The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

/ CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the

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and

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Origin

On May 5, 1888, Thomas W. Talbot, a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, founded the Order of United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers. Talbot and 18 others had been members in the

Knights of Labor Knights of Labor (K of L), officially Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also ...

. Talbot believed that a union needed to be formed for

machinists that would resist wage cuts. He wanted to provide insurance against unemployment, illness, and accidents but also wanted railroad machinists to be recognized for their craft skill. Unlike the Knights of Labor, who accepted everyone, Talbot's union accepted only white U.S. citizens, preferably native-born. The union excluded blacks, women, and non-citizens, and had secret passwords. Despite the secrecy, the order spread beyond Georgia, thanks in part to "boomers", men who traveled the railway lines for work. These boomers established local lodges in new areas. Within one year there were 40 lodges, and by 1891, there were 189. On May 6, 1889, the Machinists held their first major convention in Atlanta. Talbot was elected the Grand Master Machinist (later known as the international president), and William L. Dawley was elected as Grand Secretary (now known as General Secretary-Treasurer). The Organization's name was changed to the National Association of Machinists (NAM) and a constitution was drawn up. The NAM began publishing the 16-page ''Machinists Monthly Journal''. Also in 1889, Frank French designed an emblem for the union. The emblem consisted of a flywheel, a friction joint caliper, and a machinist's square with the initials of the organization. According to French, the flywheel represented the ongoing power of the union once it started, and the caliper signified an extended invitation to all persons of civilized countries. The square signified that IAM was square and honest. In 1890 and 1891, NAM reached Canada, making Canadians the first international members. Locals were also formed in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. To reflect this, in 1891 the name was changed from National Association of Machinists to International Association of Machinists (IAM), at a conference in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. In 1892, IAM signed a contract with the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

, establishing the first organized shop at a railroad in the United States. Because IAM had a color bar, the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutua ...

(AFL) did not accept IAM right away. After IAM finally did join the AFL, AFL President

Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...

urged IAM to drop its whites-only rule. But IAM maintained racial segregation, arguing that it needed to retain southern members. IAM chief Talbot's wanted the union to be a fraternity of white men born in the United States who possessed good moral character. Though the AFL president urged the dropping of the color bar, member unions routinely discriminated against Black workers through racial exclusion policies on the local level which the AFL rarely commented on.

1920s–1940s

The Machinists' membership reached 300,000 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

which at the time made it the largest union in 1918. As the war ended and wartime production came to an end membership dropped to 80,000 in 1923. Membership declined in 1933 to only 50,000 due to the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Of those 50,000 members, 23,000 workers were unemployed. In 1935 the machinists started to organize with the airline industry. In 1936, the

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

Company in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, signed the industry's first labor agreement. By 1938, the IAM negotiated the first union agreement in air transportation with

Eastern Air Lines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. E ...

. In 1944 IAM union members established an education department to publish a supplemental journal. This journal would be published weekly by the Machinist the IAM newspaper. Eventually the Journals production was cut back to twice a year and was voted out of existence in 1956. It was replaced with a quarterly magazine entitled The IAMW journal.

Break with AFL

The break was over a failure of the AFL to settle a jurisdictional dispute between IAM and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America as well as the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America. IAM disaffiliated with the AFL in 1945. In 1947 Congress passed the Taft Hartley Act, officially known as the Labor-Management Relations Act, which placed restrictions on union activities. This act also contained provisions that made closed shops illegal and outlawed boycotts. The second section of the Taft Hartley Act was controversial because it allowed states to pass right-to-work laws, which enabled them to regulate the number of union shops. Furthermore, the machinists worked with AFL unions to repeal the act. The limitations imposed on union political activity by this act led to the creation of the Machinists' Non- Partisan Political League. In 1948, Lodge 751 went on strike against the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. The machinists preserved longstanding seniority rules that the company wanted to abolish and achieved a 10 percent per hour raise. IAM also competed for members with the United Auto Workers of America in the automotive industry and with the United Aerospace Workers for aircraft working in that union. In 1949, IAM signed no-raiding agreements with both unions. Those agreements become the model for other unions when AFL and the CIO merged in 1955.

Recent history

The 1950s was a period of rapid growth for IAM. The production of jet engines during the war led IAM to expand to the aircraft industry. By 1958, IAM had more than 900,000 members. This was because IAM took steps to begin to move away from its racist past. In 1955, under the leadership of President Al Hayes IAM became more of an industrial union; it began to shift from railroad work to metal fabrication. IAM had more union members as well as workers in the aircraft industry. Thus, Aerospace workers were attracted to join IAM. The trade union produced a first-of-its-kind radio show, Boomer Jones, to tell their history in a modern way. In 1964, IAM changed its name to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. IAMAW began to strike against five major airlines, including Eastern, National, Northwest, Trans World, and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

. 35,400 IAMAW members in 231 cities grounded the airlines for 43 days finally winning 5 percent raises in three successive years. IAM membership nearly doubled in the 1950s, in large part due to the burgeoning airline industry, from 501,000 members in 1949 to 903,000 members in 1958. As a result of the influx of members from the airlines and the new American space program, the delegates voted to change the name to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at the 1964 convention. In 1982, due to individual and corporate bankruptcies IAM membership dropped to 820,211 members from a high of 927,000 in 1973. Also, in 1982 boycott was initiated by the IAM against

Brown & Sharpe Brown & Sharpe is a division of Hexagon AB, a Swedish multinational corporation focused mainly on metrological tools and technology. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Brown & Sharpe was one of the best-known and most influential machine tool bui ...

