still major race relations problems in 1973 within my Hammond, Indiana high school. Our focus was to try to get ALL students together, so we held daily meetings during the lunch periods. In an unused conference room we played “albums” for students to enjoy and dance to. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as planned. We had a good number of people in attendance, but not enough white people. We tried to reach out to white allies, but we never attracted more than a handful.
Allies are critical because that’s the only way a minority community can reach majority support. But, this was high school. We were kids.
What are some of the things you’ve accomplished since then?
My involvement had always been in the political field. We’ve participated in so many events, I’ve just lost count. One notable program that I’m pretty happy with are the sessions with my community Congressional Representatives. We use those to discuss concerns in the LGBTQ communities.
Through the Machinists Union, District 141 and my home lodge in Chicago, Local Lodge 1487, there are many programs available for those of us that want to get involved. All you have to do is show up, and be ready to help out.
That’s the thing about unions. They’ve always been advancing equality for all. The IAMAW’s William W. Winpisinger Center in Hollywood, MD, has well-developed educational programs and classes to assist our union leaders. This includes their very active Human Rights classes, and Human Rights Department, which is now headed by Rhonda Rodgers at Headquarters. Young activists and veterans alike can find a role, whether it’s planting yard signs, fundraising, or taking on a leadership role.
Can you say something about your experience working with Pride@Work so far?
We are just beginning our relationship with “Pride at Work,” although the organization has been around for some time.
P@W is guided by the AFL-CIO, and involves over 20 chapters and union affiliates. It allows us to be leaders and to assist LGBTQIA+ members who are at-risk of mistreatment in the workplace.
As union members, we should be proud of the work that we’ve done on behalf of the LGBTQIA+ community. In states that don’t have explicit legislation protecting the Queer community, the union contract might provide the only legal protections that exist for these people at work. It’s critical that we make sure those contracts and union benefits are reaching everyone.
I am very proud to say that IAM141 President Mike Klemm felt that our district needs to be involved and participate. His support is critical, and very much appreciated. President Klemm thinks it’s past time for union members to make sure that worker’s rights are reaching all workers, and I couldn’t agree with him more.
Who has inspired you?
I have the highest respect for so many people within my union family who have encouraged me to be who I am today. I am so appreciative of the work that my Chicago Local 1487 has done under the guidance of Tony Licciardi. Tony has worked hard to make sure that all groups within our union are represented.
Monica Silbas, the Assistant Legislative Director for the IAM, was one of my first mentors when I was just getting started in union activism. Her work in Women’s Rights, Workers Rights, Human Rights and LGBT equality has been profoundly inspiring to me. Chris Wagoner, the Director of the Winpisinger Center, which I mentioned earlier, and his team at the harbor are a phenomenal resource to anyone in our union who is interested in serving the membership and their communities. Plus our own DL141 President Michael Klemm who continues to ensure that our union is inclusive of all.
Any final thoughts?
There are many ways to get actively involved in the union’s work. There is one area where we have a lot of work to do, and that is fundraising to support our allies in elected office. Federal law prohibits unions from using money from dues to support political candidates, so we rely on voluntary contributions from IAM members to the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL). We will never match the huge sums of money that Corporate PACs funnel to anti-union politicians, but we can pool small contributions from members to support candidates and officeholders who support organized labor and all working people. As we have learned on our shop floors, the best way to advance the priorities and values of our union members is by combining our human and financial resources to realize the true power of collective action.
Brothers and Sisters,
The Association Executive leadership met with American Airlines management this week to push through the tough Fleet Service Scope issues and proposals we have exchanged. Your committee was initially pleased when the Company’s Chief Negotiator offered to include protection for all of the fleet work currently performed at the 40 fleet service stations.
When the Association committee began to engage the offer, the Company negotiators abruptly reversed course, denied the offer they made and insisted that health care and wages be agreed to before they would agree to any further scope discussions.
This highly erratic behavior by senior level company negotiators is so unusual that it creates an aura of distrust over any of our ongoing negotiations. We are left to wonder what other issues the company may reverse course on.
While the company has publically dangled the carrot of more in wages and other vague benefits, in reality, none of what they say has been agreed to by them. It is the unequivocal position of the Association that the work we perform must be protected because the pay and benefit smoke and mirrors have no meaning without the job protection we need to guarantee our futures at American Airlines.
The truth of our current state of negotiations is that the Association is ready to discuss all of our outstanding Scope issues and proposals, but the Company negotiators refuse to proceed. They insist that work done TODAY, in every Association represented classification, should not be guaranteed in our contracts. Their position is that we should agree to concede work we do TODAY.
Our membership suffered the bankruptcies to pay for the survival of our airlines. We bring to the table the work we do today from those bankruptcy contracts. American Airlines, the largest airline in the world, is healthy and boasts that it will be profitable as far as anyone can see into the future. To demand that we concede work we do TODAY is nothing but an insult to every Association represented worker.
The time to fight for our jobs is now. Our futures depend on it.
Fraternally,
Your Association Executive Negotiating Committee