Dear DynCorp Employee:
Years ago, I was a journeyman machinist building jet engines at General Electric’s Evendale facility near Cincinnati, Ohio. There, precision engineering meant equally exacting production techniques.
I took great pride in my skills. I took my job seriously – the engines I worked on powered the fighters that defended America. And I enjoyed the company of the talented men and women who worked on those production lines.
We worked hard. We played hard. And when contract negotiations came around, we stuck together and won a little better life for our families. Back then, we had an advantage you don’t have … at least, not yet.
We had a union. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) had three things that mattered to us: real experience representing a highly skilled workforce; smart, tough negotiators who knew the company’s tactics inside and out; and the financial strength to stand up to one of the world’s largest corporations.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. We only won what we were strong enough to take. GE wasn’t known then – or now – as a pushover at the bargaining table. But our contract improved over the years as our numbers grew and our solidarity increased.
And that’s been the Machinist members’ experience at forty-four other DynCorp locations across America. Go ahead. Call one of your buddies at Boeing or Andrews Air Force Base or those other bases and ask them if the IAM didn’t deliver a contract with better pay and better benefits than they ever got without a union.
That’s what we do best. That’s what defines us as a strong, effective and clean union. And that’s why so many of your fellow employees at DynCorp have voted for the IAM in the last few years.
I urge you to read the materials in this packet and the leaflets floating around the base. Weigh the arguments – both pro and con – because this is an important decision for you and your family.
And, when it comes time to vote on February 23rd, I ask you to give the Machinists union your full support. Together, we can build a better future for ourselves even as we work to protect the country we so love.
In solidarity,
R. Thomas Buffenbarger
INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
