Machinists Union: President Biden’s Historic ‘Buy American’ Expansion Answers Decades-Long Calls from U.S. Workers
GOIAM.org
7 March 2022
“The Machinists Union has championed and called for an expansion of ‘Buy American’ domestic content requirements for decades. Today’s announcement is further proof that in President Biden, we finally have a champion for U.S. workers in the White House."
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2022 – Robert Martinez Jr., International President of the 600,000-member International Association of Machinists and Aerospace, the largest aerospace and defense labor union in North America, released the following statement regarding President Biden’s expansion of “Buy American”:
“The Machinists Union has championed and called for an expansion of ‘Buy American’ domestic content requirements for decades. Today’s announcement is further proof that in President Biden, we finally have a champion for U.S. workers in the White House.
“Today’s announcement makes real what we have been saying all along—that ‘Made in America’ should mean ‘Made in America.’ In fact, the Machinists Union, along with U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, championed an amendment to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act that would have made a similar ‘Buy American’ threshold increase for defense products. That bipartisan amendment passed the House before being defeated by corporate-backed politicians in the Senate.
“The Biden administration is now applying that rule—that any product stamped with ‘Made in America’ should have 75% of its value come from parts made here in the United States—to all products purchased with taxpayer dollars by 2029.
“This is critical for our domestic supply chains. It is music to the ears of American workers. It puts our tax dollars toward buying the best products made by the best workers. And it will finally make a real difference toward bringing back U.S. jobs that have been sent out of the country by bad trade deals and corporate greed.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Biden administration and the Made in America Office for hearing our call and the calls of millions of Americans. Let’s build the future right here in America.”
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is one of the largest and most diverse industrial trade unions in North America, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, manufacturing, transit, healthcare, automotive and other industries.
Related News
Managing Pandemic Stress in a Healthy Way: EAP Director, Bryan Hutchinson
141 Report: Employee Assistance Director, Bryan HutchinsonThe pandemic has hit airline workers particularly hard, creating a climate of job insecurity, isolation and the potential for addiction. This week, IAMAW District 141 EAP Director Bryan Hutchinson sits down...
Alabama Aerospace Members Make Big Gains with New Contract
Nearly 120 members of IAM Local 2766 overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with Tyonek Services Group. The aerospace workers who maintain helicopters at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama have seen significant improvements in compensation since joining the IAM in 2017. The...
Here’s How to Unionize Your Workplace
Laying the groundwork for Unionizing your workplace Federal law says that if most employees in a workplace want to join a Union, all they have to do is sign a petition telling Federal regulators that they want to unionize and then put the matter up to a vote. That's...