Galveston Countoy AFL-CIO Christmas Dinner was a Hit!

Having this be my first casual encounter with the Galveston County AFL-CIO directly I was most impressed. The dinner was held at the Fishermans Wharf at pier 21 in Galveston, where it has been held for many years aside from last year following Hurricane Ike. The food was great, and the company, an impressive lot. From Texas State AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller to the distinguished speakers Hank Gilbert (running for the head Agriculture office) and Mayor Bill White. The hard work that Galveston Co. AFL-CIO President Lee Medley and his staff turned out certainly paid off and made for one heck of a good party. I personally would like to thank the Local for sponsoring my attendance, the room was filled with some of the most influencial people in Galveston County and the State for that matter. I very much look forward to attending again next year.

November Meeting to be Held Wed. November 4th

Because of National Elections being held on Tuesday November 3rd, we are forced to change our Monthly meeting day to the 4th of November. This is very important because it is the meeting that Local Lodge Officers are nominated for the next 3 year term. Officers include:
President, Vice-President, Secretary Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Conductor Sentinal, Trustee's, Auditors, Deligates, and Sterwards. This is a big deal, it will be held at the regular place, American Legion Post 490, across from Ellington Field on Hwy-3 (just north of hwy 1959).
Please get the word out. Look forward to seeing all of you there.

Congradulations CSC Ellington Aircraft Mechanics

Negotiating Committee


Brother Terry Smith, Grand Lodge Rep.



The Gallery

at 10:05 on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 you ratified your contract for the next 3 years 78 to 20. Good work! the efforts of your negotiating team: Luther Levan, Richard Phillips, Jim Whitmore, Michael Brown and Brian Wooley, along with your DBR Preston Brown and Grand Lodge Rep. Terry Smith, you were able to secure what would be termed the best contract available. For those of you that were in attendance you know that the best job possible was presented to you for the vote and you acknowledged that with your acceptance vote of the contract. Your negotiating team worked long and hard for you to get the best possible benefits available. Congratulation on the next three years and "Good Work" for all those responsible.

Negotiations "Working Out"

the negotiations for this next 3 year contract are working out pretty much as expected. This established group of professional aircraft maintenance workers have a long standing working contract. for the most part the negotiations are surrounded in the standard bits of annual salary increases, company pension contributions, insurance premiums/co-pays, and the like. their has also been quite a bit of language manipulation regarding overtime distribution both domestically and abroad with regard to disbursement based on seniority and customer requested talent.
Fairness, stability, and integrity is the baseline for this contract negotiation.
The Ratification Vote will be held at the Gilruth Center, Alamo room (the big room) on the 19th of September (this Saturday). All Employees are urged to attend. there will be coffee and water available. please do not bring any food or drinks into the facility.
We all look forward to seeing each and every one of our members from the Ellington facility at the meeting. This is very important for everyone.
If you should have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly at 832-283-1648.
Good Luck, David

CSC-Ellington Negotiations Coming Up

Negotiations for the CSC Ellington Field Aircraft Maintenance Contract are quickly approaching. Some of the things members of this group need to consider are key topics that your negotiating committee will be bringing to the table. The standards will be addressed, ie. wage increases, and insurance benefits. Your responsibilities are to address issues that have been constant throughout the last contract and need attention, these issues need to be brought to your Steward and the committee.

The first step in the process is that the entire group needs to have a meeting to bring these issues that you want addressed at negotiations and to have a Strike Vote.

Now don't get all crazy, this is not to say that you are going to go on strike. It is a necessary step on several levels, one is that it shows solidarity within the group, it tells the company that you are a single group that means business and that you share the same ideals as to how you want the negotiations to deliver on your demands. The results of the vote are sent to the International, this reveals again, you are unified in your decision and that if need be you will consider a strike to get what you want. Two is that the International will then sanction your negotiations and support your need for a swift, successful, and fairly negotiated contract.

The meeting will be Tuesday, August 18th at the American Legion Post 490 (our regular meeting place) 11702 Highway 3, Houston, TX. 77034, (across the street from Ellington Field)
ph. 281-481-5686
The Hall will be available from 13:00 to 16:30 so to accommodate the day shift and night shift members.
The night shift members should plan on the meeting starting between 13:30 and 13:45, and the day shift personnel get there as soon as you can after work.

Please make every effort to attend this meeting, it is very important in the to you and your fellow union members, it will determine the working conditions and salaries for the entirety of the next contract.

Dortha Newnum Retires after 30 years at NASA

Today was a good day and a sad day for the members of CSC Special Purpose Maintenance Group at the Johnson Space Center. Dortha Newnum Retired today after 20 years manning the Tool Room for the Site Maintenance and Construction Groups. A lot of her friends and acquaintances came by to share a BBQ lunch in her honor. We had some old friends come by, Randy Ryder of Bealine Services, as well as Tim Murphy, to help send Dortha off into Retirement. Today was Dortha’s last day after more than 30 years on-site and with the IAM, she started back in July of 1979 with Northrop working in a clean room rebuilding valves and the like. Then in September of 1981 Dortha moved to Pan Am as a Mechanic. In April of 1986 she took on the roll as Electrician in building 8, she carried on in that position until November of 1989 when she took the position as Tool Room Attendant and has been working that effort since. Her predecessor is Mr. Steve Ogura, Steve has some very large shoes to fill, we are confident he will step up to the calling.
Dortha’s granddaughters, and daughter and her husband, were able to make the luncheon to help with her send off. We appreciate the efforts of everyone that helped pull this thing off. It went very well. Please enjoy some of the pictures of the luncheon.


Dortha, you will be greatly missed, all the best.




Special Purpose Maintenance Group

Tim Murphy, Randy Ryder, Robert Morris and John Jeffords

John Molina (Joe Morino), Leonard Scott, Ken Steadham

Tim, Jimmy Hayman, Randy Ryder, Chris Vanos

Dortha and her followers load'n up the chow!

The Last Domino Game, We think David cheated.....

David Strowd, John Jefford, Dortha, and Donnie Gray

Welcome to the IAMAW Local Lodge 1786 Blogspot

We are finally going to step up to the 19 century and move into the virtual age. Please make yourself welcome and feel free to peruse the site for anything that might be of interest to you regarding our Local. this is a new adventure for me, so any positive criticism will be greatly appreciated, any negative reports will be discarded immediately.
Please remember this is a work in progress, be kind.

Another point of interest is that this year is an election year for our Local, So get together to select individuals that meet the criteria for the various posts that will be coming available. the posts are as follows:

President, Vice-President, Sec. Treasurer, Recording Sec. Conductor Sentinel, Trustee (x3), Auditors (x3), we are adding a Communicators position this time around. You will also be voting on Stewards for the different CBA's under our Local.

So, you will need to assign a representative from each CBA to attend the November 3rd meeting to officially name the nominee's for the various posts available, and voting will be during the day on December 1st, 2009 at the American Legion Hall, Post 490, across from Ellington on Hwy 3, All Day, the polls will close upon start of the regularly scheduled meeting (16:30) and the results will be read at the end of the meeting, usually about 17:30-18:00.

These elected posts are for a 3 year term, your participation is very important to the success of our Local, District, Region, and International efforts. So start planning now.

If you should need any other information, please do not hesitate to contact me.