IAM Organizers Chart New Course for Growth

The IAM took part in a march to memorialize the one-year anniversary of a shooting that killed nine people at Charleston, SC’s Emanuel AME Church. Boeing workers in Charleston are looking to organize with the IAM. From left: IAM Apprentice Organizer Gabrielle Rogano, Charleston Central Labor Council President April Lott, IAM Special Representative Mike Evans and South Carolina AFL-CIO President Erin McKee.

More than 30 IAM organizers from across the United States and Canada met at the William W. Winpisinger Center last week to have a frank discussion about the IAM’s current organizing practices. It was the second such meeting this year and part of a broader effort to modernize the IAM’s current organizing model.

Numerous Charleston, SC community leaders have signed on to support Boeing workers in their effort to organize for fair wages and benefits.

“If we’re going to organize and grow, it’s imperative that we look at what’s been working and what’s not working,” said IAM International President Bob Martinez. “If we are able to combine these best practices with all of the fresh, innovative ideas that are bubbling to the surface within our union, I believe we will see unprecedented organizing success in the coming years.”

Topics discussed at the meeting included picking strategic organizing targets, diversifying organizing tactics and combining the need for personal contact with new technologies.

“We have the best organizers in the labor movement,” said IAM Headquarters General Vice President Rickey Wallace. “We are doing everything in our power to ensure they have the tools and resources needed to succeed.”

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