What the Smear Campaign Against Dora Cervantes is Really About

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

We are writing to you, member to member, to reiterate our full support and endorsement of our colleague on the Executive Council, Sister Dora Cervantes, for re-election as IAM General Secretary-Treasurer on April 24, 2021. An overwhelming number of members across North America, as evidenced by more than 640 Local Lodges endorsing Sister Dora for GST, feel the same way.

To be clear, we each have always supported the re-election of Sister Cervantes, seeing first-hand the work she has done as a council member to support and grow our union. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false. Every single member running for Executive Council on the incumbent slate fully agreed to support GST Cervantes and the entire slate of IAM Grand Lodge Officers.

Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja made the same promise. After making this commitment, and without telling his colleagues, GVP Pantoja violated his word and appears to have orchestrated nominations for an opposition candidate at the last minute.

Now, GVP Pantoja has publicly endorsed a person whom we believe to be an inexperienced candidate, an act that threatens to tear our union apart at a time when our members’ livelihoods are threatened as never before. It will result in the diversion of substantial time and millions of dollars when we all need to be focused on supporting our members during these difficult and chaotic times. We believe these actions may jeopardize the good and welfare of the membership, all because of what appears to be a personal vendetta that GVP Pantoja has against GST Cervantes.

Further, this opposition candidate for GST had already personally accepted and agreed to run in a critical role as a member of our Law Committee. Rather than be upfront with her decision to run for GST, she secretly ran simultaneously for both positions. She misled members who supported her public decision to be a candidate for the Law Committee, preventing them from nominating a candidate who would actually serve in that capacity. These are not the actions of someone who should be trusted with the management of our union’s financial resources.

At the same time, the opposition campaign has been spreading damaging lies about our union and its officers, which hurts our bargaining power and ability to organize. This is not the way we do things. We believe we are stronger when we work together fighting aggressively for the interests of our members, not by infighting and eating up valuable time and resources.

We fully support democratic elections, as evidenced by our union’s proud tradition of democracy and the extension of absentee ballot deadlines in this election to make sure every vote counts safely during the pandemic. And we present for comparison how people of integrity manage their differences. As you may know, in our Canadian Territory, there was a competitive election for General Vice President. Both candidates made it clear publicly that they were running well before the nominations, and neither attempted to run for two positions simultaneously, maintaining the integrity of the elections process. That, in our opinion, is what union democracy must look like.

With this in mind, every IAM member should know how important the upcoming April 24, 2021 Grand Lodge Officer Election is for the future of our great union. We have stayed strong through the pandemic because of the decisions made by this leadership team — cutting costs at Headquarters, putting resources back into the field and continuing to negotiate industry-leading contracts.

Sister Dora Cervantes, as the chief financial officer of our union, has been a vital part of that team. She has proven time after time that she has the strength, experience and integrity needed to continue to guide our union to a brighter future. Dora is a trailblazer and mentor for countless IAM Sisters who look up to her leadership.

We are asking for your support for Sister Dora. Together, our Leadership Team is laser focused on protecting the lives of our members and their families during this pandemic. Specifically, our priorities are:

• Keeping our members safe on the job.
• Defending our membership against corporations who try to take advantage of this pandemic.
• Fighting for relief for all members, including an extension of the airline Payroll Support Program and relief for transit workers.
• Making sure our union continues to stay financially strong.
• Growing our union and negotiating industry-leading contracts for your IAM family.
• Our members have a clear choice in the upcoming Grand Lodge Election — supporting proven strength and experience, or a shadow campaign that seeks only to divide our great union.

So please, join us in voting to re-elect Sister Dora Cervantes as the IAM’s General Secretary-Treasurer. Request an Absentee Ballot Request Form today at goIAM.org/grand-lodge-elections.

In solidarity,

Robert “Bob” Martinez, Jr.
Candidate for International President

Gary R. Allen
Candidate for General Vice President

Mark A. Blondin
Candidate for General Vice President

Rickey Wallace
Candidate for General Vice President

Brian Bryant
Candidate for General Vice President

Steve Galloway
Candidate for General Vice President

David Chartrand
Candidate for General Vice President

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Get an Absentee Ballot Request Postcard mailed to you and stay in touch with us at bit.ly/Machinist_Strong.

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