Bad Medicine: Canadians will pay more for drugs and lose privacy under TPP

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Canadians will pay more for pharmaceuticals and see the privacy of their health information compromised.

The TPP locks in high drug prices by increasing copyright protection and allowing corporations to sue governments for lost profits. Worse, the deal prevents governments from being able to store citizens’ health information in their own country.
Continue reading Bad Medicine: Canadians will pay more for drugs and lose privacy under TPP

Local Lodge History Project

Fred Lee, retired member, attended the  “Local Lodge History Project” workshop at the Winpisinger Education  and Technology Centre at Placid Harbour, Maryland, 17- 23 January,  2015. There were 28 members present representing 14 Canadian local lodges.

This was the first time this course was given only for Canadian local lodges. It allowed participants to see their own history in the context of the I.A.M.A.W. across Canada.

Members were taught how to interview, archive and use power point skills to do presentations and record the history of the local lodges. There are a lot of histories published for the “bosses” but not much for the people actually doing the work. Workers are generally ignored in published histories.  They have ordinary jobs but have had extraordinary lives and deserve recognition.

Fred is anxious to get on with the project and asks for your help. Please send suggestions and/or photos to fred@iamaw717t.ca

District Lodge 78 welcomes L3 Workers in Trenton Ontario

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717T President Chris Baker

Dear Workers at L3 in Trenton,

Local Lodge 717T, affiliated to District 78, represents two hundred members employed at Magellan Aerospace in Mississauga Ontario. For more than sixty years we have manufactured, repaired and overhauled turbo fan engines for use in Commercial and military aerospace. We work primarily on GE404, GE414 and J85 engines. We also manufacture components for all makes and models of turbo fan power plants.

Our members exceed technical excellence and have been recognized and decorated worldwide as a trusted platform of choice for overhaul and repair in aerospace power plants of all makes and models..

Local 717T members have worked diligently in attaining industry-leading wage rates, health care benefits and pension entitlements.

Sixty years experience in representing member concerns regarding health and safety, grievance and appeals up to and including arbitration. The safety record at Magellan is above and beyond the average. The Local 717T Health and Safety representative sits on the Provincial committee of the Ontario Federation of Labour’s Health & Safety committee. We’re plugged in!

717T participates annually at the IAM Aerospace Conference hosted throughout North America.

All IAM aerospace units (Boeing, Messier-Dowty, L3(MAS) Mirabel, Rolls Royce, Bombardier, Lockheed Martin, CAE, IMP, General Dynamics and others) attend. The conferences are an integral part of the necessary communication between units for a unified front in bargaining better agreements. We’re plugged in!

We regularly send delegates to our William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Centre in Maryland, USA for the purposes of keeping all representatives on the cutting edge of bargaining and related skills. We’re plugged in!

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Regular Local Lodge monthly meetings to discuss the business of the local. To resolve problems and suggest solution – collectively. Also to share news and information from IAM Locals and Districts across Canada as well as the labour movement and legislative issues.

Because you know your working conditions best, you will elect Bargaining Committee, Health & Safety Committee members and local representatives from your own ranks.

Finally, when you decide you want to retire, you can enjoy the pension that comes with being a part of the IAM Labour-Management Pension Plan – one of the finest in any workplace. Ask your colleagues at Mirabel Airport.

I look forward to meeting with all of the workers from L3. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at info@iamaw717t.ca

Chris Baker,
President, IAM Local Lodge 717T
557 Dixon Road, Unit 102
Etobicoke, ON M9W 6K1