Majority Leader Schumer, IAM Led the Fight for Pension Plan Relief

Majority Leader Schumer, IAM Led the Fight for Pension Plan Relief

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Majority Leader Schumer, IAM Led the Fight for Pension Plan Relief

The Machinists Union along with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led the way in fighting to save troubled multiemployer pension plans while fully protecting the earned and vested benefits of current and future retirees.

While the majority of multiemployer pension plans are financially sound, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) estimates that more than 100 multiemployer pension plans, covering more than a million participants, are in “critical and declining status” and will become insolvent without the ability to pay the earned benefits of current and future retirees.

The recent passage of the American Rescue Package includes the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act. 

“Millions of middle-class workers, miners, truck drivers, construction workers, and food service workers invested their hard earned money into pension plans year after year after year, for financial security and peace of mind when they retire,” said Leader Schumer. “Unfortunately, those pensions are now in trouble. We owe it to these workers, who played by the rules and are counting on these funds, to shore up these pensions today. The Butch Lewis Act, led by Senator Brown, is essential to address the multiemployer pension crisis that could shatter the financial futures of millions of middle-class American families. Democrats are fighting for a solution to deliver on the promise of these pensions for workers.”

“Majority Leader Schumer is a true champion and walked this legislation over the finish line,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Jimmy Conigliaro Sr. “Leader Schumer understands how important it is to address the multiemployer pension crisis while keeping our nation’s promise to our nation’s retirees and working families. I commend our legislative and political team for never taking their eye off the ball on this issue. This is a clear case of why elections matter.”

This legislation will work to lift troubled multiemployer plans out of their financial hole, while maintaining the financial integrity of the PBGC. Most importantly, this Act will provide a pathway to accomplishing these goals without stealing the earned benefits of retirees, workers and their families.

This long-overdue pension relief legislation provides $86 billion in relief to troubled multiemployer pension plans with NO CUTS to earned benefits. The legislation will protect the integrity of healthy multiemployer plans, save the PBGC and strengthen the pension system overall.  The legislation contains NO provisions to harm healthy plan, does not include the GROW Act, and only has a modest increase in premiums from $31 to $52 starting in 2031.     

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141 Report: Local 1487, Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future

141 Report: Local 1487, Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future

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Over the past 23 years, Tony Licciardi has served as Conductor Sentinel, Trustee, and Vice President before being elected President of the local lodge. Brother Tony is also the newest member of the District 141 Executive Board after he was recently appointed to a Trustee position.

 

141 Report: Local 1487, Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future

This week’s 141 Report features the largest local in District 141. Based at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL, Local 1487 is an amalgamated air transport local representing over 7,000 members from United, American, Southwest, British Airways, and Alaska Airlines, and also airline support workers from UGE, Menzies Aviation, and Swissport.

Local 1487 President Tony Licciardi speaks with Dave about how happy he was to join the IAM when he began working at United in 1997, and within a year he became an active union member serving as Shop Steward. Over the next 23 years, Tony has served as Conductor Sentinel, Trustee, and Vice President before being elected President of the local lodge. Brother Tony is also the newest member of the District 141 Executive Board after he was recently appointed to a Trustee position.

Located 3 miles from O’Hare, Local 1487 was chartered in 1945, and the historical significance of his local makes Tony especially proud. The local has one of the largest and most active retiree clubs in District 141 that organize social and community service activities and whose wealth of knowledge and expertise make the group a valuable asset for today’s members.

During Tony’s tenure, he has worked to stabilize the finances of the local, modernize the local lodge building, and has developed and promoted committees. Besides the Retiree Club, Local 1487 now has active Women’s and Community Service Committees. Several members of the local serve in positions in District 141, including AGCs, Safety Reps, and Legislative Director Dave Roderick, who was for many years the local’s Secretary-Treasurer.

Local meetings are traditionally held twice a month, and Tony is looking forward to a near future when all in-person meetings can resume. He is doing his part and setting an example by getting his COVID vaccine at O’Hare this week, and urges all members to do the same to ensure everyone’s health and safety, now and in the future. 

Letters: Vaccinations Are Happening

Letters: Vaccinations Are Happening

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Letters: Vaccinations Are Happening

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Letters: One Shot From a More Normal Life

I was able to get vaccinated on Sunday at the Clinic in Chicago. I got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but I would have been happy to get any of the approved vaccines that are available.  I would like to thank District 141 and United for helping to make this happen. 

There are three reasons I opted to receive the shot. First off, I do not want to get Covid-19. 

I have not seen my 89-year-old father since January of last year, and this separation has been very hard on our family.  My dad lives in a healthcare facility in SAN, and the risks to the residents were too great to allow visitors like me.

He has told me that the isolation that he has endured over the past year has been incredibly painful. He compares it to his experiences on the front lines during the Korean War. 

He has received both his shots and looks forward to seeing us in the very near future face to face once again. Now that I’m vaccinated as well, our family can be together, in the same place again. This is a major step towards getting back to a normal life.

I also enjoy traveling when it is vacation time. Wherever travelers want to go, getting there will be easier with a vaccination card in hand.

