IAM Welcomes Transportation Secretary to WWW Center

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta (left) is accompanied by Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr. (right) during a recent visit to the Winpisinger Center.

The IAM is providing 28 students from Aviation High School in New York City with an up close look at the U.S. transportation industry this week during three days of classroom instruction, field trips and guest speakers, including a presentation by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta.

“We are now in the safest four-year period of commercial aviation,” declared Mineta, who credited the record to high levels of training for pilots, flight attendants and aircraft technicians. Mineta addressed the students at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, MD.

“It’s our desire to give these students a better understanding of what’s really taking place in the commercial airline industry today,” said IAM Transportation General Vice President Robert Roach, Jr. “With the skills they are learning right now, these young men and women will be well equipped to find rewarding careers in a variety of industries.”

The students, who will graduate with Airframe and Powerplant licenses issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, are the fourth group from Aviation High School to visit the Winpisinger Center since the partnership program with the IAM began in 2003.

‘Surge’ Conference to Examine National Security

The IAM will host a roundtable discussion on May 3-4 at its headquarters in Upper Marlboro, MD to examine the nation’s shrinking industrial base and its lasting impact on national security.

IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger will preside over the “Surge Roundtable,” which will include representatives from major defense firms, defense and industrial policy experts and IAM representatives with manufacturing and defense sector responsibilities. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England will open the conference.

Also participating in the roundtable will be: Pierre A. Chao, Senior Fellow & Director, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Jan M. Lodal, President Atlantic Council of the United States; Pat Choate, Director, Manufacturing Policy Project and USMC Major General Matt Caulfield (Ret.), Executive Director, Helmets to Hardhats.

“As America’s industrial base shrinks, so too does our capacity to produce the unique tooling that is integral to any manufacturing process,” said IAM President Buffenbarger. “We have a duty to assess whether or not we face the loss of critical skills necessary to manufacture the means of our own defense.”

Key Positions Filled at IAM Headquarters

GST Warren Mart announced this week that Paul Kendall will be Director of the IAM Information Systems Department and Colleen Morgan will become Assistant Director of the Information Systems Department. The appointments take effect May 1, 2006.

Kendall, a former Grand Lodge Auditor in the Midwest Territory from 2000 to 2004, will replace former Information Systems Director Jim Moran, who retired on April 1. “Since joining the Grand Lodge Information Systems Department in 2004, Brother Kendall has used his auditing knowledge and field experience to bring about the efficient operation of this important department,” said GST Mart.

Initiated into Local 475 in Grand Rapids, MI while working at Cummins Engine, Kendall served as his local’s Secretary-Treasurer and later, as ST for District 97 and delegate to the Michigan State Council of Machinists.

Colleen Morgan’s IAM career began in 1993 as a bookkeeper for IAM Cares. She worked in the Information Systems Department since 1998, moving up from Systems Analyst to Application Development Manager with responsibilities ranging from managing per capita reporting to conducting COMPASS, VLM and VLodge training.

“I am confident that this duo will take us to new heights in service to our members through information technology,” said GST Mart.

Machinists Seek Election for JetBlue Employees

The IAM today filed an application with the National Mediation Board to become the collective bargaining representative for Ramp Service workers at JetBlue Airways. Ramp Service workers at JetBlue currently have no job security, no paid sick leave, no paid vacations and no pension.

“JetBlue is no longer a start-up airline and employees there are looking forward to long careers at the carrier, not just short-term employment,” said Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr. “JetBlue employees know the IAM is the only union that has successfully negotiated new defined benefit pension plans for our members at United Airlines, US Airways, Northwest Airlines and Aloha Airlines.”

The NMB will conduct a secret ballot election after an investigation confirms the IAM filed with the required authorization cards from at least 35 percent of the bargaining unit.

Fallen Workers Honored in Solemn Memorials

GST Warren Mart speaking during a service commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day in Henderson, KY.

Friends and family gathered at Workers’ Memorial Park on the grounds of the William W. Winpisinger Center in southern Maryland to pay tribute to deceased IAM members whose names were added to bricks circling the monument.

Eight names of IAM members were added to the memorial this year, including; Tom Blasi, Local 18; Kenny Carroll Local 2793; Arthur McDonald, Local 18; Dan Miltimore, Local 18; Scotty Spray, Local 2386; Ernest Woodall, Jr., Local 656; Val Asuncion, Local 1782; Yolanda Corbett, Local 1759.

Meanwhile, yet another memorial to workers killed at work was unveiled last week in Henderson, KY, during a service commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day.

The carved granite monument shows one worker carrying a mortally injured co-worker in a vivid image that captures sadness, loss and anger. “It’s a bold statement, but it depicts how we feel… when a worker is killed on the job,” said Ray Horton, President of the Tri-County Council of Labor, which proposed and built the monument with help from Kentucky’s Machinists and Steelworkers.

“For too long, workers who are killed and injured on the job, or who die from long and painful occupational illnesses, are accepted by an industrial society as a price of doing business,” said GST Warren Mart in remarks at the dedication. “This memorial forces us all to look at the true cost of that calculation and reminds us that for every victim, there is a family left behind.”

IAM Mourns Retired DBR Mike Smith

Erdis M. Smith, known as "Mike" to his many friends, lost his battle with leukemia at the age of 68 and passed away on April 22 at his home in Roseburg, Oregon.

Mike served eight years as the Directing Business Representative of District 720 in California and was responsible for negotiating contracts for thousands of workers at Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and other aerospace companies.  Mike joined the IAM while working as a machinist on the Space Program and retired in 1993.

“Mike was a dedicated trade unionist, and always worked to bring the best contract back for his people,” said Western Territory GVP Lee Pearson. “He led the California Aerospace industry through some tough times in the late eighties, and there are a lot of working families that are better off today because Mike was fighting for them. I will miss Mike, and send my prayers out to Peggy and all the family.  We all share in their loss.”

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