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!”

 

     Related Stories

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.” 

 

     Related Stories

Mary Sansom Has Receipts: A union activist who has recorded and made history

Mary Sansom Has Receipts: A union activist who has recorded and made history

Oct 16, 2020 | Community Service, Community Service Page, Education, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, retirement, Row 2, Safety, Video | 0 comments

“Shut ‘Em Down!”

Mary Sansom has fought for airline workers for decades, taking on managers, politicians, and even retirement on the way.

Sister Mary Sansom was initiated into Local 1833 of the Machinists Union in 1973 when she began working in the flight kitchen at Northwest Airlines in Minneapolis, Minnesota. One of her co-workers “dragged” her to local meetings, but she did not fully understand the value of union membership (among other things) until she was furloughed during a pilots strike 5 years later. She marks that as the beginning of her “union education” that has guided her through more strikes, airline mergers, and also many successes as a champion for working people.

Mary has served as Chief Steward and has been recognized for her work as a safety advocate. As the first woman to chair the Labor Division of the National Safety Council, she has received several awards for her service. She has represented Local 1833 in 5 Grand Lodge Conventions, where she earned the nickname “Shut ‘Em Down Mary” because of her strong criticism of airline mergers and the immense pain they inflict on workers. In 2006, she was recognized again by the Machinists & Aerospace Union as “Sister of the Month” for the United States.

During a turbulent period in the airline industry in the 1990s, Mary continued her advocacy work as a delegate to the IAMAW Legislative Conference and the Minnesota State Council of Machinists. She was elected Recording Secretary of Local 1833 in 2000, a position she still holds, even after her retirement in 2010. 

As a retiree, Sister Mary stays active as Recording Secretary for the Minnesota State Council of Machinists, is a founding member and serves as Recording Secretary for the Minnesota State Council Machinists Retirees, and is the president of the Local 1833 Retired Members Social Club.

We are pleased to welcome Mary Sansom to the District 141 Video Report.

     Related Stories

“Vote Early, Stay Safe” Pennsylvania Machinists Get Out the Vote on the Streets of Philadelphia

“Vote Early, Stay Safe” Pennsylvania Machinists Get Out the Vote on the Streets of Philadelphia

Oct 14, 2020 | COVID, Education, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Video | 0 comments

A small army of Fighting Machinists took to the streets of Philadelphia this week to encourage union members to get out and vote.

In-person early voting is underway in Pennsylvania, and members of IAM Air Transport Local 1776 left voting information on the doors of 1,030 union households in neighborhoods of South Philadelphia. The Machinists GOTV event was coordinated with the Pennsylvania State AFL-CIO, where Obie O’Brien, a member of Local 1776 serves as Vice President and IAM Representative. 

 

The IAM team, led by Local 1776 President Larry Reeves and former President Rich Howell, included Maurice Bonner, James Brown, Jason Custis, Milo Dabney, Elliot Eldridge, Tom Marshall, Andre Robinson, Troy Smack, Bill Zebley, and Dave Lehive, who is also a District 141 Communications Representative. 

“We were received very warmly in the neighborhoods where we worked. Several people thanked us for sharing information about how people can vote early and stay safe,” said Ines Garcia-Keim, President of the New Jersey State Council of Machinists, who joined the team with her husband John, a member of the American Federation of Musicians. “We are thrilled to be here to help the Machinists Union Get Out the Vote effort in one of the targeted states in the Eastern Territory,” she added.

IAM members may find information regarding our endorsed candidates, opportunities to volunteer, and other resources at https://iam2020.org/get-out-the-vote/, or by contacting your local’s president or legislative committee. 

 

     Related Stories

Supreme Court Nominee has Troubling Anti-Union Track Record

Supreme Court Nominee has Troubling Anti-Union Track Record

Oct 14, 2020 | Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized, Video | 0 comments

The IAM Legal department is raising concerns about Amy Coney Barrett’s anti-labor record as a federal circuit judge.

“As a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, I know Amy Coney Barrett very well. Her positions and her approach to the law are actually a threat to American workers and other under-represented groups.”

-Laura Ewan,
IAMAW Associate General Counsel

     Related Stories

Watch This: Rep. DeFazio Calls Out Lawmakers Killing Airline Payroll Support

Watch This: Rep. DeFazio Calls Out Lawmakers Killing Airline Payroll Support

Oct 3, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized, Video | 0 comments

Watch as Rep. Peter DeFazio gets visibly angry when efforts to help reverse mass airline furloughs are killed.

After Republican leadership in the House of Representatives blocked a motion to pass legislation to provide emergency relief for airline workers, a clearly frustrated Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) took to the floor to call them out.

Congressman DeFazio, the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has been a leading voice in efforts to advance payroll support for airline workers. In July, he wrote a letter calling for a clean extension of the Payroll Support Program that gathered the support of a bipartisan majority of Congress members. The letter was promoted by Machinists and Aerospace Union members nationwide.

Despite over 90,000 messages being sent to the House and Senate from airline workers over several months, lawmakers did not approve an extension of the PSP before it expired on September 30, and tens of thousands of airline workers are out of jobs as a result.

Additional Resources /// DeFazio Statement on Updated HEROES Act /// DeFazio Calls for Payroll Support for Airline Workers /// Contact Rep. Peter DeFazio 

     Related Stories