IAM Wins $36.5 Million for Air Canada Members

IAM members at Air Canada will soon receive a stocking stuffer that will make this holiday season one to remember. Individual checks worth $2,153.82 will be distributed to each of 11,066 eligible IAM Air Canada members as a result of claims made by the IAM on behalf of members impacted by the restructuring of Air Canada.

“We felt that we should be considered in the same light as the other creditors,” said Grand Lodge Representative Ron Fontaine. “The monitor and Justice James Farley agreed and we were able to have an amount of monies set aside to be distributed to the IAM membership working at Air Canada.”

“In total, we were able to turn the IAM claims overall into $36,524,044.14 in cash,” said Fontaine. Out of this sum, Revenue Canada required over $8.5 million held back for income tax. An additional amount slightly in excess of $3 million was needed to pay for grievance claims as well as associated legal and professional fees. This left $23,834,274.84 for distribution among eligible members at Air Canada.

Fontaine credited legal assistance of Hugh O’Reilly of Cavalluzzo-Hayes, for initiating the concept that led the discussions with the monitor and resulted in the sizeable award.

Unique Website Aids Reynolds Organizing Drive

Momentum and enthusiasm are building at Reynolds American in Winston Salem, NC where workers are using every tool available in their effort to join the IAM. Informational meetings, handbills and a special organizing website are providing more than 1,600 employees and their families with a steady supply of information about the benefits of union membership.

The website, www.gomachinists.org, provides Reynolds employees with a valuable forum to talk about the drive and gives current IAM members an opportunity to leave messages of support for the workers at Reynolds.

“The overall response has been very positive, but many folks still don’t have a good idea of what unions are about,” said Southern Territory Organizer Bobby Sapp. “We’d like IAM members to post messages on the website and let the Reynolds workers know that IAM members are supporting their drive to win a voice at work.”

Letters will be posted in the “Mail Call” section of the website.

“Reynolds has betrayed the trust of their employees,” said Southern Territory GVP Bob Martinez. “I hope our members - especially those in the tobacco industry take a few minutes and write some words of encouragement.”

China Revokes Visas for Labor Leaders

The People’s Republic of China abruptly revoked travel visas last week for more than 80 business and trade union leaders from 30 industrialized nations who planned to meet in Beijing to discuss foreign investments, working conditions and labor rights in China.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the 30-nation organization that sponsored the meeting, was given no reason by Chinese authorities for the cancellation.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney planned to attend and use the meeting to urge companies to abide by international agreements regarding child labor, forced labor and workers’ rights.

“Every day, multinational corporations shift production to China,” said Sweeney. “The planned OECD seminar offered an extraordinary opportunity for more than 80 participants to launch a dialog on how the promotion of internationally accepted standards for corporate responsibility can improve and benefit Chinese economic development.”

Sweeney called for the meeting to be rescheduled as soon as possible.

GVP Ritchie Names Tremblay Special Representative

GVP Dave Ritchie was pleased to announce the appointment of Gérald Tremblay as Special Representative to the Grand Lodge. As the Canadian Aerospace Coordinator, Tremblay will be involved in negotiations in the aerospace sector and will also assume the position of Canadian High Performance Work Organization (HPWO) Coordinator.

“I’m very happy with this appointment,” said Tremblay. “I’m looking forward to increasing my knowledge of this important sector. I have the full support and resources of the Grand Lodge so we can get the best collective agreements possible for our members.”

Tremblay joined the IAMAW in 1979 as a member of Local Lodge 869, in Lachine Quebec, while employed as a machinist at Rolls Royce Canada. He held various offices including Chairman of the Negotiations Committee and President of Local Lodge 869. He has held various Quebec Machinists Council (QMC) offices including Director of Education and he is a member of the FTQ’ General Council. He was elected President of District 11 in 1997. He was appointed to his current position as a full time organizer for District 11 in Montreal in 1999. The 47-year-old Tremblay will work out of Montreal and begin his new assignment on January 1, 2005.

Wave of Imports Threaten U.S. Textile Industry

The Bush Administration took minimal action earlier this week to save the U.S. textile industry from unfair competition from foreign manufacturers. U.S. producers asked for a continuation on limits of imports of Chinese textile and apparel items.

Beginning January 1, 2005 the quota system that has governed the textile trade since the 1970s and rules that capped the amount of trousers, shirts, sweaters, towels and other such items expires. The last time quotas were lifted on a range of items from bathrobes to underwear, China upped its U.S. market share by 22 percent to 45 percent.

The Bush Administration proposed a weak set of temporary rules that many in the industry deem “too little, too late.” A coalition of U.S. apparel, textile, fiber producing trade associations and labor unions support the implementation of threat-based special textile safeguards to limit the flood of Chinese imports that will destroy what’s left of the U.S. textile industry.