The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), will join with representatives from IndustriALL, the newly formed global union, at the Farnborough Air Show on July 10-11 to remind visitors, vendors and customers that there would be no aerospace industry without the contributions of thousands of highly-skilled workers who belong to some of the world’s most progressive trade unions.
“It’s time to give proper credit to the men and women at aerospace companies and vendors who consistently produce the world’s most technically advanced products with a degree of skill that is unmatched anywhere in the world,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger, who also serves as one of three IndustriALL vice presidents. “We also will be monitoring the growing aerospace industry in countries like China, often with the help of U.S.-based aerospace companies.”
Buffenbarger will also chair a meeting in London with representatives of the IndustriALL Aerospace Sector. The meeting will serve as a forum to strengthen the Global Alliance of Aerospace Unions that was formed in Seattle, WA in 2010 and to establish tools for global organizing and collective bargaining in the aerospace industry.
The IndustriALL delegates will also consider establishing an annual award to be named each year in conjunction with the Farnborough and Paris Air Shows to recognize the aerospace company that is best committed to working with its unions and honoring international labor standards to produce the best products in the industry. A second award will be considered to recognize the aerospace company that egregiously fails to respect workers fundamental human rights, including the right to form a union and to engage in collective bargaining.
