Join the Fight to Save the USPS

Join the Fight to Save the USPS

Aug 19, 2020 | Featured News, GOIAM Stories, Row 2, Uncategorized | 0 comments

With passenger counts dropping, mail and cargo have become critical to the survival of airlines. Concerns are rising, however, about the future of mail in the US. 

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is an institution even older than our country. The USPS is an independent agency of the federal government, with roots tracing back to 1775. It employs over 600,000 essential workers, including 97,000 veterans, and delivers 48 percent of the world’s mail.

Recently, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has been overseeing the removal of mail sorting machines and mailboxes around the country. He has instructed carriers to not finish their routes if overtime is needed, causing huge delays of the delivery of vital goods.

The USPS is not a for-profit business. It’s a public service mandated in the Constitution.

Tell your Senators: Save the Post Office

“The U.S. Postal Service is a lifeline for all Americans, regardless of age, gender or race,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “The diversity of its workforce is a microcosm of what makes our country great. We rely on their great workers to deliver our goods, food and medicine. Now, during a pandemic when our country’s fear and anxiety levels are running high, is not the time to dismantle a national treasure. The IAM will not sit idly by and allow this to happen. We will use every resource to assist our Postal Service sisters and brothers in their fight to keep America running.”

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IAMAW Supports Legislation to Protect Aerospace Jobs

IAMAW Supports Legislation to Protect Aerospace Jobs

Aug 14, 2020 | Airlines, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Row 2, Uncategorized | 0 comments

This week Reps. Rick Larsen (WA-02) and Ron Estes (KS-04) introduced The Aviation Manufacturing Jobs Protection Act of 2020. The bipartisan legislation helps prevent aerospace supply chain furloughs due to the COVID-19 pandemic by establishing a temporary relief program to help vulnerable companies. The bill would provide up to a 50 percent cost-share of pay and benefits for hundreds of thousands of employees at risk of being furloughed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“We applaud Reps. Larsen and Estes for introducing this innovative payroll support legislation,” said International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Saving this critical industry and the livelihoods of the men and women who have made the aerospace sector thrive for generations is our top legislative priority. The federal funding authorized by this bill will be used for the sole purpose of keeping working families on the job and off of unemployment. As the largest aerospace and defense union in America, we proudly endorse this much-needed legislation and hope it is passed swiftly with bipartisan support.”

Reps. Roger Marshall (KS-01), Tom Cole (OK-04), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Sharice Davids (KS-03), Kim Schrier (WA-08) and Salud Carbajal (CA-24) signed on as original cosponsors of the bill.

Additional Resources  

///  Lobby Your Senator and Help Save Airline Jobs This Fall 

/// This story first appeared on GoIAM.org

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DO IT AGAIN: Keep Asking Your Senator to Support Airline Payroll Protection Until a Deal Passes

DO IT AGAIN: Keep Asking Your Senator to Support Airline Payroll Protection Until a Deal Passes

Aug 10, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Organizing, Row 2, Uncategorized | 1 comment

The IAMAW, along with a coalition of airline unions, is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. After securing support from a bipartisan majority of the U.S. House, the IAM needs your help convincing the Senate that they must act now to save hundreds of thousands of airline jobs before funding runs out on October 1.
 
The IAM sent a letter this week to every member of the U.S. Senate encouraging them to support a clean extension of the airline Payroll Support Program, resulting in 16 GOP Senators, led by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), throwing their support behind the program. Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) has already pledged his caucus’s support for a clean extension.
 
President Trump endorsed the program at a White House press conference on Wednesday.
 
 
“We are encouraged that the airlines have been in talks with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and White House Economic Advisor Kudlow about extending the program,” said IAM Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “Now it’s up to the White House and Majority Leader McConnell to help the hundreds of thousands of airline families across the country whose livelihoods are at risk without further aid.”
 
“This is not a partisan issue,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “We already have the support of Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi and applaud Sen. Gardner and the GOP senators who joined us in this critical fight to get a clean extension of the airline payroll support program. We strongly believe we have the votes in both the House and Senate to get a clean extension of the airline payroll support program passed.”

Additional Resources  ///  Lobby Your Senator 

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Senate Plan Does Not Include Funds for Airlines to Avoid Furloughs

Senate Plan Does Not Include Funds for Airlines to Avoid Furloughs

Aug 3, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

The GOP has released the details of their latest COVID-19 relief legislation named the “HEALS Act.” The proposed legislation not only cuts unemployment benefits to the 20 to 30 million Americans who are currently out of work, but falls short in just about every area of concern for working families.

“This legislation is a slap in the face to working people in this country,” said International President Robert Martinez Jr. “They have no problem handing out a trillion dollars in tax cuts to corporations, but want to nickel and dime unemployed Americans at a time when they need it the most. It appears the Senate may go on summer recess a week from now without bringing a bill to a vote, leaving millions of Americans to fend for themselves when additional pandemic economic compensation ends this Friday. They need to pass a relief package that benefits the people they are supposed to be representing.”

Please contact your Senators and tell them to pass a relief package that helps working people.

