Washington, D.C., May 14, 2013 - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) today announced a partnership to jointly represent nearly 30,000 ground workers at the "new" American Airlines following the merger of American Airlines and US Airways.

This week the two international unions have signed joint agreements to cover the Mechanic & Related, Fleet Service, and Stores employee work groups at the soon to be merged airline. The new labor partnership, to be known as the TWU/IAM Employee Association, will ask the federal National Mediation Board (NMB) to hold elections among the combined employees for each classification after the close of the American-US Airways merger.  The election will formalize the joint-council agreement reached this week. 

"I am proud that our two great unions put the members first in a true demonstration of solidarity," said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. "These agreements protect our members' representation, pensions and seniority. Working jointly with the TWU, we will ensure both unions' members are rewarded in this merger."

"This agreement allows us to use our combined strength and resources on behalf of all our members as we move forward at the new American Airlines," said TWU International President James C. Little.  "Both unions have decades of experience representing workers at US Airways and American Airlines and both unions are members of the AFL-CIO."

Following certification, negotiating committees comprised of an equal number of representatives from each union will begin working out the details of collective bargaining agreements to cover the combined carriers' employees.

The accords reached this week, designate which union will enforce a post-merger agreement in specific cities, as well as providing a mechanism to designate contract enforcement responsibilities if the carrier expands to new markets. 

The IAM currently represents Mechanic and Related, Fleet Service, and Stores employees at US Airways; TWU represents these classifications at American. TWU also currently represents aircraft dispatchers, flight crew training instructors and flight simulator engineers at both airlines. Additionally, IAM represents Maintenance Instructors at US Airways.

The full agreements and a Question and Answer document are available at both the IAM website www.usaamerger.com and at the Transport Workers Union's website: www.twu.org. 

The unemployment rate was little changed at 7.5% in April.

The unemployment rate is a broad, though somewhat crude measure of how workers are faring in the economy. It does not count discouraged workers, nor does it measure under-employment (for example, workers who want a full-time job but can only find part-time work). Making these adjustments would bring the measured unemployment rate up to 13.4%. But even an adjusted unemployment rate says nothing about the quality of jobs in the economy. This last point is particularly important to keep in mind, given the growth of non-standard (temporary and/or contingent) jobs in the U.S. economy.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation.

5/6/2013

The unemployment rate was little changed at 7.5% in April, and total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 165,000. Employment grew in professional and business services, food services and drinking places, retail trade, and health care.

EMPLOYMENT (IN THOUSANDS):

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation. (Data are Seasonally Adjusted.)

AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS:

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation. (Data are not Seasonally Adjusted.)

EMPLOYMENT IN IAM INDUSTRIES:

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation. (Data are not Seasonally Adjusted.)

5/6/2013

Earlier this week, the IAM held its annual workers' memorial service at the William W. Winpisinger Center in Hollywood, MD. Beautiful handcrafted bricks were peacefully placed in honor of 12 loyal Machinists who passed.

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April 2013

• President's Budget Proposal Invests in America, But Threatens Social Security
• Sequestration Cuts Start to Take Hold
• lAM Launches Organizing Campaign at Jeld-Wen
• Afghan War Veteran Fights Back From Brain Injury
• Amtrak Requests Smaller Operating Budget, More Capital Investment
• US Airways Mechanics and Related Workers Request Release from Mediation
• Aerospace Conference Delegates Meet in Seattle

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Dora Cervantes, Assistant Secretary to the General Secretary-Treasurer of the IAMAW, discusses the need for immigration reform and how an improved pathway to citizenship would protect worker dignity and preserve human rights.

Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index Release

Revised 4/16/2013

To help create jobs, the president's budget proposal includes higher subsidies for child care, an extra $50 billion in infrastructure investments, money for states to rehire teachers and tax cuts for small businesses. The proposed budget would also cancel sequestration and cut the deficit by $4.3 trillion by 2016 as part of a grand bargain with the GOP, but it is linked to several harmful austerity measures.

The proposal with the greatest impact would link future increases in Social Security benefits to the Chained Consumer Price Index, or "Chained CPI" - a measure that would reduce the rate of growth of benefits. The current method of calculating benefits is closer to the inflation rate which keeps beneficiaries from being priced out of basic necessities like food, housing and gas.

"With two out of every five seniors relying on Social Security for 90 percent of their income, there's never been a worse time to reduce Social Security benefits," said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. "It wasn't Social Security that caused the deficit and cutting this vital program won't get us out of it."

The proposal for reducing Social Security payouts comes as more and more seniors are relying on the program for the majority of their retirement income. The Employee Benefits Research Institute reports that 57 percent of American workers have less than $25,000 put away for retirement in 2013. And, the percentage of workers covered by traditional pension plans has dropped from 28 percent in 1979 to just 3 percent today.

"Switching from the current index to the Chained CPI would immediately begin to cut benefits and would continue to do so year after year," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research to the Associated Press. The Chained CPI would also apply to veterans benefits and could force seniors into higher tax brackets if their income grows more than the inflation-stunted Chained CPI.

The president's budget also continues to push for tax increases on private-plane buyers - a move that would hurt the aerospace industry and the recovering economy as a whole. The aerospace industry employs 1.2 million people and exported $4.8 billion worth of aircraft last year.

"The last thing we need is a disincentive to buy from an industry that is providing good, reliable jobs in America," said Buffenbarger. "Couple that with a cut in Social Security, and we see parts of a budget that aren't good for IAM members or the middle class. We urge Congress to take a more balanced approach to our budget and deficit reduction."

Associates of the Aspen Institute, a policy think-tank organization in Washington, DC, recently discussed a desperate need for new high-skilled U.S. manufacturing workers to replace a growing number of baby-boomer retirees.