The IAM Legal Department, from right: General Counsel Allison Beck and Associate General Counsels Mary McHugh, Christopher Corson, David Neigus and Carla Siegel.

Legal

The fundamental purpose of the IAM is to improve the working lives of our members. The Legal Department’s job is to support the Union’s efforts to achieve this goal at every level. This translates into several broad areas of responsibility: counsel the International Union on all legal issues affecting workers and their unions; assist our district and local lodge representatives with specific legal issues affecting those they represent; and coordinate and control litigation throughout the Union. Our staff of five dedicated, long-time trade union attorneys divide their time between providing legal advice and counseling, educating and training our field staff and local representatives on important legal issues, and litigating matters in state and federal courts, at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the National Mediation Board (NMB), the Department of Labor (DOL), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other federal agencies.

The Legal Department also assists our membership by working closely with and supporting the work of other IAM Headquarters Departments. Since the last Grand Lodge Convention, for example, we have worked closely with the Strategic Resources Department to create detailed guidelines and checklists for dealing with the increasing number of bankruptcies at our represented facilities. We also participated in a “working group” and assisted the Human Rights Department with the creation of new materials, including a comprehensive Human Rights Manual, a Human Rights Pamphlet (setting forth the IAM’s policies and positions on human rights in the workplace), an Action Plan for Human Rights Committees, and a pocket guide for handling discrimination complaints.

The Legal Department also worked with other Headquarters’ Departments and the staff of the William W.Winpisinger Education and Technology Center to develop a comprehensive one-week strategy session for Directing Business Representatives on a territory-by-territory basis. A “Legal Foundations of Our Union House” training program was created to provide DBRs with detailed information on legal issues critical to the mission of growing our union.

The Legal Foundations program covers the four “walls” of the legal foundation of our union house: (1) policies and procedures for managing district staff fairly and equitably; (2) laws governing internal union governance and other areas of potential liability; (3) laws and strategies for organizing; and (4) laws to help represent workers in tough economic times. A comprehensive Legal Foundations resource binder of laws, outlines, policies, web pages, and other materials was provided to each DBR.

IAM attorneys have also conducted field and staff training on the Family Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Railway Labor Act, the equal employment laws, first contract bargaining, strategic information requests, the duty of fair representation, the legal issues surrounding dues objectors and dues delinquency, bankruptcy, severance agreements, the WARN Act, COBRA, the Service Contract Act, the A-76 Program, and federal employees. In our view, the more we are able to educate and train IAM representatives in the laws that impact workers, the better our union is able to provide overall service and representation to those we represent.