In the strange and fantastic world of the Machinists union,
bliss must be a flying carpet ride away – years of history vanish, tall tales
trump the truth, smoke and mirrors distort reality … but don’t believe the
nonsense knocking at the door, for all the magic pixie dust in the world can’t
bleach away the IAM’s checkered past of failure, ineptitude, corruption and
outsourcing. Nor can it erase the bad judgment of those delusional “activists”,
who seem hell-bent on shoving one corrupt union after another down our throats,
and only admit to their poor choices and epic mistakes after the union loses
the election.
Chief among these “bad choosers” is lead IAM organizer and MSP flight attendant Julianna Helminski. You’ll remember Julianna from her public and misguided attacks on fellow flight attendants and reformists at AFA. When flight attendants and a few honest AFA leaders tried to hold AFA accountable to the membership they purported to represent, Helminski engaged in campaigns to smear and attack those flight attendants. It wasn’t until AFA lost their last Delta election that Helminski had her big epiphany and “suddenly realized” that AFA was a corrupt and incompetent union with poor leadership but she then washed herself clean of any personal accountability by issuing a proclamation of having “learned from her mistakes.” (Never mind that Helminski’s massive mistake could have cost the Delta flight attendants millions of dollars).
Apparently she hasn’t learned from her own mistakes, because Helminski is now in bed with the very union (IAM) that outsourced thousands of ground jobs at Northwest Airlines in 2006.
Recently, Helminski declared that the Machinists are “amazingly close” to filing for an election. So close in fact – she says she’s seen the numbers – that she’s completely changing the campaign’s strategy to push across the finish line, because apparently the previous strategy, whatever it was, must be failing, and that’s why they’ve hit a brick wall.
The Helminski Proclamation mandates activists to:
1) Participate – but only in New York and Atlanta, because “the 'reasons' for not signing at this stage are changing at these bases daily and this card signing campaign will be won in New York and Atlanta.”
In other words, apparently the IAM wants to focus on more junior folks who might be too new to remember IAM’s epic failure and complete collapse at Northwest Airlines, which included pitting their own members against each other during bankruptcy in order to outsource those at smaller down line stations to gain raises for those in hubs and larger stations. Yep – IAM outsourced their own members’ jobs – think what they can do for us.
2) Listen – because “talking AT' a colleague doesn't work. Not at this stage in the campaign.”
That’s right. We knew it all along. The IAM spent the last year and a half “talking AT” us – nice to know that it’s all been talk with no substance. Here’s a question to ask, how did listening work for the TWA flight attendants, whom the IAM abandoned during the AA/TWA merge? Where was the great and powerful IAM when AA stapled them to the bottom of the seniority list? How about when IAM refused to listen to the NWA mechanics who exercised their legal right to decertify the IAM, only to have IAM turn around and gang up with NWA to break the mechanic’s strike during the Northwest bankruptcy? How did listening work for them?
3) Be positive – because “the one way to lose a card and lose a vote is to hate on the company or to be negative about your career. We are well aware that many FAs are unhappy. However, the FAs who are unhappy signed their cards months ago. Keep that in the forefront of your mind. Nobody likes to be around angry, unhappy people; especially those FAs who haven't signed a card yet.”
Well that’s quite the mouth full – so now that the angry, unhappy people who hate the company and are negative about our careers have signed cards, the rest of us should follow? Do we really need to be angry, unhappy, hateful and negative to improve Delta, and is that what we should expect if we vote for the IAM, an angry, unhappy, hateful and negative union run by angry, unhappy, hateful and negative activists? Think about that one carefully. And what about the times that Helminski and her fellow IAM “National Leaders” have been angry and hateful and negative? Should we just forget about her own past history and pretend that we don’t see the extreme hypocrisy and phoniness in her encouragement to “be positive”?
4) Use Facts – “many Activists say that they just ‘didn't know what to say’. That's OK. We're not born with knowledge. We learn. If you don't know the answer, don't pretend to…”
This is an important point, and not at all a surprise that we’ve been bombarded with non-facts from pretenders up until now. In fact, every email that the IAM campaign has put out has been a mistruth, false promise and flat-out plagiarized material.
It is really the IAM activists who should start doing their homework. Let’s start with Helminski’s fellow IAM organizer, Gabe Perez, who recently publicly asked for a “volunteer” to read the IAM Constitution and then to put together summaries of all the sections to pass around to other organizers. Say WHAT, Gabe? Isn’t the IAM Constitution the “legally binding, black and white contract” between the union and its members? What the hell does that say about you and your fellow “leaders” when you publicly admit that you don’t even know what’s contained in the Constitution of the corrupt organization that you’re trying to shove down our throats?
Here are some homework topics that Helminski and Perez should review, and afterwards maybe they can provide answers regarding: IAM bankruptcy outsourcing scam at NWA; IAM epic failure to protect TWA flight attendants; IAM losing Continental flight attendants to AFA; IAM and the collapse of Eastern Airlines; IAM pension scheme fails to enroll any flight attendants, IAM undermining other NWA unions during bankruptcy, IAM teaming up with NWA management to break the NWA mechanics strike.
5) Unify – “We've seen supporters start to use anger against other unionists. That has to stop. It only hurts all of us.”
But why are they so angry at each other? Is it because the Machinists have no strategy for the future should they win an election, and insiders are starting to ask questions? What will the IAM negotiate away in order to obtain a dues-check off clause? And until then – if ever – who will pay for negotiations? Who will negotiate? Who will run the union and will they be appointed or elected? What will happen if negotiations drag on three, four, five years? Will IAM offer outsourcing to survive as a union? How long will Delta flight attendants be willing to wait for improvements? Will we have to strike?
Moreover, this behavior is indicative of the nature of some individuals and a telling glimpse for the Delta flight attendants into what life will be like even with a union. You see, these chronic complainers, these negative nellies, these volunteer victims who believe that everything that happens to them in the course of their days is the result of a massive and strategically planned conspiracy that started over 80 years ago, will never change. And it should be no surprise that many of the so-called “union supporters” were also that main union attackers when we had a union at Northwest. Sadly there are people who like to agitate just for the sake of agitation. And they’ll be there to play their same old shtick, union or no union.
6) Hope – “Each base is at a different stage in the campaign, but our IAM campaign is going better than any union campaign in Delta history…”
Really? Considering that every drive to unionize the Delta flight attendants has failed, what makes this one any different or better? Is it failing by less than the other campaigns? Has the IAM offered a single shred of evidence as to how and when and what they would negotiate? What exactly and specifically are their plans, how will they place them into motion and what are they willing to do for us or to us to achieve them? Moreover, if they are truly nearing the end of their campaign, why have they not officially identified any of their campaign leaders or interim leaders?
7) Reach out and be creative – “Do you have an idea that could help our group. Tell us and do it. We'll assist you.”
Here’s a thought, Julianna, tell us why you would “rather have a root canal or a Brazilian bikini wax rather than continuing a day of union organizing.” How is that supposed to be inspirational or thought-provoking? How is that anything but self-centered narcissism and a ridiculous, desperate grab for attention?
Please forward this email to one and all that care about our
career. Please print and take with you to show others. Please post it on any
social media you desire.
Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
