Fighting to Protect DOD Collective Bargaining – IAM Calls for Manufacturing Strategy – Funding for Coronavirus Response Passes Congress


IAM, LAWMAKERS FIGHTING TO PROTECT DOD COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) recently led a strong letter to President Trump in response to the White House’s collective bargaining memo for the Secretary Defense. 

“The Department of Defense has a history of working with labor unions that represent the interests of employees. We encourage the Department to continue this cooperation and to preserve longstanding protections for federal employees,” Warner wrote.  “Allowing any department or subcomponent to exempt itself for poorly defined reasons runs contrary to these protections.

“We urge you to reconsider this new memorandum and work to protect the collective bargaining rights of federal employees, including those at the Department of Defense,” wrote Warner.

Also, the entire Senate Democratic Caucus sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper urging the Pentagon to uphold workplace protections and safeguard the collective bargaining rights of DOD civilian employees.

QUOTABLE: The Machinists Union will fight this administration on each and every attack they throw at our federal workforce, many of whom are U.S. military veterans.” – IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr.

IAM CALLS FOR MANUFACTURING STRATEGY: Owen Herrnstadt, IAM Chief of Staff and Director of Trade and Globalization, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee asking Congress and the Administration to adopt a comprehensive manufacturing strategy that disincentives outsourcing and ensures U.S. competitiveness with China.

“The IAM has been sounding the alarm over forced technology and production to China as well as subsidies, currency manipulation, violations of fundamental human rights and other unfair market distortions for many years, so it should come as no surprise that they are now competing head-on with the U.S.,” said Herrnstadt.

IAM VOTES FOR PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT: The IAM’s 2020 U.S. Presidential endorsement election ended Friday, March 6 at 8 a.m. ET.

Once all the votes are tallied, we will continue our endorsement process as has been laid out on iam2020.org. You will receive an email announcing the IAM-endorsed 2020 U.S. presidential candidate on the evening of Sunday, March 8, 2020.

IAM VETERANS LOBBY ON CAPITOL HILL: IAM veterans recently visited Capitol Hill to advocate for policies important to IAM members and veterans. The members held numerous meetings with lawmakers. 

NFFE-IAM RESPONDS TO TRUMP ADMINSTRATION: NFFE-IAM recently spoke out against the White House Administration’s efforts to actively identify federal employees who are insufficiently “loyal” to President Trump and to “take appropriate action” to remove them, ignoring a plethora of laws and regulations that make such actions illegal. 

NFFE-IAM and other labor, whistleblower, and good government organizations consistently advocate against the weakening of civil service protections that keep the government accountable, transparent, and honest. Opponents of these safeguards often deceive the public through claims that civil service protections are lavish individual rights instead of critical systemic protections that guard the American public from a corrupt government.

READ: Federal Employees’ Union Responds to Trump Administration Vow to Purge Federal Workers Insufficiently “Loyal” to President

TCU-IAM JOINS CLASS 1s AND SHORTLINES FOR RAILROAD DAY ON THE HILL: In an annual show of cooperation, TCU-IAM legislative representatives once again joined together with management counterparts to push for the expansion and preservation of policies that help the freight rail industry. Other notable participants included SMART-UTU and the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen. Board members of the Railroad Retirement Board also joined some of the meetings, though they could only lobby for their agency’s budget.

JOIN THE FIGHT AT THE 2020 IAM LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE: The IAM will be gathering from May 4-6, 2020 in Washington, DC to fight for policies that actually benefit working people and their families. Attendees will hear from our allies on Capitol Hill and lobby on the issues that affect IAM members, such as trade, defense funding, retirement security, health care costs and more. The deadline to register is Friday, March 27.

CONGRESS PASSES $8.3 BILLION EMERGENCY FUNDING TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS: Congress recently passed a funding package to address the growing number of “COVID-19,” coronavirus cases at the local, state, national and international levels. This issue affects IAM, TCU-IAM, and NFFE-IAM members who work in many different employment sectors.

Please see the links below for the most up-to-date information on this rapidly evolving situation.

 

Don’t Forget:

SHARE MACHINISTS ON THE HILL: If you know other IAM members interested in this newsletter, please share this link for Machinists On The Hill.

 

Must Reads:

Coronavirus has potential to shake up China trade more than tariffs NBC News

What’s in the Coronavirus Package? POLITICO 

Pushback on Trump’s DOD union policy hits bipartisan stride Defense Systems

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