Upper Marlboro, MD (PAI) — Saying it is time for workers “to call the shots” in the modern U.S. economy, Brian Bryant became the new International Association of Machinists (IAM) president on Jan. 5.
Bryant, who hails from Maine’s Lodge 56 at the Bath Iron Works shipyard, where he started as a pipefitter, succeeds Bob Martinez, who retired. Before becoming president, Bryant, a 34-year Machinist, held three executive council positions.
“It is time to not just improve the state of working people, but to fundamentally transform the way working people live. We demand not just a seat at the table, but a chance to call the shots,” Bryant declared in his inaugural address.
Before Bryant and the new executive council can tackle the economic problems of the future facing workers as a whole, they looking to the union’s future. For more than a year, Martinez and other officers toured the country, talking to individual members about what they expect out of IAM.
The result is a report by the IAM Committee on the Future. The report has been sent to the council, but not released publicly. “We know the world is changing, and that our union must not simply change with it, but lead that change,” Bryant said.
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