Strategic Resources — 4

Tools and Training for Strategic Approaches

Strategic Resources works closely with the education professionals at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Training Center (WWW). Over the past four years we have re-designed and improved the Machinists Collective Bargaining Program, the most advanced tool for costing out collective bargaining agreements available in North America.

The Strategic Resources staff has taught in a variety of classes including Advanced Collective Bargaining, Special Topics in Collective Bargaining, Pensions, Women’s Department and Service Contract Act classes. Strategic Resources was also directly involved with developing tools and training material for the special Territorial strategy sessions held during the fall of 2003.

Focusing on budgeting, planning and project evaluation, the tools and approaches that were demonstrated in these sessions provides IAM Directing Business Representatives with sophisticated tools to manage the business of unionism.

Responding to Financial Distress

In response to the ongoing economic crisis, Strategic Resources developed a system to give local union representatives an opportunity to head off layoffs, bankruptcy, and plant closures. Utilizing sophisticated financial data, each month Strategic Resources monitors deterioration in the credit status of every IAM-represented company. Those companies whose credit status significantly worsen or become a concern are identified with an IAM District or Local and the servicing representative is sent a notification alerting them to potential problems. Working together with our Districts and Locals, Strategic Resources has participated in dozens of discussions with IAM-represented companies outside of normal negotiations to help them weather the economic storm.

The future for manufacturing in North America remains uncertain. As more and more North American conglomerates move production to low wage countries with limited government regulation of environmental protection, workers are facing an untenable opponent. Working proactively to head off financial disaster is one step we must take, but it is clearly not enough to stop the hemorraging of manufacturing and production jobs in North America.

Conclusion

Statistics, research, and strategy have distinguished the IAM from other unions for nearly a hundred years. As we move into the 21st century the challenges keep getting tougher. Fundamental, structural changes in the economy of North America have made manufacturing and production jobs scarce. Strategic Resources is committed to playing a vital role in finding the path toward rejuvenation of the IAM and in support of bettering the lives of IAM-represented workers.

Over the past four years Strategic Resources responded to nearly 4,000 requests from local union representatives. Our focus in the coming years will be on identifying organizing opportunities and strategic approaches to organizing the service sectors of the economy that fit the IAM’s traditional strength of representing skilled workers.

The coming year of 2004 is typical of the past four years in terms of Strategic Resources support for bargaining. With 1,050 agreements covering 154,125 IAM-represented workers expiring in 2004, Strategic Resources plans on supporting 27 agreements that cover 90,696 IAM-represented employees, or 59%. In addition to supporting major airline negotiations, Strategic Resources will continue to play an essential role in supporting the work of the Aerospace Department in negotiations with Boeing, Cessna, Learjet and other aerospace companies.

For those agreements we do not directly support, Strategic Resources has created tools on Vlodge that make the bargaining process smoother including standard information requests, briefing papers on topical issues, facts and figures on the economy and IAM settlements, model contract language and electronic forms to report on the outcomes of negotiations and arbitrations.

From its roots as a statistical bureau, through the development of the Research Department, to today’s sophisticated strategic capabilities, Strategic Resources provides essential support for IAM negotiators, organizers and policy makers. Over the next four years Strategic Resources will expand its focus on identifying organizing targets and assisting in the development of strategic approaches to bringing in new members.

The recent recession, combined with the unprecedented job loss in air transportation and aerospace that followed the terrorist attacks on September 11, compels a new approach to securing the IAM’s future. The long-term decline of membership which began in the late 1960s now imperils the very future of the organization.

Finding ways to stretch resources, through budgeting and sophisticated project evaluation, has been a focus of Strategic Resources in meetings with each of the Territorial Vice Presidents and Directing Business Representatives during the fall of 2003. Working together with the Legal Department, Communications Department, the Winpisinger educational professionals, the Information Systems Department, and the General Secretary Treasurer’s office, Strategic Resources plays a central role in the development and execution of strategies designed to grow the membership and secure the IAM’s future.

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