Machinists Union Delegates Endorse Obama, Biden

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Delegates meeting in Toronto, ON for the 38^th Grand Lodge Convention of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) voted overwhelmingly today to formally endorse Barack Obama and Joe Biden for a second term as President and Vice President of the United States.

“We welcomed President Obama’s appointments of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court”

Prior to the vote, IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger urged delegates to carefully consider how a Romney administration would handle the upcoming retirements of at least four and possibly as many as seven U.S. Supreme Court justices.

“A seven to two Supreme Court will be the darkest, longest running and strangest nightmare any of us will ever have,” said Buffenbarger. “Our right to strike, our right to bargain collectively, our right to belong to a union, and even our right to assemble – can be rewritten, refined and reworked out of existence by the Supreme Court.”

The next president will likely have the opportunity to nominate replacements for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, age 79; Justice Antonin Scalia, age 76; Justice Anthony Kennedy, age 76 and Justice Stephen Breyer, age 74. The four senior justices are followed by Clarence Thomas, age 64; Sam Alito, age 62 and John Roberts, age 57.

“We welcomed President Obama’s appointments of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court,” said Buffenbarger. “Not because they were especially pro-labor, but because they displayed the kind of non-partisan competence most Americans want to see on the Court.”

The delegates’ endorsement in Toronto follows an earlier unanimous endorsement in February from the IAM’s Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL), which evaluates local and national candidates and makes recommendations for IAM members.

The IAM is one of the largest industrial trade unions in North America, representing nearly 700,000 active and retired members in dozens of industries. For more information about the IAM, visit www.goiam.org.