plant in early 1982. Three weeks later, a machinist narrowly escaped serious injury when a shot fired into the picket line hit his belt buckle. The National Labor Relations Board later charged Brown & Sharpe with regressive bargaining, and of entering into negotiations with the express purpose of not reaching an agreement with the union. It was not until 1998, nearly seventeen years after the strike began, that the Rhode Island Supreme Court ended the legal battle, ultimately siding with Brown & Sharpe in its plea that it had not illegally forced the strike. By this point, both Brown & Sharpe and its erstwhile work force were retreating from manufacturing in Rhode Island. From 1981 to 1990 the union owned and operated an Indy Car racing team, Machinists Union Racing. In 1991, the union absorbed the Pattern Makers' League of North America. The Transportation Communications International Union (TCU) merged with the IAM, after a TCU member vote in July 2005. On September 7, 2008, the union began a strike against Boeing over issues with outsourcing, job security, pay and benefits. The union continues to expand into different companies today. In December 2013 the union's attempt to represent workers at an Amazon.com fulfillment center in Middletown, Delaware failed. In 2020, the union began a strike at Bath Iron Works, a major shipyard in Bath, Maine, over disagreements regarding a new labor contract with the company. The strike, occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, was described by the IAM President as "the largest strike in the United States of America right now.” The strike ended after two months, with new labor contract agreements viewed as favorable to the union members. Composition According to IAM's Department of Labor records, since 2005, when membership classifications were first reported, the union's membership has been generally in a slow decline, including "dues paying", "retired", and "exempt" members. Despite this, "life" members were reported to have had a 22 percent increase during this period, and "unemployed" members momentarily increased to a peak in 2009, before also declining. Members classified as "on strike" have varied considerably throughout, although remaining less than 1 percent of the total membership. IAM contracts also cover some non-members, known as agency fee payers, which since 2005 have grown to number comparatively just over 1 percent of the size of the union's membership. As of 2013, this accounts for about 145,000 "retirees" (25 percent), 52,000