A Day to Honor North America's Heroes
November 11 is Veteran’s Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada. It is a day to honor the millions of men women who served their countries in times of peace and war.

“Today we honor all those who served in the armed forces of North America,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “We must never forget anyone who gave their life, and we must fight hard at home to see there are decent jobs for our veterans when they return and that our government stands by them after their service is completed. I ask all our IAM members to join me today in thanking the brave men and women, many of them union members, who keep our two nations free and secure.”

A Win for Atlantic City Casino Workers

Nearly 10,000 casino workers in Atlantic City, NJ won a month-long strike after they overwhelmingly approved a contract that boosts wages, improves health insurance and retirement coverage and preserves family-supporting jobs.

The casino workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 54 went out on strike Oct. 1 at seven casinos. The new contract includes employer-paid family healthcare coverage, a 51 percent increase in employer pension contributions over five years and protections against contracting out jobs.

Quad Cities AFL-CIO
Honors LL 1191’s Ken Hensley

IAM Local 1191 member Ken Hensley was inducted into the Eastern Iowa and Northwestern Illinois AFL-CIO Hall of Fame. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, Michelle Obama, wife of U.S. Senator-elect Barack Obama, and more than 400 union members and their families honored Hensley at the 14th annual AFL-CIO Hall of Fame banquet in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Hensley began his career as a product engineer with John Deere Harvester Works in 1960 and was initiated into Local 1191. Through his career Hensley held many elected positions with Local 1191 and District 102. A regional director for the National Council of Senior Citizens and the Alliance for Retired Americans covering Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, Hensley is currently president of the Local 1191 Retirees’ Club and serves on the Machinists Retiree Planning Committee. He was also the treasurer for the city of Slivis, Illinois from1990 to 1994.

Local 933 Scores Organizing Win

Local Lodge 933 and DBR Bobby Martinez scored another organizing victory with the representation election by workers at L-3 COM at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ.

Western Territory GVP Lee Pearson welcomed the L-3 Com workers, who voted 10-1 for IAM representation, and applauded the commitment to organizing shown by the officers of the Local 933.

Monthly Per Capita Tax Set for 2005

The Grand Lodge monthly per capita tax for 2005 will be $20.26, reports GST Warren L. Mart in a letter to all IAM District and Local Lodges. The figure is based on computations from 816 lodges using the memberships’ average hourly earnings as of August 31, 2004.

The IAM Constitution mandates that the minimum per capita tax to District Lodges shall be equal to forty percent of the Grand Lodge per capita tax rounded to the nearest five percent. Based on the 2005 Grand Lodge per capita tax of $20.26, the minimum District Lodge per capita tax will be $8.10. This represents an increase of 10 cents over 2004.