As the Machinists campaign at Delta
tailspins into its inevitable demise, the proclamations from its most ardent
supporters become more desperate, more delusional and more hypocritical.
Recently MSP
FA Dotty Malinsky, a huge supporter of the Machinists’ disastrous, divisive and
destructive campaign – and someone who often likes to crow about her alleged 40
years of “union support” at NWA – had this to say about flight attendants who
don’t pay union dues:
Dotty Malinsky : “Not paying dues would be a continuation of taking a free ride on the
backs of your fellow employees who pay dues and support their union. The
company would try to break the union by giving the non-dues payers a better
deal and THEN--when they got rid of the union--return to their old control and
monitor style of management. We are all enjoying the fruits of the labor
movement. Why in the world do some think they are entitled to a free ride?”
The glaring
hypocrisy in Dotty’s “proclamation” is that she herself previously REFUSED to
pay her union dues. Prior to and during the time of NWA’s bankruptcy, when the
union representing the NWA flight attendants successfully saved every single
flight attendant job from outsourcing (something that neither ALPA nor IAM
did), Dotty and a slew of other IAM supporters effectively WITHDREW their
support of the union democratically elected to represent the NWA flight
attendants!!!
The
take-away from the behavior of people like Dotty is that it’s not the
union/non-union issue that is really upsetting them. The truth is that these
are people who aren’t happy unless they have something to be unhappy about.
Apparently they only feel relevant when they are railing against a “cause” and
they won’t be any less bitter or angry or judgmental or derogatory if IAM gets
on the property at Delta. Their behavior will remain the same; only their
target will change.
During the
NWA bankruptcy, when all employees were facing massive concessions, there was
only one major union that saved every single one of its members’ jobs. ALPA
allowed the 70-seater language, which brought about Compass Airlines and the
in-sourcing of pilot jobs to regionals. IAM negotiated an outsourcing scheme
with NWA management to surrender thousands of jobs at 59 stations by sending
out a tentative agreement that divided and forced its members at the large hub
stations to vote against its members at smaller stations. Only PFAA (the NWA
independent flight attendant from 2003 to 2006) successfully stopped
outsourcing, all while AFA and their supporters were raiding the NWA flight
attendants and causing division and disunity, not unlike the same agitators are
doing against the Delta flight attendants today.
Below is a
short list of current IAM supporters who were anti-union for years and refused
to pay thousands of dollars to the former flight attendants union. As I’ve noted time and again, once something has
been posted anywhere on the internet, it remains accessible forever, regardless
of anyone’s attempt to expunge it. And it’s amazing how old information (postings,
comments, etc…) resurfaces, just as if it was tucked away in some former union
official’s purloined briefcase, or perhaps recorded on a hidden camera.
(Dues
arrears in parenthesis):
Dotty Malinsky ($984) – Dotty formerly collected the big
bucks as a Teamsters vice-president (over $120,000 per year in today’s dollars
when adjusted for inflation). She has also admitted that despite her full time
position, she flew trips while she held office to supplement her income. But
that’s not an uncommon practice in big industrial unions, where officials hold
two or three jobs or positions, because there is no accountability if they
don’t show up for work. During the Northwest Orient/Republic merger, Dotty was
a big advocate of stapling the Republic flight attendants to the bottom of the
combined seniority list. The Delta/Northwest seniority integration was actually
the SECOND time an arbitrator had to tell Dotty to play fair.
Dotty’s
disdain for her colleagues continues to this day – particularly if they are
former Republic or Hughes AirWest flight attendants. In a recent public post,
Dotty had this gossip to share about a colleague:
“The
(sic) charters have been a lot of fun but there is a PMNW Purser who bids them
all the time and she's horrible! Senior to me but has no clue how to actually
work the charter and is always asking "how do we do this?" and gets
mad when someone speaks us (sic). The last time I flew with her--the
Captain/First Officer both wanted to remove her from the trip and said they
were going to talk to the Chief Pilot about her. Don't know if they did it but
I could see their point. BTW--she's a former Hughes! Enough said...............”
Neal McMahon ($1,321) – Current IAM National Campaign
Coordinator and webmaster of the IAM campaign website. Neal was formerly the
NWAAFA MEC webmaster, until he was removed from that position by the NWAAFA
MEC. As webmaster, it took Neal over a year to post the last concessionary NWA
contract on the AFA website. Most recently, Neal put out an IAM survey on
Thanksgiving Eve and promised the results would be published by December 16.
Unsurprisingly, the link to the survey was shut down and there are no results
to be found anywhere. This should be a huge wake-up call to anyone who believes
the IAM cares to hear the “voice” of the Delta flight attendants.
Bob Cannatelli ($1,281) – Former NWAAFA LEC President for
BOS, and current IAM BOS Campaign Chair.
Bob’s
biggest “contributions” to the NWA flight attendants as the NWAAFA LEC
President included overrunning his union budget by more than 300%, overpaying
his own salary beyond the limits allowed under the AFA Constitution, and
sketchy business expense claims. Oh, and Bob was also brought up on union
charges for making misogynistic comments about his fellow union leaders during
MEC meetings. Bob was instrumental in electing an NWA flight attendant to the MEC
Secretary/Treasurer position just months after the flight attendant had filed personal
bankruptcy. Then, when the MEC discovered embezzlement of union funds by some
of the MEC officers, Bob participated in the cover-up and said nothing and did
nothing when over $40,000 of the NWA flight attendants’ dues money went
missing.
Josh Zivick ($470) – Former NWAAFA LEC President for
NYC, and current IAM NYC Campaign Chair
Ditto all of
Bob Cannatelli’s “contributions”, except Josh was only 200% over his annual AFA
budget with excessive salaries and expenses.
Steve Cox ($1,116) – Co-Administrator of the secret
“Contractor” Facebook page
Julie Higby ($1,426) – Co-Administrator of the secret
“Contractor” Facebook page
Stacey Yeatts ($909) – Co-Administrator of the secret
“Contractor” Facebook page, and a recent sufferer of “Yellow Book Fever”. Stacey’s
delirium of NWA history and the application of current work rules is so
delusional and so incorrect that it deserves its own blog post.
Scott Johnston ($1,161) – Former EIG member, who resigned in
made-up and mock disgust and has made ridiculously irrational comments about
the real world and the need for IAM representation.
Paul Wacker ($1,189) – Recently and hypocritically
proclaimed: ”Wear your UNION pin with Pride and know that Unity will
bring about the best Contract !!!!” Paul likes to expound ridiculous theories.Sincerely,
Jose Arturo Ibarra
