Thug Regan Does Not Heart Mike Casey

It looks like Mike Casey has well and truly pissed off Thug Regan.

And what, praytell, was Casey's crime? Acting on principle...

to sflc re seiu 8-17-09

This whole story was covered in part by Randy Shaw at BeyondChron, but it's nice to get some backstory and documentation to some of the stuff in Shaw's story from last week.

When I told Regan that it was SEIU that brought Casey into the home health care decertification campaign by handing out a flyer calling him a liar, the trustee replied “he is a liar.” Regan went on to call Casey “lying, conniving, and despicable,” and said that his support for NUHW is “beyond contempt.”

Geez, Thug Regan. Why don't you tell us what you really think? Later on...

According to Regan, “Mike Casey wants to yell and scream about how he’s fighting these hotels, but he doesn’t want help from SEIU.” Regan would not tell Casey about SEIU’s specific plans to attack Local 2, but one possibility is for SEIU to send letters to Local 2 members accusing Casey of acting against his members’ interests, a tactic SEIU used months ago to little effect.

Oh, you mean like this one? Yeah, that'll go over big with the Local 2 membership.

Regan repeatedly emphasized that he could not understand why progressives would support Local 2’s decision to help decertify another union. He refused to accept that Local 2 was responding to SEIU raids against UNITE HERE bargaining units in Puerto Rico, San Antonio and elsewhere, saying that this had nothing to do with the SEIU-NUHW fight.

In fact, Regan argued to Casey last Saturday that it was it was “flat out wrong” for Local 2 to support the organizing of a competing union (NUHW) in the homecare industry. But when challenged that SEIU was doing precisely that against UNITE HERE – organizing a competing union in the gaming, hotel and food service industry – he said that should be resolved at the International Union level.

Yo, Thug - it kinda sucks when people use your own tactics against you, don't it?

Regan expressed anger to me over how San Francisco’s progressive community is backing Casey in this fight. He clearly does not understand Local 2’s historic role in local struggles, or realize that Local 2 is not a top-down union, that Casey does not act alone, and that the rank and file strongly supports NUHW’s campaign.

The passage above suggests that Regan still hasn't internalized what happened down in Fresno, or the fact that, at least out west, we still have actual member-driven unions, instead of the semi-corporate dictatorships like District 1199 or the various Frankenlocals that SEIU is so fond of setting up.

He also does not remember the substantial support Local 2 received from the former leadership of Local 250/UHW (now in charge of NUHW) when the SF hotel workers went out on their protracted strike. It was specifically because of actions taken by the former UHW leadership that Local 2 was able to ride out the hotel management in that strike and bring them back to the table. This is a debt of honor that does not go away with time, and it is not a thing that SEIU can just intrude upon by changing the locks of the door.

I guess Thug Regan just doesn't understand why the Little People will not willingly lay down and appreciate the process of getting Screwed By SEIU.