Good morning brothers and sisters. It’s always a pleasure to be with members of the IAM’s Aerospace Department.
The fact that Aerospace workers are now such a large and important part of this union is a testament to the evolution of the IAM as well as the development of the industry itself.
I want to briefly review this union’s financial condition, our membership numbers, and discuss some of the challenges we will all face in the days to come.
Centralized Accounting System (CAS) – I want to thank you for passing this at our 2004 Grand Lodge Convention. It’s working – 93% of our lodges are now reporting on CAS. Our debt has dropped from around $8 million dollars to an average of $2.9 million dollars a month.
Reduced Per Capita that the Grand Lodge gave back to Local Lodges in 2006 was $1.9 million dollars.
Servicing Donations from the Grand Lodge to District and Local Lodges in 2006 were almost $1 million dollars.
Organizing Donations from the Grand Lodge in 2006 were almost $1.4 million dollars.
Organizing Fund set up by the last Grand Lodge Convention is doing a good job paying for our organizing and still growing – it’s around $35 million dollars presently and is earning almost a 15% return.
Dues paying members in December 2006 were 406,460 (a loss of 593 members from November 2006).
Dues paying members in January 2007 were 403,899 (a loss of 2,561 members from December 2006).
And, the first pick-up we have had in some time – dues paying members in February 2007 were 405,692; a gain of 1,793 members.
Dues paying members on December 31, 2005 were 412,834. Dues paying members on December 31, 2006, were 406,460, a 12 month loss of 6,374 members.
With the loss of members we are still slowly eating into our reserves.
At Headquarters, we are always looking at ways to save money.
Xerox Copy Machines changed to Sharp Copiers with Rod Eitland will save $1.4 million dollars in 5 years. Also, IAM members are servicing these machines.
Pension – the IAM National Pension Fund earned a return of over 17% in 2006 – it’s now has around $8.5 billion dollars in assets.
The Grand Lodge Pension Fund earned just over a 14% return in 2006 and is approaching $1 billion dollars in assets.
Earlier this week, I was looking over some of the issues that have been shaking up the Aerospace industry during the past couple of years.
We’ve seen a continuation of some old trends and the development of some new ones.
The outsourcing by companies like Boeing has continued as they promised it would.
More work and technology has been moved to overseas locations.
When Boeing sold off its commercial operations in Wichita, it looked bad.
There were all kinds of possibilities, from shipping everything overseas to breaking up the operation and auctioning off parts to the highest bidders.
None of these scenarios sounded like good news for our members, or for the Wichita community, for that matter.
After decades of giving Boeing its best and brightest, Wichita was being dumped.
Boeing was packing up and leaving Wichita for places like China, Turkey, Russia and Romania.
As corporate citizenry goes, Boeing was providing a shameful example.
But for all the grim prospects that surrounded the news of Boeing’s departure, the outcome of that development was far better than many feared.
I’m sure most of you know about the Initial Public Offering that gave the nearly 4,000 IAM members at Spirit Aerospace more than $60,000 each.
It should be a source of pride for the negotiating committee and the members in Wichita who went way outside the box to try and recoup some of the losses that nearly always come when a company changes hands.
But it got us off to a good start in Wichita and provided a template that future IAM negotiators can use.
I can also tell you that it made an impression far beyond Kansas.
That payout, which was reported in the media around the world, reminded people throughout the industry that this union, the IAM, has some of the brightest and most innovative leaders in the world of labor relations today.
During the last Aerospace Conference in Tucson, Arizona, we got a report from the IAM negotiating committee, who was leading an historic strike at Boeing Commercial.
The outcome there was called a turning point, for labor in North America.
No longer would a company making money, as much money as Boeing Commercial, be allowed to act like they were on the brink of bankruptcy.
Not at the bargaining table, not anywhere.
I want to take a moment here to personally thank Dick Schneider and Mark Blondin for the part they played and the leadership they displayed during that negotiation and strike.
Both Dick and Mark will be taking on new responsibilities in the years to come and I hope they will both look back on this period, as a time when they did themselves and this union proud.
Of course, we have dozens and dozens of contracts other than Boeing and Spirit, but those are two of the big ones and they set the stage for contracts across the industry.
There were also strikes at Raytheon in Arizona and Bombardier in Wichita, among others.
In every strike, and in every contract negotiation we’re involved in, health care is now the 800lb gorilla in the room.
It’s absolutely incredible that this issue continues to bleed this country as it has.
It’s a national disgrace that millions of people in this country have no health care at all and the millions more endure third world treatment – all in one of the wealthiest nations on the face of the earth.
And it’s no accident, no failure on the part of technology, no lack of compassion on the part of caregivers or a reflection on our priorities as a people.
It is a case of greed, pure and simple.
And I don’t care if you’re a Republican, a Democrat or something in between.
The blunt fact is this administration has been an equal opportunity abuser when it comes to blocking any real reform in this nation’s health care system.
And that’s to say nothing about how they’ve blocked collective bargaining rights, expanded crappy trade deals, catered to corporate con men and embarked on a foreign policy that may be the most misguided and deceitful in our nation’s history.
It’s true, I don’t have much good to say about the current administration or their policies.
Except that their days are numbered -- THANKS TO YOU!
Last November, union members in this country were a key factor in taking back both houses of Congress.
We’re already seeing the benefits of that remarkable victory.
Before I close, I just want to say thank you to each one of you for everything you’ve done, at the bargaining table, on the picket lines and in the voting booth.
God bless you and God bless the IAM.
