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Organizing is Priority One in the IAM
The goal of the IAM Organizing Department is to bring the benefits of union representation to working men and women. Since the 1996 Grand Lodge Convention, the Organizing Department has built on its past achievements by winning 84.3% of our campaigns. The District 725 Organizing Department works in close cooperation with the Grand Lodge and Western Territory Organizing Departments to help win justice and dignity for California's working families. IAM organizers have achieved this high level of success by using the traditional tools available while finding new ones as well. Keeping up, with ever changing technologies, the organizers use videos, computers, CD-ROMS, mapping systems and a surveying program that gives the organizer excellent data on wage and benefit packages at union and non-union plants in the particular area where a campaign is being conducted. These technologies are used to supplement the heart and soul of organizing--personal contact. The organizers meet face-to-face with non-members in non-union shops, the government sector and open shops. The information gathered through both face-to-face meetings and the various computer technologies helps the organizers develop issues which are then used in conjunction with the IAM's most important tool--the "Blitz" campaign. In June of 1997, International President R. Thomas Buffenbarger sent a letter to all IAM Directing Business Representatives requesting that every IAM Local establish an organizing committee. The District 725 Organizing Department relies on the District Lodge and Local Lodge committees and they are a vital ingredient in the IAM's continued organizing success. Another facet of the IAM's total organizing effort is the exploration of possible affiliations that bring other like-minded organizations under the IAM banner. Those efforts have led to the Shipbuilders Union, Die Sinkers International Union, Wichita Engineer Association, the Patternmakers Union, the Gerber Legendary Blades Negotiating Committee (an independent union), and the International Woodworkers of America into affiliations with the IAM. The importance of organizing should not be lost on any member in the Machinists Union. Our future contracts depend on more of our members in each industry gaining power at work. As each bargaining unit works towards an industry leading contract,
each contract improvement leads to an increase in the contract at the next
company, creating a constant cycle of improvement for working families.
Click here to check out the IAM's Power@Work web page. Learn how to organize your workplace:
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