It’s been nearly 24 hours since getting my shot, and I have had no side effects at all. Not even a sore arm. If anything, I feel as if a heavy burden has been lifted from me, because it has. I urge everyone to get vaccinated as soon as it’s your turn and help other people get vaccinated if you can. You won’t believe how good it feels to have this pandemic behind you. 

William Salo,
IAMAW District 141 Safety Director, United Airlines

Women’s History Month: The Rise of IAM Women during the Mid-1900s

Women’s History Month: The Rise of IAM Women during the Mid-1900s

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Women’s History Month: The Rise of IAM Women during the Mid-1900s

Facing routine discrimination, women workers in the U.S. proved detractors wrong in the 1940s as they competently filled vacant jobs that were left open as millions of men left to fight in WWII.

Female labor participation during this time was highlighted by Rosie the Riveters, thousands of women manufacturing workers, including Machinist Members at District 751 who assisted the war effort by building military aircraft on assembly lines. Some of them would ascend to the position of IAM Committeewomen within a decade. Harold J. Gibson, then President of District 751, once said: “These women are among the most active Members of our Union.”

By the mid-1950s women of the IAM continued to gain recognition as skilled laborers, union leaders and a powerful voice for organized labor. An early icon was Margaret Beverly, International President of the IAM Ladies’ Auxiliary. By 1953 Beverly would lead the organization, which initially consisted of thousands of wives of Machinists members. The Auxiliary served as a backbone of the Union by organizing social and fraternal gatherings for their husbands and IAM families at 296 locals across North America. Beverly, a staunch labor activist, once said: “Sell your union to new members.”

By 1954 IAM women continued to emerge as prominent organizers. In March of that year Ada Messerschmidt, Member of District 720 in California was honored as Organizer of the Month. The mother of four children, who worked as an assembler at the sprawling Douglas Aircraft plant in Torrance, CA, submitted 54 membership applications in one month from an unorganized unit of employees at the facility. “My method for gathering applications is to tell prospective new members about the many benefits won by the union,” said Messerschmidt. “I point out that these benefits include higher pay, vacation pay, paid rest periods and seniority protections.”

Across the country Machinist Mary Martin would serve as President of Local 350 in Connecticut. She initially rose from Shop Steward to IAM Negotiating Committeewoman at the Underwood Typewriter plant in Hartford. By the summer of the 1954 Martin was President of a 2,500-member Lodge earning the respect of her male colleagues.

“She’s doing an outstanding job,” said Joseph V. Cronin, then Business Manager of District 26. “We’re proud of her.”     

Women would also play a crucial role at the 1956 IAM Grand Lodge Convention in San Francisco, CA. At that point it was the largest gathering of female Delegates in the Union’s history. Then President Al Hayes proudly took a public photograph on stage with at least 25 women Machinists. Female attendees like Pauline Ward, Member of Lodge 739 in Alameda, CA, freely participated in convention business, spoke openly at the floor microphone during sessions and voted on resolutions like the creation of the IAM Defense Fund Strike Benefit.

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Help IAM Members in Texas with a Donation to the IAM Disaster Relief Fund

Help IAM Members in Texas with a Donation to the IAM Disaster Relief Fund

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Help IAM Members in Texas with a Donation to the IAM Disaster Relief Fund

Unprecedented winter storms and below-freezing temperatures combined with rolling power outages created a disastrous and deadly situation in Texas and the surrounding area.

This part of the country rarely experiences extreme winter weather conditions such as this, making the circumstances even more dire.

IAM members whose homes sustained weather-related damages making them uninhabitable or in need of extensive repairs may qualify for assistance from the IAM Disaster Relief Funds.

If you participate in qualifying Union Plus programs, you may also be eligible for a one-time Union Plus $500 Disaster Grant. (use “Union Plus” in the link, and or their *graphic, see below)

Please keep our IAM Sisters and Brothers in mind during this critical time by donating to the IAM Disaster Relief Fund.

Every dollar you give to the IAM Disaster Relief Fund goes directly to IAM members and their families in need.

Donations are tax deductible. IAM Assistance is a registered IRS 501(3) (c) – Tax ID: 46-2575531 – (IAM Assistance (ID # 46-2575531) is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.)

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Video Report: Ken Morse, National Chairperson for Labor Assistance Professionals

Video Report: Ken Morse, National Chairperson for Labor Assistance Professionals

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Ken Morse, National Chair of the Labor Assistance Professionals, a coast to coast labor advocacy group.

Video Report: Ken Morse, National Chairperson for Labor Assistance Professionals

Ken Morse is the National Chairperson for Labor Assistance Professionals and the
Director of the TWU Tech Ops EAP Program at American Airlines.

Ken is currently employed by American Airlines as an aircraft mechanic, he has been with
American for more than 31 years. Ken has a true passion for Employee Assistance work and has been working in the field for more than 26 years.

Ken is a former aircraft mechanic in the US Navy and spends his free time with his beautiful and supportive wife, three daughters, the and eight grandchildren that are the true treasures of his life.