This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 65 of our affiliates. Next up is the IAM Union.
Name of Union: IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers)
Mission: To inspire and empower IAM Union members to make life better and create a world with security, dignity and opportunity for all.
Current Leadership of Union: Brian Bryant is the 15th international president of IAM. He has been active in the labor movement for more than 35 years, initiating in 1989 when he joined IAM Local S6 while employed at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. He joined the IAM Executive Council in August 2016. Bryant served stints on the IAM Executive Council as resident general vice president, Eastern Territory general vice president and general vice president in the General Secretary-Treasurer’s Office. A pipefitter by trade, Bryant became active in his local by serving on various committees, as well as being elected as a shop steward, trustee and president of Local S6. Bryant also serves on the AFL-CIO Executive Council, as vice chair of the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Council and on the Executive Committee of the IndustriALL Global Union.
Dora Cervantes, the highest-ranking woman on the IAM Executive Council and the first Latina on the council, directs the IAM’s finances as general secretary-treasurer.
The IAM has seven general vice presidents: David Chartrand (Canada), David Sullivan (Eastern Territory), Richie Johnsen (Air Transport), Craig Martin (Southern Territory), Jody Bennett (Resident), Sam Cicinelli (Midwest Territory) and Robert “Bobby” Martinez (Western Territory).
Current Number of Members: 600,000
Members Work As: A wide range of trades in many industries.
Industries Represented: Aerospace, airlines, transportation, defense, railroad, federal sector and contractors, automotive, woodworking, health care, new tech, artificial intelligence, nonprofits and several other industries.
History: In 1888, 19 machinists met in secret in a locomotive pit in Atlanta to vote to form a union. The next year, 34 locals were represented at the first Machinists convention, with Tom Talbot being elected to lead the new union. With the granting of the first Canadian local in 1890, the union officially became the International Association of Machinists. Membership at this point was about 4,000.
A few years later, in 1892, IAM negotiated its first collective bargaining agreement with a railroad company. In 1895, IAM joined the American Federation of Labor. Top issues that IAM faced in the early decades were wages, length of the workweek and number of hours worked per day. IAM had significant success on all three fronts and by 1905, there were more than 750 locals and membership was approaching 300,000. Membership would continue to grow, peaking at more than 1 million members in 1968. In 2013, IAM celebrated its 125th birthday.
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: The IAM Union is among the fastest-growing unions in the AFL-CIO and is quickly growing in emerging sectors like health care, artificial intelligence, nonprofits and more. The IAM Union has recently prevailed in large, high-profile strikes covering 34,000 IAM Union members at Boeing in the Pacific Northwest, as well as strikes at Textron in Kansas and Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut.
The IAM Union’s homegrown charity, Guide Dogs of America, provides trained service dogs to the blind and visually impaired, military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and children with autism. The IAM Addiction Services Program helps members and their families struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction. The IAM Disaster Relief Fund assists members affected by disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. The IAM Veterans Services Program is a first-of-its-kind program in the labor movement that assists IAM military veterans with their earned VA benefits. The William W. Winpisinger Education & Technology Center is a facility that provides for the complete range of labor educational needs of IAM members. The IAM’s Leadership Excellence Assembly of Dedicated Sisters (LEADS) program supports women in their efforts to rise through the ranks of IAM to leadership positions across North America. The IAM Journal is the award-winning magazine published by the union. The Machinists Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL) is the political arm of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, created in 1947 to allow IAM members to gather individual contributions, coordinate political activity, and elect candidates who support IAM members and their families. The National IAM Benefit Trust Fund takes care of its participants with medical and prescription drug, dental and vision plans, and many more benefits. The IAM National Pension Fund has provided valuable retirement benefits for members of the IAM and their families since 1960.