District Lodge 15 Organizes Hudson Toyota / Nissan
June 26, 2006

District Lodge 15 brought 29 new members into the Machinists Union recently by organizing the employees at Hudson Toyota / Nissan located in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Please join us in welcoming these new members into the IAM family.

Local 701 wins at Crystal Lake Pontiac GMC
April 13, 2006

Local 701 in Countryside, Illinois recently brought eight new members into the IAM as the automotive technicians at Crystal Lake Pontiac GMC voted unanimously to join the IAM. Six are journeymen technicians, one is an apprentice technician and one is a semi-skilled technician.

"These technicians are solid in their determination to get the wages, benefits and working conditions they deserve. They are sick of takeaways,” said Local 701 Business Representative Tom Gregg. “The company tried to use harsh tactics, but our new members were insulted and voted 100% for the union.”

County Line BMW, Inc.
Organized By District Lodge 26
December 1, 2005

District Lodge 26 recently brought 7 new members into the Machinists Union by organizing the Automotive Technicians at County Line BMW, Inc., located in Watertown, Connecticut.

Please join in welcoming these new members into the I.A.M. family.

Our congratulations and appreciation to District Lodge 26 Organizer Donna Perinetti, Business Representative Dean White, and all of the team for a job well done.
 

IAM Members Picket AutoNation Shareholder’s Meeting
May 2005

IAM members and union activists picketed outside the AutoNation annual shareholder meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and called on the national dealership chain to obey the law and respect employees' collective bargaining rights.

IAM members and other labor activists turned up the heat on outlaw AutoNation, the country’s largest auto dealership chain, by picketing the annual shareholder meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Protesters charged local managers with threatening, abusing and firing employees to suppress lawful union organizing drives.

“AutoNation executives are turning a blind eye to state and federal laws that require a hands off policy when employees express an interest in forming a union,” said Boysen Anderson, IAM National Automotive Coordinator. “Instead, they condone aggressive campaigns that includes firing union supporters and ignoring multiple court orders to respect its employees’ lawful organizing rights. AutoNation is using company funds to conduct an illegal union avoidance campaign and it’s time the company’s shareholders and the nation’s car buyers know about it.”

Despite fierce opposition, the IAM organized AutoNation dealerships in Nevada and California. Local managers responded by firing and harassing union supporters, including Tom D’Asaro, a former auto mechanic at Power Ford in Torrance, CA, who addressed shareholders at the annual meeting. “I’m here today to tell AutoNation’s directors and shareholders that managers at some dealerships have declared war on their employees,” said D’Asaro. “And that’s not an exaggeration.”

Attorneys for the IAM have filed numerous Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against AutoNation dealerships in Nevada and Southern California, including charges on D’Asaro’s behalf. In Nevada, the NLRB found Desert Toyota of Las Vegas guilty of 27 separate violations of federal labor law and ordered the company to reinstate fired union supporters.