{"id":33459,"date":"2026-03-05T16:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/?p=33459"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:59:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:59:46","slug":"iam-canada-a-conversation-with-david-james-varnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/?p=33459","title":{"rendered":"IAM Canada &#8211; A Conversation with David James Varnes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>60 Years of IAM Membership<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this edition of&nbsp;<strong>Union Stories<\/strong>, we sat down with David James Varnes, a longtime IAM member, whose six decades of service reflect a deep commitment to unionism, democracy, and fairness for working people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Which local are you part of, and what is your role?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My name is David James Varnes. I am a member of Local 764 (Air Transportation). I am retired, but I remain active in my local as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chair of the History Committee<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Secretary of the Bylaw Committee<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Member of the Building Committee (our Local owns its own Union Hall)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I have also served as a Delegate to 10 International Conventions, beginning with Seattle in 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. What are your hobbies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I read widely and often. I love to travel, I\u2019ve visited six continents (only Antarctica left!), &nbsp;and I enjoy gardening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. How long have you been an IAM member?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have been an IAM member in continuous good standing for 60 years, initiated in November 1966. I am proud to be a Gold Card Member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Why do you believe in unions? What does being part of a union mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trade unionism helps equalize the playing field between workers and concentrated corporate power. It exists to ensure fair wage compensation and fairness in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Younger members entering today\u2019s workforce need to understand that being in a union significantly increases their chances of receiving fairness for their labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. What\u2019s something important about union work that you wish more people understood?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have learned many important lessons about Local administration. It is a vital aspect of providing service to the membership, and it deserves focused education and attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Strong administration strengthens member service \u2014 and strong member service strengthens the union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. Why is union solidarity important today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a world with increasing corporate concentration and growing right-wing sentiments, trade unionism remains a vital force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It challenges the \u201cmight makes right\u201d philosophy.<br>It offers an alternative.<br>It is one of the bastions of democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7. Can you share a moment when you felt proud to be in the IAM?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1988, I was part of an effort by Canadian IAM members to amend the IAM Constitution so that members in Canada could elect their Territorial Vice-President solely by Canadian members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before that change, members voted on a \u201cslate\u201d determined by the American majority. The process to achieve this reform took eight years. I helped initiate the change \u2014 and it was a change for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It strengthened democratic representation for Canadian members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8. What\u2019s one thing you want the world to know about the IAM?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe in democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IAM does its best to embrace democratic principles. There is no better training ground for democracy than the regular meeting of a local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IAM educates vigilant citizens.<br>And democracy needs vigilant citizens \u2014 now more than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To read more, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urlscanner.mailmarshal.cloud\/?c=22645&amp;d=sdOn6bSuUvOojVRyYKF9jbmIx0Li-vkUQFvhYyxX3g&amp;s=1918&amp;u=https%3a%2f%2fdjvaviationstories%2ewordpress%2ecom%2f\">https:\/\/djvaviationstories.wordpress.com\/<\/a>&nbsp;by David Varnes, where he shares written highlights of the contributions of the Machinists Union to aviation in Canada.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>60 Years of IAM Membership For this edition of&nbsp;Union Stories, we sat down with David James Varnes, a longtime IAM member, whose six decades of service reflect a deep commitment to unionism, democracy, and fairness for working people. 1. Which local are you part of, and what is your role? My name is David James [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[63,3011,61,3012,62],"class_list":{"0":"post-33459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-d140","10":"tag-iam","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-union","14":"post-with-thumbnail","15":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33460,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33459\/revisions\/33460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iam140.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}