Executive Assistant Diane Babineaux, center, receives the A. Philip Randolph "Gentle Warrior" award and is joined by Midwest Education Rep Ed Lewis, left.

Babineaux Wins Coveted Award
During a long career in the vanguard of U.S. civil rights movement, A. Philip Randolph became known as the “Gentle Warrior” – a tribute to the dignified demeanor that belied his fiery dedication to racial equality and social justice.

The spirit and achievements of the legendary labor leader were recalled during a recent ceremony where the founders of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago presented IAM Executive Assistant Diane Babineaux with the museum’s 2003 Gentle Warrior Award.

Accepting the award, Babineaux said the story of Randolph and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was an early inspiration for her and many others to make the labor movement their life’s work. “Since I was a child, they were the stuff of legends,” said Babineaux of Randolph and the BSCP, which was founded in 1925 and became the first black labor union to win a collective bargaining agreement in 1937.

Alliance Targets Phony Drug Bill
Hundreds of seniors attended the first national Legislative Conference of the Alliance for Retired Americans. Their top priority was to derail the inadequate Medicare prescription drug bill moving through Congress. The current bill has harmful hidden costs, would cause many seniors to lose current private benefits, and would lead to “privatizing” Medicare by turning over the drug program to private insurers. “We’re here on behalf of all seniors to tell them not to privatize Social Security or Medicare,” said retired IAM member Andy Barnes. “They can take that message to the grave with them because we’re going to fight this bill until hell freezes over.”

For more information, go to www.retiredamericans.org.



Solidarity’s Sweet Victory at Crown Cork and Seal
After years of sacrifice, the members of Local 10 at Crown Cork and Seal in Winchester, VA had enough. When the company insisted on huge health care premium increases and miniscule wage hikes, nearly 200 IAM members hit the streets. Day after day they held strong on the picket line. They brought in a huge corporate rat float, staged a tool box removal day and traveled to Philadelphia, PA to picket Crown’s corporate headquarters. The company finally backed down and offered a fair contract.

“We stayed united through the whole thing, and that got us these gains,” Local 10 President Steve Spaid told the Winchester Star. “That is extremely hard to do in a right-to-work state, but we were able to do it.” Union membership actually increased during the strike. Crown workers won an improved medical plan, better wages, a cost of living adjustment, and new holiday pay.

Labor Law Firm Wins Important Consumer Ruling
With the surge in the number and use of prescription drugs, union members must be alert to their possible hazards. Jones and Granger, a Texas-based law firm that represents IAM members in workplace issues, is playing an important role in raising consumer awareness about the popular anti-depressant “Paxil.”

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that “Paxil” should not be given to depressed children eighteen and under because of an increased risk of suicide. The FDA ruling follows an important legal victory by Jones and Granger attorney Andrew Vickery in which a jury found that “Paxil can cause some people to become homicidal or suicidal” (www.JusticeSeekers.com).

“When prescribed and monitored by the right doctor to treat the right condition in the right patient, these drugs can help and have helped a lot of people,” said Vickery. “However, I believe that physicians need to be warned about the fact that their patients may well be in the ‘small vulnerable subpopulation’ of people whose lives might be endangered by violent reactions to the SSRIs” (SSRIs are a class of drugs including Paxil). The FDA recommends that “patients should not discontinue use of Paxil without first consulting their physicians, and it is important that Paxil not be abruptly discontinued.” (www.fda.gov).