Good morning sisters and brothers.
I want to thank you and General Vice President Robert Roach for the invitation to attend this conference.
Let me also thank you for the great job you did in delivering your message at the Day of Action, Enough-is-Enough, Rally.
This is a very important conference at a very important time in our history.
You know;
Every generation has its tests, its trial by fire.
For our parents and grandparents, it may have been the Great Depression or WW II.
The generation before them had the great flu epidemic and World War I.
I believe when the history of our time is written, the battles we fought together over the past 7 years will stand as a worthy testament to our strength, our values and our character.
We have endured an attack on our way of life that is every bit as dramatic as a war or a great economic calamity.
More than three million jobs in this country have been destroyed since the year 2000.
That’s 3 million families whose lives were turned upside down.
Three million victims of a battle set in motion by forces that knew exactly what they were doing, and exactly what they wanted.
This battle was no accident, brothers and sisters.
And it was hardly a “market correction” as some would have you think.
It was corporations and politicians who very deliberately set about harvesting the great wealth of the American Middle Class.
Not since before the time of Franklin Roosevelt have these forces held such sway in this country.
Along with our manufacturing sector, it was the airlines and railroads of this country that took the brunt of this assault.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the airlines alone – an industry that was literally turned upside down and shook by the ankles.
It was an ambitious campaign and we can still see the footprints everywhere.
Pensions destroyed, wages cut to the bone and retirees left to fend for themselves.
And in the spirit of the times, the executives of these enterprises were treated on Wall Street as conquering heroes.
United’s Glenn Tilton took home nearly $40 million in 2006, Northwest CEO Doug Steenland made more than $20 million.
But I want to point out something -- for all their achievements -- they failed to achieve what they wanted most.
The fact that you and I are still standing, and still fighting, is what I meant when I said, that history will take special note of what we did these past few years.
We survived. And given what we were up against, that was no small accomplishment.
With your support, we now have around United, Northwest, Continental, and US Air members in the IAM National Pension Fund which has 8.5 billion dollars in assets and is growing at about a billion dollars a year.
Corporate America hoped to close the book on the last 60 years of social progress, as an unfortunate interruption, a minor glitch, in the steady consolidation of their political and economic power.
I just want to remind you that even with the House of Representative and the U.S. Senate firmly in the hands of the opposition. And even with the Presidency and nearly every federal agency lined up against us – they were unable to prevail. I say again, they were unable to prevail.
We have taken our licks, but we’re definitely not beaten.
Thanks to your hard work, the House and the Senate have already been retaken. And that’s no small achievement.
People like Tom Delay and Denny Hastert are history and we’re still standing.
People like John Ashcroft are gone and we’re still standing.
And it won’t be long before the White House, the Labor Department and all those agencies that control so much of our lives at work are back doing what they were supposed to be doing.
Make no mistake, it will take hard work and time, a lot of time, to correct the damage that’s been done.
But first things first. There’s a little more than 17 months before the next election and we need to stay focused on finishing the job we started last November.
I don’t think it matters if you’re a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent, I think we can all agree that this president has “not” been a champion of working people in this country.
I also want to take this opportunity to give you a quick summary of how this union is faring financially.
At the last convention, we put a few programs into place that are beginning to pay off.
The CAS system is operating at nearly all District Lodges and as a result our debt has dropped from around $8 million dollars a month to an average of $2.9 million dollars a month.
We also established the IAM Organizing Fund, which currently stands at around $36 million dollars and is earning almost a 15 percent return. That’s money that will go directly to our efforts to bring new members into this union.
And new members is what this union needs.
Let’s review our Dues Paying Members:
January 2000 502,218
December 31, 2003 384,305
December 31, 2004 375,489
December 31, 2005 (TCU) 412,834
December 31, 2006 406,460
June 30, 2007 404,527
As you can see, the slide has slowed, but it hasn’t stopped.
It is essential that every member, every representative in this room today make a personal commitment to make a positive difference in at least one organizing drive.
Because all the reorganizations, all the political victories and all the smart spending cannot overcome the impact of numbers that continue to shrink.
It’s really that simple. If we grow, we will survive and thrive.
If we do not, we will vanish.
I do not mean to strike an ominous note, for we have much to be proud of and much to celebrate - but it is important to be blunt about such things.
Our future, like any union, depends on our ability to organize and grow.
And I have no doubt we possess the skills, the smarts and the will to do so.
I’ve already seen what we can accomplish when faced with overwhelming odds.
And I have no doubt we will rise to this challenge just as past generations of IAM members have always done.
We have a very proud past and I am confident we have an equally proud future.
Thank you all very much for what you do for our members each day and I look forward to spending time with you this week and in the days to come.
Thank you.
