Toronto, June 1, 2017 Prime Minister of Canada The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P. Prime Minister of Canada Langevin Block Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2 Prime Minister: The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) represents over 400,000 workers including 40,000 in Canada. We are the largest union in the air transport sector in Canada. We are writing this letter to you because of the great concern our
More than 100 IAM Communicators from across Canada and the United States met for the 2017 IAM Communications Conference. We shared strategies on how to better communicate through traditional as well as the newer social media and asked ourselves how we could cut through the noise in our communications to better reach our members. The hashtag for the conference was #VoiceActivation and the conference focused on how to activate our
In 2015 Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn initiated the Changing Workplaces Review to undertake the largest review of Ontario’s labour laws conducted for decades and report back to the Minister. The review was to consider issues brought about, in part, by the growth of precarious employment. The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) has made important recommendations to the Employment Standards Act and Labour Relations Act. The IAM believes that it is crucial to
As of June 1, 2017, the IAM will kick off our national “Anti-Airport Privatization” campaign with the support of all Local Lodges within District Lodge 140. Our preparations for this campaign began at the recent IAM Transportation Conference held on April 2017. Delegates discussed the reasons why privatizing airports is bad for our members, the flying public, and the national airlines in Canada, and developed a unified message to deliver
Montréal, QC – Federal NDP candidate Jagmeet Singh did not waste any time trying to drum up support in Québec for his leadership bid and he went straight to the Quebec Machinists Council to test the waters. Formally announcing his candidacy on May 15th, he met later in the week with members of the QMC. “He spoke to us about issues which occupy much of our time,” explained IAM Quebec
Austin, TEX – The better a union communicates with the unorganized, the better its chances of growing. That idea was hammered home during the second day of the 2017 IAM Communications Conference in Austin, Texas. A panel of communicators revealed their best communication tools for organizing. The fact that surprised a lot of delegates was that 96 per cent of text messages are read! Canadian Communications Representative Frank Saptel supported
Austin, Tex – Outgoing IAM General Vice President Dianne Babineaux gave her final address to IAM Communicators this morning at the 2017 IAM Communications Conference. She told the 125 delegates, including 20 from Canada, that all of them are a big part of the Union’s success. “It will be tough to retire but I see only great things ahead from all of you,” she said. Adding to the conference theme
“We do a lot of good work in a silo and nobody knows about it and we have to change that,” said IAM Canadian GVP Stan Pickthall in his address to the 2017 IAM Communications Conference in Austin, Texas. “We can do that through social media but the spoken word through face-to-face contact has proven successful in Canada and that’s expanding with every plant visit I make.”
Austin, TEX – Texas has long been known as ground zero of the anti-union movement in the United States and two recent senate bills display just how low republican dominated states are willing to go to eliminate unions. In his address to the 2017 IAM Communications Conference delegates, Texas AFL-CIO President John Patrick described two particular nasty pieces of legislation aimed at eliminating unions. “In Texas, the
Montréal, QC – Canadian GVP Stan Pickthall continued his mission to meet face to face with as many members as possible this week by conducting workplace site visits in the Montréal area. Accompanied by Chief of Staff Gord Falconer, and IAM Québec coordinator David Chartrand and IAM Aerospace Coordinator Gerald Tremblay, GVP Pickthall will spend the week touring manufacturing facilities represented by the IAM. He will meet not only with
