Machinist locals force national union election

  • By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer
  • Saturday, February 8, 2014 9:12pm
  • Business

A slate of reform candidates challenging the Machinists union’s sitting leadership says it picked up enough endorsements from the labor group’s roughly 1,000 local lodges to force its first contested general election in more than a half-century.

To get on the ballot, candidates need to endorsed by 25 locals.

But that is a far higher hurdle than it might seem.

No candidate has done it since 1961, and last year, the U.S. Department of Labor found that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) headquarters stifled information about the nominating process to suppress any real competition.

Local union leaders have said that the international leadership has been able to suppress competition through its firm control over union staff jobs and financial and other resources.

The IAM headquarters in Upper Marlboro, Md., denies such charges, but the union did agree to hold the 2013 election again rather than fight the Labor Department.

The first round came last month, when lodges nominated candidates for IAM’s top offices. Reformers picked up uncontested nominations from 14 locals. About 85 other locals nominated both the challengers and incumbents, prompting members of those lodges to cast ballots on Saturday.

The contested lodges included four of seven belonging to District Lodge 751, which represents about 32,000 Boeing employees, mostly in metro Western Washington.

Jay Cronk, who tops the reform ticket, said based on early results, at least 13 locals on the East Coast have endorsed his slate.

A spokesman for sitting International President Tom Buffenbarger’s campaign said he couldn’t confirm the results, but that the campaign isn’t concerned.

Cronk said he is “encouraged by members’ support.”

Now, he and other challengers are focused on a general election across the union in April, said Cronk, a railroad mechanic from New Haven, Conn., and a former senior staffer at IAM international headquarters.

He was fired from his staff position when he declared his candidacy last November.

The reform slate includes three members from the Pacific Northwest.

On Friday, a handful of local Machinists protested as Buffenbarger arrived for an event at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Buffenbarger, who has been the union’s International President since 1997, alienated many District 751 activists when he stepped over the local leadership in contract negotiations last year with the Boeing Co.

Machinists opposed to the contract said Buffenbarger weakened their negotiating power by showing Boeing a divided leadership.

Representatives of the union’s international headquarters in Maryland have defended the deal, which traded benefit cuts for the company locating 777X assembly and wing production in Washington state, as the best terms possible.

District members narrowly approved the contract in early January.

“He forced a concessionary contract down our throats,” said Wilson ‘Fergie’ Ferguson, a rank-and-file leader and mechanic on the 737 flightline in Renton.

“It’s time for true trade unionists to stand up and tell the emperor he has no clothes on,” he said.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.