The $14 million dollar IAM Interview

The $14 million dollar IAM Interview

It never ceases to amaze me that many of my friends and coworkers would so quickly and egregiously throw common sense to the wind and embrace an organization they know little or nothing about. Moreover, these same IAM supporters seem to have an urgent need to have everything spelled out to them in restrictive black and white contractual language, yet not a single one of them has asked for any type of written performance guarantee from the IAM.

And while many of you may agree with me, and probably some of you have concluded that I’m a bag of hot air, even the most pro-IAM of you must have some sense of that age old saying – let the buyer beware.

It’s nice to talk about having a voice at a table, but whose voice would that be? Who would be talking on our behalf?

For an organization that has made plenty of promises – including the preposterous claim that negotiations could begin and end in a matter of months (I’ll debunk that myth in later messages) – certainly the Machinists must have some sort of game plan prepared, with a list of people that they would appoint to lead us should the IAM win a representational election.

IAM: Don’t’ fool us like AFA conned us during the 2006 AFA raid on the Northwest flight attendants. For those who don’t (or wouldn’t) remember that disaster, AFA never named who its interim leaders would be until after the 2006 election. Needless to say, the NWA flight attendants were shocked and horrified to discover that a group of mostly rejected Teamsters has-beens were resurrected and appointed as interim officers and negotiators, along with several flight attendants that had previously refused to pay dues to their former union.

The regret and feeling of being let down by AFA, due to their lack of transparency and honesty, was palpable and almost immediate, once AFA came on the NWA property.

Come on IAM activists – prove to the Delta flight attendants that you are thoughtful organizers. Show some responsibility and a sense of curiosity about the organization you’re demanding that we all support. Insist that the IAM International and the people there who are running the campaign (it’s NOT Delta flight attendants, by the way) be as transparent and honest and forthcoming as possible:

Who are the interim leaders?

Will there be leaders at each base/AFP, how many and what are their names?

What are their qualifications, experience and union history?

Will they all be flight attendants?

How long have they been working in the airline industry?

How will they be compensated?

If we are not paying dues until we ratify a contract, who will they answer to, the flight attendant group or some nameless entity in Washington?

Will IAM International override our elections and appoint our union representatives to other airlines/campaigns, etc. and leave us in a lurch, the way that IAM International has reassigned IAM leaders from ExpressJet to the Delta campaign, while their contract negotiations continue to languish? (Five years and counting).

Where is a published copy of the IAM Constitution and Bylaws – have all the organizers read these documents and are they prepared to answer questions about them? Why aren’t they on the IAM Delta campaign website?

Why do we have to attend an IAM roadshow to get answers to our questions? In this digital age, with the popularity of social media, why can’t you communicate with us in a more direct, open, convenient forum? Are we always going to have to go to an IAM hall to get information?

When will you send us copies of the IAM Constitution and Bylaws, as well as a complete map/spreadsheet of the IAM hierarchy and how it works? You’ve certainly proven that you have our addresses, so this should be a very simple task.

When will you send us links to the IAM’s LM-2s for the past ten years? We would like to see financial statements if we’re considering an investment in their organization. While you’re at it, how about disclosing the pay, reimbursements, etc. that you’ve given to IAM Delta organizers/campaigners/activists.

Will we have our own Local/Lodge, or will each flight attendant base be absorbed into an existing IAM Local/Lodge, similar to the way Teamsters handled us, in order to keep us divided and separated? Will we then have non-flight attendants as union representatives, the way we had with Teamsters?

Are you guaranteeing any of your campaign promises to us in any type of black and white legal document?

How will the $14 million in annual dues that Delta flight attendants send to the IAM be spent? How much will stay with the Delta flight attendants? How much will be used for lobbying purposes? How much will be used on campaigns at other airlines? How much will help pay for IAM president Tom Buffenbarger’s private jet?

These are very simple questions that deserve straightforward answers.

Come on IAM. Start a dialogue – tell us about your organization instead of dictating to us how horrible you believe our company is.

The interview for the $14 million per year job has begun and you’re late for your appointment.

Please share this email with your friends and coworkers.

Sincerely,

Jose Arturo Ibarra