IAM International President Bob Martinez has appointed longtime healthcare worker advocate Marti A. Garza as director of the IAM’s Healthcare Department.
Garza comes to the IAM with over two decades of organizing, collective bargaining and strategic campaigning experience. He has spent more than a decade supporting workers in the healthcare industry, organized and unorganized, in standing up and fiercely advocating for their profession and their patients, including serving as one of the founding organizers of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
“The thousands of IAM members across North America who work in the healthcare industry as caregivers and supporters of quality patient care will be well-served by Marti’s expertise,” said Martinez. “Marti shares my belief that healthcare workers and their patients all do better when healthcare workers have a strong voice on the job. We are proud to welcome him to the Fighting Machinist family.”
Garza’s experience organizing, bargaining on behalf of, and representing healthcare professionals runs the gamut of caregiver careers in the industry—including registered and licensed vocational nurses, other licensed healthcare professionals, nursing assistants and healthcare technicians, and service and clerical workers. He is the son of migrant farmworkers in Texas.
The IAM Healthcare Department provides IAM healthcare members with a center of resources to organize new members and grow power in a rapidly changing and evolving industry. The IAM Healthcare Department works to bargain strong and effective agreements with employers that ensure our members have a voice in quality patient care, and strategically advocate on legislation and policies that impact and govern our professions and the conditions under which we provide care to our patients.
Garza can be reached at [email protected] or 301-967-4795.
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