SUMNER — Workers at AIM Aerospace in Sumner have voted by a 3-to-2 margin to join the Machinists Union.
The National Labor Relations Board reported that 60 percent of the votes cast on July 26 were in favor of the union. The NLRB still must certify the results.
The vote covers more than 250 workers at the AIM plant in Sumner. The company is a tier-one supplier to both the Boeing Co. and Airbus and it also suppliers other aerospace companies like Spirit AeroSystems.
The new union members at AIM build a number of composite components for commercial airplanes, including ventilation systems.
Machinists Union District Lodge 751 President Tom Wroblewski thanked the union staff and volunteers who spent several months working on the unionizing effort.
But the biggest congratulations go to the AIM workers themselves, he said. “They stood up for themselves, and stood together in the face of a pretty vicious anti-union attack by management. This strong show of solidarity right at the start is a very good sign. I’m optimistic about the future for our new brothers and sisters at AIM.”
After the election results are certified, Wroblewski said, the union will begin the process of surveying the new members and will ask AIM management for dates to start talks on a first contract.
Originally formed in 1935 to represent hourly workers at Boeing, District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers now represents more than 33,000 working men and women at 49 employers across Washington, Oregon and California.
To learn more about District 751, follow the Machinists News.