, a machine, precision, measuring and cutting tool manufacturer, headquartered in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. The boycott was called after the firm refused to bargain in good faith (withdrawing previously negotiated clauses in the contract), and forced the union into a strike, during which police sprayed pepper gas on some 800 picketers at the company's North Kingston plant in early 1982. Three weeks later, a machinist narrowly escaped serious injury when a shot fired into the picket line hit his belt buckle. The National Labor Relations Board later charged Brown & Sharpe with regressive bargaining, and of entering into negotiations with the express purpose of not reaching an agreement with the union. It was not until 1998, nearly seventeen years after the strike began, that the Rhode Island Supreme Court ended the legal battle, ultimately siding with Brown & Sharpe in its plea that it had not illegally forced the strike. By this point, both Brown & Sharpe and its erstwhile work force were retreating from manufacturing in Rhode Island. From 1981 to 1990 the union owned and operated an Indy Car racing team, Machinists Union Racing. In 1991, the union absorbed the Pattern Makers' League of North America. The Transportation Communications International Union (TCU) merged with the IAM, after a TCU member vote in July 2005. On September 7, 2008, the union began a strike against

over issues with outsourcing,

job security Job security is the probability that an individual will keep their job; a job with a high level of security is such that a person with the job would have a small chance of losing it. Many factors threaten job security: globalization, outsourcing ...

, pay and benefits. The union continues to expand into different companies today. In December 2013 the union's attempt to represent workers at an Amazon.com fulfillment center in Middletown, Delaware failed. In 2020, the union began a strike at

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics. It is the fifth-largest ...

, a major

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

Bath, Maine Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 8,766 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County, which includes one city and 10 towns. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its ...

, over disagreements regarding a new labor contract with the company. The strike, occurring during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, was described by the IAM President as "the largest strike in the United States of America right now.” The strike ended after two months, with new labor contract agreements viewed as favorable to the union members.

Composition

According to IAM's Department of Labor records, since 2005, when membership classifications were first reported, the union's membership has been generally in a slow decline, including "dues paying", "retired", and "exempt" members. Despite this, "life" members were reported to have had a 22 percent increase during this period, and "unemployed" members momentarily increased to a peak in 2009, before also declining. Members classified as "on strike" have varied considerably throughout, although remaining less than 1 percent of the total membership. IAM contracts also cover some non-members, known as

agency fee An agency shop is a form of union security agreement where the employer may hire union or non-union workers, and employees need not join the union in order to remain employed.Pynes, Joan. ''Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organi ...

payers, which since 2005 have grown to number comparatively just over 1 percent of the size of the union's membership. As of 2013, this accounts for about 145,000 "retirees" (25 percent), 52,000 "life" members (9 percent), 26,000 "exempt" members (5 percent), and 14,000 "unemployed" members (2 percent), plus about 7,000 non-members paying agency fees, compared to about 333,000 "dues paying" members (58 percent).

Affiliates

National Federation of Federal Employees The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) is an American labor union which represents about 100,000 public employees in the federal government. NFFE has about 200 local unions, most of them agency-wide bargaining units. Its members work ...

* Transportation Communications International Union

International Presidents

* 1888–1890: Thomas W. Talbot * 1890–1892: James J. Creamer * 1892–1893: John O'Day * 1893–1911: James O'Connell * 1911–1926: William Hugh Johnston * 1926–1939: A. O. Wharton * 1939–1949: Harvey Brown * 1949–1965: Al J. Hayes * 1965–1969: P. L. Siemiller * 1969–1977: Floyd Emery Smith * 1977–1989: William W. Winpisinger * 1989–1997: George Kourpias * 1997–2016: R. Thomas Buffenbarger * 2016–present: Robert Martinez Jr.

References

External links

*
Aerospace Union

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Canada

IAMAW Collection
Historical materials related to IAM held by

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the largest institution of hig ...

, Special Collection
Southern Labor ArchivesOnline guide
retrieved April 27, 2005.
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District Lodge 751 ''Aero Mechanic''

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Transportation District Lodge 140
{{Authority control AFL–CIO Canadian Labour Congress International Metalworkers' Federation International Transport Workers' Federation International Federation of Building and Wood Workers Trade unions established in 1888 Aerospace Engineering trade unions 1888 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)