UPDATE FOR MARCH 3, 2008
Report From IAM Aerospace Coordinator John C. Crowdis

And again, your Union is proud to announce that our members employed at Lockheed Martin sites recently completing negotiations for the site locations of Palmdale, Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Vandenberg AFB California, along with those at Marietta Georgia, Cape Canaveral Florida, Meridian Mississippi and Clarksburg West Virginia that our members have ratified their new agreements. This marks the first time in almost two decades that there has been a ratification of the three major agreements on the first vote. Congratulations to all site negotiating committees and all of the support staff on a job well done!

The ratification totals are as follows:

Marietta GA (incl. Clarksburg WV & Meridian MS) ----------------------–---- 88.0%
Sunnyvale CA (incl. Santa Cruz & VAFB CA and Cape Canaveral FL) ---- 68.4%
Palmdale CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 78.3%

The majority has spoken at each site and chose to ratify the new agreements. Now is the time for ALL members at our sites to work together at making this new collective bargaining agreement OUR contract! While a few may have some personal misgivings of their new agreement, these agreements have achieved some new milestones never reached before. This is the largest raise in retirement we have ever achieved in our negotiations with Lockheed Martin. Not many other employers have agreed to almost DOUBLE their employees’ retirement plans in the last nine years ($40 to $77 multiplier). Most other employers have or are attempting to do away with the employees defined benefits plans! And let’s see how many other employers have conceded through negotiations to TWELVE consecutive years of guaranteed general wage increases totaling 39% in that time period. And while we are looking, let’s see how many employers have continued to even maintain healthcare plans much well keep the monthly premium cost for the employees at 13% of their chosen plan! Then there are the other bells and whistles; continuing increases to the Basic Benefits Plan, the 401K plans, COLA Supplements, job upgrades and so many other monetary gains. We should always look to make improvements in our Collective Bargaining Agreements, but we haven’t done too badly in our recent years!  And finally keep in mind these new agreements represent over $115,000, 000.00 in new cost to the companies to cover the improvements won by your negotiating committees for a group of IAM members numbering less than 6000. That’s a pretty significant cost considering there are over 140,000 employees currently working for Lockheed Martin that all want a share of all those “profits” Lockheed Martin keeps ringing up. Let’s see if the other 134, 000 do as well!

Our negotiating committees have worked extremely hard in recent years to bring back collective bargaining agreements in the best interest of not only their respective sites, but for the Machinists Union as a whole. They, and our District and Local representatives dedicate countless personal hours to these efforts and sacrifice innumerable days away from their families to attempt to make day to day life for our members better. These individuals should be commended for these personal forfeitures, not berated.

Remember Brothers and Sisters, this is OUR UNION! It is what we make of it! This UNION is not a stone and steel building in Maryland! That’s just where some of those you have chosen to represent you are daily doing their absolute best to do just that. The Union is our membership; those who work at the employers we represent, those who attend their Union meetings, those that try to help when help is needed, and those who will dedicate themselves to serve the interest of others! That is OUR UNION! Let’s be proud of what we do and let’s continue to always make our members day to day lives better any time we can! That’s what a UNION is all about.

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UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2008
Report From IAM Aerospace Coordinator John C. Crowdis

Your Union is proud to announce to our members working at Lockheed Martin sites currently in negotiations for the site locations of Palmdale, Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Vandenberg AFB California, along with those at Marietta Georgia, cape Canaveral Florida, Meridian Mississippi and Clarksburg West Virginia that your negotiating committees have concluded negotiations with a tentative agreement, subject to acceptance by the membership, for a new three year agreement. Ratification votes have been scheduled this Sunday, March 2, for each site to vote their decision on this very important issue.

All members should attend this vote and insure that their part in the decision making process is upheld. Make sure that your questions are answered by those with the absolutely best knowledge to answer that question; your Local Negotiating Committee. Many individuals may offer, wanted or unwanted, interpretations of what the company’s offer means because of some past experience they profess to have or maybe some other self serving reason. The only real and accurate answers to your questions of what a proposal means will come from the individuals you elected to represent you during these negotiations. These are the individuals who through out these negotiations sat across the table from the company and hammered out this agreement. Your committee knows how each agreement was ultimately reached and what the actual intent of that agreement was. These individuals are your ABSOLUTE best source of information! Don’t be swayed by those who may have ulterior motives. And most importantly, GO VOTE!!! Don’t let the next three years of your and your family’s livelihood be decided by someone else.

Summaries of each sites proposal from the company are posted on this web site. Each sites actual proposal will be posted shortly as we are still trying to get that information electronically supplied as soon as possible. We should have that information posted later today.

Proposal Summaries

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UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2008
Report From IAM Aerospace Coordinator John C. Crowdis

The parties have now moved into the arena of benefits. Each committee was given a presentation by representatives from Lockheed Martin’s corporate office on the current status of our pension plan and an initial proposal on Healthcare for each location. Additionally, a presentation was made at each bargaining table for supplementary benefits for our members made available by Machinists Custom Choices Benefits.

As for the company’s preliminary Healthcare proposal, there were many areas of concern by our committees that will have to be addressed in further meetings with the company. Many of their proposals would add significant cost burden to our members and we have informed the company from the start that cost containment on Healthcare was a major issue for our members. We will continue address these concerns and update you as quickly as possible with our progress on this matter.

As to our presentation of the Machinists Custom Choices Benefits program and proposals to make these benefits available to our membership, it is time for Lockheed Martin to recognize that we too have issues that must be addressed in these negotiations. These offered benefits programs have been made available for our members all across the United States and there is no reason for them to not be available to our members working at Lockheed Martin. If companies like Boeing, DynCorp, CSC, and L3 Com can agree to allow our members these benefits, so can Lockheed Martin. Additionally, United Launch Alliance, United Space Alliance and DS2 provide the availability of the Machinists Custom Choices Benefits plans and all three of these companies are substantially owned by Lockheed Martin. It’s time to level the playing field.

The Union expects to be in receipt of the company’s opening wage proposal sometime today. We suspect that it too, like their preliminary Healthcare proposals, will be unacceptable in its initial form. We will also scan these proposals along with the Healthcare proposals and post them quickly as possible. We will then evaluate their proposals and begin the process of making counter-proposals soon thereafter.

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UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 21, 2008
Report From IAM Aerospace Coordinator John C. Crowdis

Negotiations have begun in full earnest for our IAM members employed at the sites now in session. The formalities of our opening session have set the tone for our coordinated proposals.  Now the real work has to be done.

It is the intent of our negotiating committees from all locations to attempt to keep our members informed and involved in these negotiations. We will try to keep the updates coming on this and all of the individual sites as often as possible, but please remember that we also have to be at the negotiating tables to have anything to update you with.

As a result of the overwhelming requests by our members to better communicate with them to what is actually happening during these negotiations, we have agreed to post each party’s opening proposals so that our members can follow the process and progress of these negotiations. Because of this it is extremely important that we all understand that the process of negotiations is a path which starts in one location and ends in another for both sides of the table. Initial proposals should be accepted as just that; the first of several. Each side will have a proposal that not only addresses their “needs” but also their “wants”. In the end, both sides will likely be looking at a proposal that addresses more of the “needs” than “wants”.

 The Union’s initial proposals are here for you to review. As soon as we receive the initial proposals from the respective Company’s, we will post them as well. My advice to all is to evaluate these  proposals with the understanding that both sides are at liberty to propose what they wish, but they are what they are, a first proposal. There are still several bargaining sessions for both sides to focus in on those “needs”issues.

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