AFSS Specialists Win First Contract

August 25, 2009 - After voting to join the IAM in April 2009, more than 800 Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) Specialists employed by Lockheed Martin recently won their first contract. Eligible voters at thirteen sites across the U.S. approved the accord by a 68 percent margin.

The new contract establishes guaranteed annual pay raises, defined seniority rights, an effective grievance and arbitration procedure and much more.

Ratification of the new contract caps a two-year effort by AFSS Specialists to win IAM representation. After a one-vote loss in an election in 2008, the Specialists came back to win a new election in 2009. They immediately elected a negotiating committee, had the committee go though and an intensive Negotiations Preparations course at the IAM's William W. Winpisinger Education Center in June, and negotiated a first contract by August.

“The AFSS Negotiating Committee did an outstanding job dealing with Lockheed Martin and balancing the interests of thirteen AFSS locations across the country,” said IAM Aerospace Coordinator John Crowdis, who led the negotiating team along with Aerospace Coordinator Ray Moffatt. “Congratulations to this group of professionals who held together during a two-year organizing drive and a complex negotiation to win this first agreement.”