Union Leaders, Golden & Legislators Address Machinists Conference in South Portland
PHOTO: Machinists leaders present an award to Sen. Troy Jackson for his many years of supporting pro-labor policies in the Maine Legislature.
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) leaders from around the region gathered in South Portland last Saturday, June 8 for the Maine State Council of Machinists Conference in South Portland. IAM International President Brian Bryant, a former Bath Iron Works pipefitter, rattled off several recent organizing victories, noting that the organization is now the second-fastest growing union in America.
“Today, the IAM is as strong as it’s been in decades,” he said. “We are winning industry-leading contracts and taking on any employer who stands in our way.”
In 2023, the 17,000 new members joined the union while several thousand more workers are in the process of organizing with IAM. Currently, Machinists are leading the largest organizing campaign in the US to organize 20,000 Delta Ramp workers.
Speaking to NewsCenter, President Bryant said he is endorsing Golden for re-election to Congress because he believes that Golden has the strongest voice for ship builders in the state. Bryant also praised Present Joe Biden for his pro-labor policies.
"I’ve never seen a president that is this pro worker friendly,” Bryant told NewsCenter. “He's appointing workers, people that are representing workers to critical positions in his administration. Making sure that working people are getting a fair shake on whether it's a trade deal, new industries coming into this country, he's making sure workers have a voice.”
The Maine AFL-CIO will not make any political endorsements until our COPE Convention on June 27-28 in Auburn. In a fiery speech, IAM Political and Legislative Director Hasan Solomonemphasized the importance of elected pro-labor candidates to Congress.
State and federal political leaders also spoke about policies impacting working people at the Maine State Council of Machinists Conference in South Portland on June 8.
Congressman Jared Golden reiterated his support for the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would strengthen collective bargaining rights and protect workers’ rights. In recorded remarks, Senator Angus King and Chellie Pingree also expressed support for the PRO Act.
“I think it would be one of the simplest things that government could do to help improve our economy almost immediately - pass laws that make it easier for unions to flex their muscle,” said Golden.
All three lawmakers are co-sponsors of either the Senate or House versions of the bill. Golden and Pingree voted to support the measure when it passed the US House in 2021, but it fell a few votes short of the supported needed to pass it in the Senate.
Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook County), who can’t run for re-election due to term limits, told the crowd that when he began serving in the Maine Legislature more than 20 years ago, some Democrats would run for the doors when there was a labor vote to avoid the wrath of the Chamber of Commerce. That's why he focused on recruiting union members to serve when he decided to run for the Senate again eight years ago.
“Today half of my caucus now are union members or at least understand the benefit of being in a union,” said Jackson. “And this next election, even though I’m leaving, we have a real chance to be 60-65 percent union members in the Maine State Senate, which is going to pay huge dividends for all of us in the working class.”
House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland County), touted some of the Maine Legislature’s recent pro-labor achievements, including doubling stipends for child care workers, free community college tuition for high school students, a fund to provide stipends for lobstermen to test new technologies, earned paid leave and expanding majority sign-up union elections for state, judicial and university employees.
Talbot Ross, who grew up in a union household as a ninth generation Black Mainer, also pointed out that the economic growth and development of the nation was made possible by the forced labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants who suffered the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow and other forms of exploitation that continue to this day.
“I am proud that this movement understands that the labor movement is not sectional. It is intersectional,” she said. “It includes indigenous rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, the rights of the disabled and environment justice. We don’t win over and lose over there. We win all together and we keep fighting each and every day.”