(HOLLYWOOD, MARYLAND) - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has officially launched its Workers vs. Billionaires Campaign with a high-energy kickoff rally led by International President Brian Bryant at the William Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, Maryland.

The launch date coincided with the IAM’s founding on May 5th, 1888 - 138 years ago.

The event marked the beginning of a coordinated series of mobilization efforts across all IAM Territories and Departments in the months leading up to the Mid-Term Elections.

Hundreds of IAM Members, Labor Leaders and Community Allies gathered both in person and on-line to rally around a unified message: Working People are done being left behind in an economy dominated by corporate greed.

“Today, we are living through the greatest concentration of wealth in history,” IAM International President Bryant said. “A small group of people has accumulated more money than entire national economies and they are using it to buy politicians, break Unions, off-shore jobs and gut the regulations that protect Working Families.”

The kickoff event was held on the IAM Union’s birthday, founded in a locomotive pit by 19 Railroad Workers who took a stand against industry tycoons in the Gilded Age, creating one of the world’s most influential Labor Unions.

Another rally speaker - Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO President Donna Edwards, told those in attendance: “Nothing has ever been given to labor. We have fought for everything - safer work conditions, time off, overtime pay, benefits and sick leave. Everything has to be a fight and then we do win. In (our) Unions, you never stand alone. You never fight alone. We are in this together.”

The IAM’s Workers vs. Billionaires Campaign aims to mobilize IAM Members and allies in every community where the Union operates, focusing on issues such as fair wages, strong labor protections, retirement security and the right to organize.

The campaign will also highlight the vast economic imbalance in the U.S. where CEOs earn, on average, 285 times more than the typical Worker and received an average raise of $1.24 million last year.

As the campaign moves forward, the IAM Union is expected to host dozens of rallies, actions, and organizing events to build Worker Power and hold corporations accountable.

“Billionaires have the money, but we have the people,” Bryant said. “They have the lobbyists, but we have the votes. They have the politicians, but we have each other - and that is why we will win.”

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Photo Courtesy Of The IAM.