Catherwood LibraryILR School

Former Northwest Airlines machinist Vince (Vinnie) Bazzachini, who led Minnesota's largest local labor union during a tumultuous period in the 1990s, died Friday at his home in Eagan, Minnesota. Bazzachini, who battled fiercely against Northwest management while he simultaneously coped with a civil war within his own union, died of an apparent heart attack. He was 54. "Vinnie was never a rabble rouser. He was a compassionate leader," said Dan Lockren, who also served in a leadership position at Local 1833 of the International Association of Machinists (IAM). Bazzachini, a native of Hibbing, MN, was elected president of IAM Local 1833 in January 1994 and served through June 1999.