In addition to cutting pandemic unemployment compensation from $600 a week to 200 a week, the HEALS Act shortcomings include:

  • No airline or railroad relief
  • Immunity for companies that endanger their employees and the public
  • No OSHA standard protecting employees
  • NO pension relief, no COBRA subsidy, no eviction moratorium extension
  • Fast track to cut Social Security and Medicare (TRUST ACT)
  • No relief money for state and local governments
  • No money for USPS
  • Inadequate funding for schools
  • No funding for, or protections for election
  • No hazard pay for essential employees

Legislators are running out of time, as many of the provisions in the last COVID-19 relief package are about to expire, and some have already ended.

“Disaster is on America’s doorstep,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). “Republicans need to get serious immediately, and work with Democrats to save lives and livelihoods during this devastating time.”

“One of the few things that’s kept our economy from deteriorating further is that these unemployment benefits have boosted consumer spending,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “That’s why economists say the Republican proposal would cost us over a million jobs this year, and 3.4 million jobs next year.”

 

TAKE ACTION! 

Find out which Senators have yet to support airline aid to prevent furloughs this fall >>

Act NOW: tell your lawmakers that you want them to support airline aid that would prevent furloughs this fall >>

Machinist & Aerospace History: Buzz Aldrin and the Machinist Moonwalk

Machinist & Aerospace History: Buzz Aldrin and the Machinist Moonwalk

Jul 30, 2020 | Featured, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Organizing, Row 2, Uncategorized | 0 comments

On July 20, 1969, millions of people watched in awe as astronauts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon for the first time. Aldrin, an honorary IAM member, was part of a three-man crew that flew a 240,000-mile flight aboard Apollo 11.

Aldrin’s team was initially shot to space on July 16 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard a giant 36-story-tall Saturn V rocket, which was built by nine IAM locals in Florida.

“I watched out the window to see Neil go down the ladder,” said Aldrin about the historic mission. “When it was my turn to back out, I remembered the checklist said to reach back carefully and close the hatch, being careful not to lock it.”

Aldrin accepted his honorary Machinist membership card in 1967 at the IAM Aerospace Conference in Houston after working as an onboard mechanic on the Gemini 12 space mission a year earlier. During the banquet, which was hosted by then IAM Headquarters General Vice President Ross Mathews, Aldrin thanked the union.

“This means an awful lot and I appreciate it,” said Aldrin. “Thank you very much.”

During his acceptance speech, Aldrin would go on to praise Machinists who helped make space flight possible.

“We really appreciate everything the group has done for us in making many events that we have been able to participate in,” said Aldrin.

In addition to building the space vehicles that flew Aldrin and his team to the moon, IAM members would go on to play a pivotal role upon their return to Earth. More than 100 IAM Local 1786 members operated a sophisticated scientific lab at NASA in Houston that quarantined the astronauts for three weeks as doctors monitored their health.

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Looking Back: The IAM’s Role in the Americans with Disabilities Act

Looking Back: The IAM’s Role in the Americans with Disabilities Act

Jul 27, 2020 | Community Service, Featured, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Safety, Safety, Uncategorized | 0 comments

The Sunday, July 26 anniversary of the signing of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a good time to reflect on how to empower and support workers with differing abilities that we see and interact with every day, whether we realize it or not.

The ADA is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on disability in employment, government services, transportation and public accommodations. It was signed into law July 26, 1990, but didn’t take effect for two years to give companies, businesses and other facilities time to implement the regulations.

“Every working person deserves access to a job that pays a livable wage with good benefits,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “The IAM fights for inclusion in the workplace and in the community, so everyone has improved quality of life with independence and mobility.”

Both photos by HolLynn D’Lil

The IAM has a long history of helping people with differing abilities. The union helped to found International Guiding Eyes in 1948, now doing business as Guide Dogs of America. Joseph Jones Sr. turned to the IAM for help after being turned away from existing schools at the age of 57. It was one of the first guide dog schools founded by a blind person.

This year, the Machinists Union’s community service was featured in the Netflix film “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” which focused on a unique summer camp called Camp Jened that motivated a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement for equality. The documentary highlighted an event in the nation’s capital commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 504 sit-in. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities and paved the way for ADA.

The IAM logo appeared in the movie on Hertz trucks the union rented for travel once the protestors arrived in Washington, DC. Signs on the truck include one that says “Justice on the Job, Security for the Family, Service to the Community” and another that says “Support California handicapped.”

“My daughter works as Assistant Director for Special Education at the Tift County School system here in Georgia,” said James Clements, Georgia State Council of Machinists’ sergeant-at-arms. “She told us about the movie Crip Camp and recommended we watch it. Pretty surprised to see the IAM logo on the Hertz trucks. This was part of the Machinists’ history I had never heard before and it is something I am pretty proud of us having done.”

IAM Local 1781 and District 141 helped to raise money for transportation, according to the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. The trucks had cargo lifts that could accommodate wheelchairs. A reception was held at IAM Headquarters, where protestors spoke about their experiences.  The use of headquarters enabled them to use union phone lines and copy machines for organizing and setting up meetings with Congress members.

Some organizations still struggle to make their buildings accessible to workers with disabilities, 30 years after the ADA was first enacted. The law has been amended to facilitate enforcement, but challenges remain.

 

This story first appeared at GOIAM.org ///

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