“Halloween Hurricane” Zeta Batters Air Travel Along the Gulf Coast

“Halloween Hurricane” Zeta Batters Air Travel Along the Gulf Coast

Oct 29, 2020 | American, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Safety, Safety, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Zeta has weakened to a tropical storm over Alabama after slamming into the Louisiana Coastline as a Catagory 2 hurricane just days before Halloween.

Airline workers have faced 27 tropical storms in 2020, with 11 of them strengthening to hurricane status.

The last year so many named storms made landfall in the U.S. was 1916, making 2020 the worst weather year in commercial aviation history. Hurricane season ends on November 30. 

Zeta will likely impact several communities served by American Airlines, including airports in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. 

American issued a travel alert for nine coastal airports, allowing customers whose travel plans are impacted by Hurricane Zeta to rebook without change fees. 

By late afternoon on October 28, all major airlines had canceled flights from Louis Armstrong Airport (MSY) in New Orleans. Most flight activities were restored by the morning of the 29th.

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VOTE! Only One Week Left

VOTE! Only One Week Left

Oct 28, 2020 | Community Service, Community Service Page, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2 | 0 comments

There are seven days left before Election Day and we want to make sure every Machinists Union member has a plan to vote. There is too much at stake to sit this election out.

Visit iam2020.org today to find your polling place, see early voting locations, locate a voting dropbox, and see what’s on your ballot.

Politics affects everything about our lives. Legislation enacted and decisions made by elected officials impact our work lives and the ability of our union to fight for better pay and benefits for our families. There is a direct link between the ballot box and our economic and workplace security.

As a reminder, the IAM, in a first-of-its-kind membership vote, chose to endorse Joe Biden for president. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will fight for affordable healthcare, retirement security, and stronger unions while fighting against the outsourcing of our jobs.

Make sure you have a plan to vote. Visit iam2020.org today.

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Big Money is Buying an Anti-Union Supreme Court

Big Money is Buying an Anti-Union Supreme Court

Oct 27, 2020 | Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized | 0 comments

When it comes to who is chosen to fill an open seat on the highest court in the United States, the process isn’t just a matter of picking a well-known judge from the lower courts. It’s a multi-million-dollar industry-funded from hard to trace origins.

Former U.S. Attorney and current U.S. Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI) does a good job of explaining the dark money trail fueling Supreme Court cases and Justice nominations last week during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Most notable is the part where he discusses the anti-worker Janus case and the amount of money being used to fight unions in the highest court in the U.S.

Watch the entire video here.

The current nominee to the court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett has an troubling anti-labor past, as highlighted in this IAM video.

The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Judge Barrett today, moving to a full Senate confirmation vote scheduled for next week.

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Broken Promises: Aerospace Workers on the Line

Broken Promises: Aerospace Workers on the Line

Oct 26, 2020 | Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized, Video | 0 comments

United Technologies in California

In July of 2018, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) informed IAM Local 755 they were going to lay off approximately 300 members from their Chula Vista, CA facility. IAM members have been making aerospace components at that location since 1941.

“They’ll go to the cheapest corner of the world to make a profit,” said Juan Villalobos, IAM Local 755 member and 20-year employee who is laid off.

UTC has been steadily outsourcing the work performed at the plant to facilities in Mexico. UTC in Chula Vista is one of dozens of IAM-represented facilities that have closed during the Trump administration.

“When I was there they were getting 118 pesos, which was less than $10, a day,” said Villalobos. “Not an hour, a day.”

“When is it going to be important for us to have U.S.A made stuff,’” said Local 755 member and 22-year employee Kimberly Lepper. “I thought Trump was going to save my job, and I wish he would’ve.” 

Watch the IAM’s video about UTC outsourcing IAM jobs to Mexico on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Watch all the IAM’s “Broken Promise” videos.

“Unfortunately we live in a time where corporate greed knows no boundaries and hard-working American families are the ones who suffer,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “We need elected officials who will hold these companies accountable for offshoring jobs, not reward them with tax breaks like the current administration does. This employer and all others shipping our jobs to Mexico and elsewhere should be ashamed of themselves, putting corporate profits over American jobs”

“It makes my blood boil every time another U.S. based corporation sends our work across the border or overseas, these corporations are guilty of economic treason against the United States,” said IAM Western Territory General Vice President Gary R. Allen. “We need leaders in Washington that will hold corporations accountable and penalize these companies for the economic devastation caused by outsourcing and off-shoring good paying union jobs. My heart goes out to our members who fall victim to the greed of this country’s elite – it’s time to fight back at the ballot box!”

 

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Machinists Prepare to Fight For a Pro-Work Agenda in Georgia

Machinists Prepare to Fight For a Pro-Work Agenda in Georgia

Oct 25, 2020 | Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized | 0 comments

No one shook hands.  Everyone wore masks.  They practiced social distancing.  But that didn’t stop the participants who attended this year’s Georgia State Council of Machinists (GSCM) Conference which was held Oct. 11 – 13, 2020 in Macon, GA to accomplish some important items for Machinists.

Twenty delegates representing five local lodges listened to Georgia AFL-CIO President Charlie Flemming talk about the significance of the Peach State in the upcoming presidential and congressional elections.  For working families in the South, Georgia is a pivotal state in the nearing races.

The meeting also allowed members to vote and swear in new officers, including newly elected GSCM President James Clements of Local 2699, who will make sure the issues of Georgia’s working families stay front and center in the future.  The IAMAW state councils are located across the country, in cities where Machinists are represented, as a way to help ensure legislation is created that is good for working people.

 

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IAMAW District 141 Video Report: The Hardship is Real – Speaking With Members of Congress About Furloughs

IAMAW District 141 Video Report: The Hardship is Real – Speaking With Members of Congress About Furloughs

Oct 23, 2020 | Community Service Page, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Perusals, Row 2, Video | 0 comments

MNPL Action: Lawmakers Sit Down With Machinist & Aerospace Union Members to Talk About Airline Relief

IAM District 141 members in Pennsylvania organized meetings via Zoom last week with two members of Congress: Representative Chrissy Houlihan from the 6th Congressional District and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, from Pennsylvania’s 5th District, which includes the Philadelphia Airport area.

The conversation revolved around the uncertainty in Congress concerning the extension of the Payroll Support Program. Both congresswomen are strong advocates for aviation workers and have spent countless hours working on an additional round of COVID relief legislation. 

Rep. Houlihan talked about her involvement in the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans who work to find common ground to help pass bipartisan legislation that benefits their constituents. Rep. Scanlon expressed her frustration as she witnessed the failure of a motion for unanimous consent from Rep. Peter DeFazio for a PSP extension bill. “It seems everything is dysfunctional there,” she said about the disconnect between negotiators from the administration and the Republican leadership in Congress.

Kim Krasnai, Committee Secretary and Educator for Local 1776 described to the congresswomen the dire situation of our Brothers and Sisters who are on furlough. “The {furloughs} already happened. I have people on the street now wondering how they’re going to make it.” 

 

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