Of any union, the IAM represents the largest number of Service Contract Act workers in the U.S. government. Many of those workers are former military members who find a great way to use their military skills to build civilian careers.
IAM Local 4 members in Hollywood, Md., are a prime example of those IAM union members with strong union jobs.
“This is actually the first time being part of a union,” said Local 4 member Keiree Martinez, a military veteran Naval Aviation mechanic, now working as a civilian for V2X, Inc at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. “Learning how everything works is a transition from military to being a civilian in a union”.
Hollywood, Md., is about 2,700 miles from Hollywood, Calif., but if Top Gun is your favorite military movie, today’s Maverick and Goose would rely on the members of Local 4 to test their fighter jets long before they ever engaged in dog fighting. The opening chapter of the recent Top Gun movie showed our hero trying to save the jobs of workers on project Dark Star from the budget cuts that inevitably get proposed. Those types of jobs at V2X on NAS Patuxent River are represented by the IAM, and Business Representative Mark Duval is responsible for the roughly 800 workers keeping U.S. Navy aviators flying safely at the base.
“In the government’s Service Contract Act world, unions can actually drive the area wage determination (AWD) chart in certain locations, like here in St. Mary’s County, Maryland,” said Duval. “Our members are the majority of the workers doing aircraft work in this area, so the pay rate chart is sometimes the result of the good contracts we negotiate for our members. And then we can negotiate benefits, extra paid leave, and have a say in working conditions on top of that.”
Having a say in working conditions can be important. Being able to work in shorts during the summer time in the un-airconditioned aircraft hangers seems to be a huge hit with these union members.
Aircraft mechanic Simon Zolea has been here about a year, but as prior military, he still has that attention to detail and work ethic that requires him to be precise and methodical at his work. There is no rush, because rushing can lead to mistakes.
“One small mistake can cause a ton of worker hours,” said Zolea. “One of the things the union helps out with is they mitigate if we are ever getting pressured by the company.”
“They stand up for us and they come up with the CBAs, the bargaining agreement. They get us better benefits and they try to get us more pay when it comes time at the end of the contract,” said aircraft mechanic Beau Reinhard, who works with helicopters from the Blackjack squadron, HX-21, that tests and flys UH-1s and MH-53s for the Navy.
“I am very proud of our Local 4 members who serve our Nation’s defense everyday. The IAM has great talent in that entire nationwide workforce and their union representatives who understand the Service Contract Act better than most,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President David Sullivan. “SCA workers make out far better as union members than they do going it alone and hoping to understand the complex world of U.S. Government contracting.”
Aircraft take off and land 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the Navy Air Station about 75 miles from Washington, D.C. Most hours of those days, a proud IAM member is doing their job and continuing their service to this nation.
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