HISTORIC CAMPAIGN COMES TO A CLOSE; WORK JUST BEGINNING

Tomorrow, April 24th, IAM members in the United States and Canada will cast their vote for General Secretary-Treasurer. While the election campaign is ending, the work to bring integrity and accountability back to our Union will continue. IAM members cannot allow the corruption that has been uncovered to go on. If we do, it will be the end of our Union.
 
When our campaign began, we only planned to address the mismanagement of IAM finances and pension funds and expose Dora Cervantes’ coverup of her sister’s role in the theft of more than $100,000 from Local Lodge 2198. Her behavior regarding that theft is what led Local Lodge 2198, the Local where she has been a member for 30 years, to endorse me to replace her.
 
Unexpectedly, our campaign revealed the GST’s own systemic corruption by showing how Dora Cervantes falsified her own expense reports to charge tens of thousands of dollars in personal travel to IAM members. Our efforts have already forced GST Cervantes to pay the IAM back more than $6,000 she improperly received from our treasury, the treasury she swore to protect. If that wasn’t bad enough, she still had the audacity to attend a Local Lodge meeting and cry that we, the members, owe her money. The Department of Labor will hold Dora Cervantes accountable, but justice takes time. We have the opportunity and responsibility as union members to hold her accountable NOW!
 
In a failed attempt to protect her secrets, the International President has fired senior staff, threatened the jobs of his entire staff, and attacked the very membership that dared to exercise their right to vote for the candidate they wanted.
 
We know that the GST has misappropriated our treasury for her own gain, and we have showed you the proof. The Executive Council is still protecting her, instead of the membership. The International President is so afraid of me winning the election, replacing Dora and gaining access to our Union’s financial records that he created a new Special Assistant whose only role is to use dues dollars to threaten and intimidate voters. The IP and others on the Executive Council have been calling and trying to bully people. In many cases Local Lodge officers are hearing from their GVP for the first time in years, only to be threatened into voting for Dora Cervantes. That is not leadership.
 
Anyone who asks you to vote for Dora Cervantes is asking you to vote for someone who steals from this union. Do not listen to them. Do not continue to allow the plundering of our treasury and your dues dollars. 

 Vote for change at your Local Lodge voting location from 6-8 am and pm on Saturday April 24th. Vote to protect your own assets. If your bank was stealing from you, you would find a new bank. This Saturday, you have that chance. If you already voted for Dora Cervantes by mail, you could still show up in person at your Local Lodge and vote again. In such cases only the in-person vote will be counted.
 
“I promise that I will never defraud this Union out of anything whatsoever, or allow it to be defrauded, if within my power to prevent it. To all of this, I most solemnly pledge my sacred word of honor.”

 That is the oath that every IAM officer takes. Our GST and those that support her are violating that oath. By re-electing Dora Cervantes as GST we are allowing the Union to continue being defrauded. Do not let that continue.
 
Thank you for your support.
 
Challenger and Candidate for IAM GST Ian Scott-Anderman