The roadside is littered with politicians and union officials who have made such threats to John Burton. He was actually somewhat understated in his public response to this threat...California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton says one of the state's most politically powerful unions has threatened to cut off funding for the party over his support for a group that has broken away from the labor organization.
The rift could drive a wedge between the party and one of its most generous donors. The state council of the Service Employees International Union has directed $700,000 to the Democratic Party since 2007 and millions more to Democratic candidates and causes.
Burton said SEIU’s California president, Bill Lloyd, made the threat as Burton was set to appear last week at a San Francisco fundraiser for the splinter group, the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
"They threatened me," said the 76-year-old Burton.
Burton said that he was championing union workers "when [SEIU's national president] Andy Stern was in college." He hailed the breakaway union's leader, Sal Rosselli, as a lifelong friend and “one of the strongest labor leaders in this state.”Translation: "I crap bigger than you."
When asked about this threat, SEIU's spokespunkette tried desperately to backfill, and failed miserably...
Mary Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for SEIU’s state council, would neither confirm nor deny any warning from Lloyd to Burton. “Formal discussions haven’t been had with our board," which would have to vote to cut off funding, she said.Translation: "So, you see, we're not really gonna do it, we've just talked about it, but we really can't do it until we take a vote on it, and we don't know if we're gonna vote on it, so..."
No matter. SEIU can donate to the CA Democratic party, or not donate. Burton knows this is already functionally a one-party state, even if SEIU does not, so there is minimal (if any) leverage to be gained by leaning on him in this manner. This is made even more foolish by the fact that other unions in CA, such as UNITE/HERE, Teamsters, UFW, UTLA, and others, will now be more than happy to increase their per diems in order to make up for SEIU's shortfall.
Just keep scoring them own goals, Andy.
I remember Burton at the 70th Anniversary dinner for Local 250. In words and in action he is a powerful man and like me drops an F-bomb at a moment's notice, and often without even realizing it.
ReplyDeleteTo the anonymous poster who started off their comment with "here's another comment for you not to post" - you're absolutely right, I'm not gonna post it.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not because I may or may not disagree with your viewpoint on the relative ages of Sal Rosselli and John Burton vis-a-vis Andy Stern, but you got gonged because you started off your tone in a rude and condescending manner, and it went downhill from there.
For the record, we don't get many comments here, but the total number of rejects so far in the six months I've been running ¡AA! still numbers in the single digits. And anyone who ends up in the "reject" pile has their ISP number flagged as a possible spammer, and as a result any further comments from that ISP end up in moderation purgatory longer than most.
And no, anonymous commenter, your ISP wasn't on the "reject" list, therefore you have not had a comment come through here that has ended up with "not to post" as its ultimate fate, at least until last night.
So don't come on here and accuse me of being dishonest in the comments posting, when you are being dishonest yourself in your commentary.
I believe that Stern grossly underestimated Sal Rosselli and the rest of the leadership of the old UHW, not to mention the loyalty of the majority of healthcare and homecare workers in California. It is also well-known throughout the state that Sal has proven himself to be a loyal and principled labor leader with tremendous respect.
ReplyDeleteThe SEIU plague is clearly realizing that NUHW has a lot of progressive support and political clout in California. Our message to the Plague
is to the point: Get the hell out of California or we will kick you out.
The thought of Bill Lloyd threatening John Burton is a joke. I bet Lloyd did it by phone or email cuz, apart from having no brains, he ain't go no 'you know whats' down there.
ReplyDeleteLloyd is best known for badly bungling the BART contract negotiations a few years back, and for being the knuckle-headed trustee of SEIU 99.
One of the many true idiots in SEIU, Lloyd is more stupid than most. He would probably soil himself if he ever had to confront John Burton face to face.