www.goiam.org
Friday, June 28, 2002
White House and IAM
Discuss Amtrak, US Airways
IAM leaders met with White House
officials this week to discuss the state of the transportation industry.
Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr. led the delegation in wide-ranging
talks on the fate of Amtrak, federal loan guarantees in the airline
industry and negotiation procedures under the Railway Labor Act.
“We discussed the
need for the continued funding of Amtrak,” Roach said. “The Machinists
Union is committed to achieving a long-term solution to the problems
faced by our nation’s rail passenger service.”
In a
similar vein, US Airways claims it will need to restructure its operation in
bankruptcy if it doesn’t receive federal loan guarantees. United Airlines also
filed for hefty federal loan guarantees, citing the need to address financial
problems made more acute by the aftermath of September 11. Both airlines are
awaiting decisions from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board. For a more
complete report, visit the
Transportation Department’s web page at
www.goiam.org.
Families
Stonewalled in P & W Cancer Study
Despite earlier pledges, Pratt & Whitney
workers and the families of cancer victims who worked at the firm’s
sprawling facilities in Connecticut slammed into a stone wall when they
sought information on a study group’s initial proposals to probe the
high number of brain cancer deaths among Pratt workers.
The
proposals from a scientific team hired by P&W to investigate the cancer deaths
“are confidential,” both the company and the scientists said. Once company
officials and the investigators agree on all the details, they’ll let families
and the workers know what’s going on, they said.
“That’s
not good enough,” according to Rich Gross, an attorney who filed workers
compensation claims on behalf of relatives of Pratt brain tumor victims. The
workers want a voice in the investigation. Earlier this year, both Pratt and the
state’s health department promised to form a “working group” that would include
both family members and union representatives.
After
more than four months, that group has yet to meet.
“We
know of at least 60 people who have died from brain tumors,” reports Debra
Belancik, chief safety representative for IAM Local 707, North Haven, CT. Most
of them died from glioblastoma multiforma, a rare and aggressive cancer that
strikes fewer than three in 100,000, according to medical studies. Yet Belancik
and other IAM safety representatives say nearly 70 people have been diagnosed
with the malady, all of who worked at Pratt localities in the area.
The
summer issue of the
IAM Journal has a more detailed account of the disturbing events at the
aerospace firm.
Bush Plan Zings
Social Security
A New York Times column
graphically outlined the “fuzzy math” in President Bush’s plan to
privatize Social Security. Author Paul Krugman points out that Social
Security is a system “in which each generation’s payroll taxes are
mainly used to support the previous generation’s retirement.”
If
those contributions from younger workers go into personal accounts, who will pay
benefits to today’s retirees and older workers? “Privatization”, Krugman
contends, creates a financial hole that must be filled by slashing benefits, by
massive infusions from other federal funds, or both.
Even
Republicans are sidling away from the term “privatization”, Krugman notes “Do
not be complicit in Democratic demagoguery,” says one party memo cited in the
article. “So it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, but it isn’t a duck—not
until after the next election,” Krugman said.
“But…it
is a duck. And the Administration economists who claim that privatization will
strengthen Social Security are, more than ever, quacks,” Krugman concluded.
Drug Firms, GOP
Party Hearty
Among its other skills, the
pharmaceutical industry has mastered the art of political timing. Just
hours after the House Ways and Means Committee approved a prescription
drug plan backed by the industry and the White House, many of those drug
firms forked over $250,000 each to hear President Bush speak at a
Republican fundraising dinner
The
GOP-endorsed prescription drug plan would force seniors into HMO-type plans and
provides those with average drug bills virtually no benefits at all. A study by
the Congressional Research service found the Republican bill’s drug coverage is
40 percent less generous than the Democratic alternative.
IAM Partners with
Aviation High School
Aviation High school Principal Eileen Taylor, GVP Roach,
and banner contest winner Kevin Deeble.
The IAM took an active part in recent graduation ceremonies at New York City’s
Aviation High School. The IAM has been working with Aviation High School and US
Airways taking students out of the classroom and into the hangars at LaGuardia
Airport to spend a day interacting with experienced aircraft technicians.
“The
IAM is the first union willing to partner with our school,” said Eileen Taylor,
the school’s principal. Aviation is the only high school in the United States
that is designed to prepare students for careers in aviation-related fields. The
school’s 1,600 students can specialize in aviation mechanics and engineering
while obtaining a strong academic education.
The
school has an on-site hangar with various aircraft and aviation equipment,
providing intensive exposure to the aviation industry as well as hands-on
experience.
The IAM also sponsored a contest in which students competed to
design a banner demonstrating the Union’s new partnership with Aviation High
School. The banner hangs in the schools own on-campus hangar. Transportation GVP
Robert Roach, Jr. presented the winners with toolboxes at the graduation
ceremony.
Last Call for IAM
Photo Contest Entries
Get those contest entries into the mails ASAP. The deadline for entering
the IAM Photo Contest is June 30. Winning photos may be included in 2003
IAM calendar and may even qualify for a cash prize.
This year’s theme is
“North America’s Might” and our panel of independent judges will
be looking for photos that show IAM members at work doing what they do
best. The contest is absolutely free and open to all IAM members. You
can obtain a complete contest entry form at
www.iamaw.org/publications/2002photocontest/index.htm or by
contacting the IAM Communications Department, 301-967-4520.
|