IAM Pickets Return to Lockheed Headquarters

IAM members made their presence known outside Lockheed Martin’s corporate headquarters in Bethesda, MD. More than 150 activists showed up to support striking District 776 members in locations in Maryland, Texas and California.

For the second time in two weeks, Machinists union members gathered outside the Lockheed Martin headquarters in Washington, DC, to show support for the more than 3,600 IAM District 776 members on strike at the company’s Pax River NAS, MD, Ft. Worth, TX and Edwards AFB, CA facilities.

District 776 members voted to go on strike by a 94 percent margin last month over the giant defense contractor’s proposal to bar new hires from participating in the traditional defined benefit pension plan and switch a majority of Lockheed workers to a high-deductible, high-cost health care plan with no cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses.

IAM members on the march outside Lockheed Martin headquarters in Bethesda, MD.

“We’re not just going to sign and take anything. We want what’s fair,” said Pax River worker Peggy Boyd, one of 150 IAM members and supporters who picketed outside Lockheed Martin headquarters. “Our CEO walked away a day-and-a-half after we went on strike with $22 million. All we’re looking for is our piece of the pie – affordable health care and a decent pension for people to look forward to. We’re going to stay out here. We’re not backing down.”

“Even the people who are getting ready to retire know this is a bad deal,” said Joe Alviar, IAM District 776 Business Representative from Ft. Worth, TX. “When they came to work at Lockheed, there was a pension in place for them. They want to leave a pension in place for the people who are coming in after them.”

For more on the Lockheed strike and continuous updates, click www.goiamtexas.com.

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