The Alinsky Factor, Part Three of Four

Going on...

RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)

SEIU: Going off of rule #5 - all SEIU has got is the Great Big Lie, and incumbency. They are now pretty much hoping that incumbency will carry the day, and that the Great Big Lie will keep activists off the field. Grade: D

NUHW: Perhaps Sal Rosselli's attendance at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh this last week will help gin up some actual support and some actual positive news, because other than that the silence from NUHW has been deafening. It is only so long that you can sit back and let SEIU screw up of its own accord; sooner or later positive action has to be taken for the people whom you wish to represent. Upcoming representation elections are a very good start. Remodeling the website is another. Grade: D

RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

SEIU: I'll say this for The Plague, they put out pressers like it's nobody's business. Better than that, once they put the presser out, it reverberates over three to four days in the 'sphere. Now, the fact that their pressers are by and large proving out to be 100% grade-A
unadulterated crap (like the Fresno 5000-vote claim, the most recent claim regarding NUHW and Charlie Ridgell, amongst others) depresses their grade here, but they put out their BS with full force. Grade: C

NUHW: After the Fresno defeat, NUHW made some good strides in terms of re-establishing IHSS funding in both Sacramento and San Francisco - two things for which Zombie UHW tried lamely to take credit. For about a two month span, SEIU and Zombie UHW was having to respond to NUHW actions. Since then? Up until about two weeks or so ago, bupkis. Now, it seems that elections have been scheduled and NUHW is ramping up to take the fight back to The Plague. This time, results matter. Grade: C

RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)

SEIU: Once again, here is where the Great Big Lie doesn't really help SEIU, and may in the end hurt them. Zombie UHW has been telling everyone how horrible things would be without SEIU looking over them, when all anyone needs to do is to open up the most recent Kaiser UHW contract, and see what signatures are on the bottom line - and it ain't Medina, it ain't Regan, and it ain't Stern. Grade: C

NUHW: Until a couple of weeks ago, all NUHW had was vague suppositions of how SEIU would conduct itself in the meeting room with Kaiser - and then came the August 4th Agreement. This one agreement put in stark contrast just what a threat SEIU represents to Kaiser employees. NUHW hasn't been making too much hay of it yet, but I suspect there will be more to come in the near future once the run-up to Kaiser elections begin. Grade: B

The Alinsky Factor, Part Two of Four

Getting back to the Alinsky rules, as they apply to SEIU and NUHW...

RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)

SEIU: At every possibility, SEIU has been raising the specter of the Marshall Hearings, and proclaiming out loud their Great Big Lie. As a result, NUHW folks are forced to explain the Great Big Lie, and when you're explaining, you're losing. Grade: B

NUHW: SEIU has been violating contracts right and left, and has willingly provided a target-rich environment for publication and ridicule like very few have seen. Unfortunately, the Reds have left it to others to explore what SEIU's malfeasance really means to the rank and file. An utterly prostrate and corrupt NLRB has not helped in this regard, but you still gotta make the case yourself. Grade: D

RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

SEIU: After a while, the Great Big Lie becomes One Big Drag (see rule #7). Quite frankly, SEIU are a mirthless bunch, utterly devoid of anything approaching a sense of humor. This is what happens when you promote dullards as your replacement steward council. Grade: D

NUHW: This has been one of the Red Tide's best weapons, and a bunch of us have been using it with gusto. The best part about it is that SEIU keeps giving us our material free of charge. Unfortunately, outside of the "labor community", much of this energy and ability goes unseen and unheard in the wake of boilerplated SEIU press releases. Grade: B

RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

SEIU: Stories are rife here and elsewhere about how SEIU has to pay people to get on board the Barney Bus to show up and provide themselves with some measure of "strength." That SEIU had to pay scads of scabs to go into Fresno (when SEIU's LTC stronghold in Los Angeles is less than an hour and half away by car) goes to indicate just what a loss leader the SEIU brand is becoming. When you have to pay someone to spread your message, it can be generally said that your message needs a bit of retooling. Grade: D

NUHW: Say what you want about the Red Tide, but those that go out believe in what they are doing. Otherwise, they would not be there, because they are there on their own free time and of their own free choice. It is to be hoped that some of that enthusiasm will be rewarded with actual positive results in the future. Grade: A

The Alinsky Factor, Part One of Four

A book from the early 1970's is now getting much scrutiny of late in political circles. That book is entitled, "Rules For Radicals" by Saul Alinsky. This book has been alleged to be one of the founding sets of principles behind the Obama candidacy in the 2008 presidential election, and some of the tenets therein are now being adopted by other "grass roots" movements.

So let's take a look at those rules, and how they may or may not pertain to those of us stuck here in Hotel California...

RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)

SEIU: Much has been made of the vaunted SEIU ground game, and they attempted to show that off in the Fresno battle by parachuting in somewhere between 500 and 1000 people, and spent upwards of $10M to defend the Fresno IHSS consortium. The thought process is that SEIU's ability to bring in so many people on short notice keeps other upstart organizations from trying to fight SEIU toe-to-toe. This tactic may be effective back east, but it is woefully inadequate out here on the Left Coast. Quite simply put, people aren't scared of SEIU any more, as the San Francisco Labor Council so vividly proved. Grade: D

NUHW: The Reds have had to take advantage of the latter source - people. With one-tenth the manpower and 5% of the monetary resources, NUHW came within 250 or so votes of knocking off SEIU. NUHW has defeated SEIU at Doctor's, but has lost votes at Hawkins and a couple of nursing homes in the wake of the Fresno defeat. In the time since, there have been reported difficulties in getting enough signatures for the San Francisco IHSS fight. Whether it is because people are marshalling their energies for the upcoming Kaiser campaign, or for other reasons, the steam seems to have gone out of NUHW's sails of late. The potential to raise peoples hopes and ambitions still remains, but there is a sense of inevitability building in to some folks which is quite difficult to breach once it has gained a foothold. Grade: C-

RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)

SEIU: One of the biggest mistakes SEIU made in the immediate aftermath of the trusteeship was to insist on a loyalty oath to SEIU, with termination of any and all stewards who show the slightest bit of disloyalty to the Purple People Beaters. Esquirol Medina and Thug Regan sent out the letter (along with Esquirol Medina's robocall to the membership) swearing up-and-down that nothing would change, when we all knew what would happen - and happen it did. As a result, Zombie UHW lost its best and brightest stewards, and has had to replace them with stewards who may or may not be the best, but certainly are not the brightest - and none of whom enjoy the unqualified support of the rank and file. The resultant feeling of insecurity has only been exacerbated by SEIU's inexcusable decision to partner with KaiPerm in laying off 1600 people. The end result of this is that the only thing SEIU has been able to do of late is to put out press release after press release, trying to convince people that they are still large and in charge. It is admittedly what SEIU is really good at, even if nobody with half a brain believes what they say. Grade: C

NUHW: The Reds have, by and large, stayed within the expertise of their people, but of late that has not been of much help as there has been no real structure to NUHW's activities of late, as was seen by the anemic response to the SEIU "We Didn't Really Negotiate For Layoffs (eventhoughwereallydid), We Promise!!!" Informational Picket Tour of California. NUHW stewards at several KaiPerm facilities have been forced to take a lower profile, but their refusal to play along with the LMP game has resulted in most all LMP and UBT groups to grind to a halt. Unfortunately, right now, you can't fight something with nothing. Grade: D

RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

SEIU: This isn't really SEIU's bag, except for their propensity to tell the One Big Lie in the wake of the Marshall Hearings. However, because every presser they put out gets automatically repeated nationwide, their One Big Lie tends to reverberate much louder than is warranted. This, combined with NUHW's inability of late to bring the final vote across the line, has contributed to a great sense of unease within the NUHW support base. Grade: B

NUHW: Team Red has picked up several unlikely allies and collaborators in this process, including Paul Pringle at the Los Angeles Times, Randy Shaw at BeyondChron, and several different website directors who are collectively clowning SEIU from stem to stern, including UNITE/HERE (with the "Wrong Way SEIU" site), SMART (with the "SEIU-SMART" website) and now the "Purple People Beaters" website that just popped up. (Ed: I'd forgotton about the hopefully only temporarily departed PerezStern) It is notable that as it stands right now, there is only one separate pro-SEIU website going right now, whose author is quite possibly functionally illiterate, at least based strictly on his writing style; this individual is pretty much only capable of regurgitating SEIU press releases...of course, without links or attribution. Grade: B


More in a later post...

New Site to Check Out...

Purple People Beaters is now up and running. They do not heart Our Glorious Maximum Leader or His Empire.

Friday Wrap

1) It appears that Our Glorious Maximum Leader has been asked to sit on an advisory board tasked with making sure that ACORN no longer helps perpetuate child prostitution through its offices. Some jokes just write themselves.

2) The NLRB is most decidedly NOT your friend. Sure, you can participate in union activity while on your job - but according to the NLRB, just not too much, and not at the expense of SEIU.

3) Remember those layoffs that SEIU swears that cannot and will not occur on its watch, and are the basis for the "We Didn't Really Negotiate For Layoffs (eventhoughwereallydid), We Promise!!!" Informational Picket Tour of California? They keep saying in their pressers that they're walking the line to protect jobs of people like this guy...

Signed, Sealed, Sold Out (Part Two)

Here's a companion piece from NUHW that illustrates just what a bad agreement that Zombie Grillo and Zombie Chavez signed on our collective behalf (click to enlarge):



Kinda says it all, don't it?

Signed, Sealed, Sold Out

In a prior post, I had linked to an unsigned copy of the August 4th "Affordability and Transition Plan" which is the basis of the Zombie UHW "We Didn't Really Negotiate For Layoffs (eventhoughwereallydid), We Promise!!!" Informational Picket Tour of California.

Well, folks, here's a SIGNED copy of that very same document...











The reader is invited to note the signatures of Mary Grillo, "Director - SEIU UHW" and Veronica Chavez, "Staff Director - SEIU UHW".

Let's take a look at what can be found in this document that, according to Zombie UHW, does not allow for layoffs:



Let us be very clear - Page One of the above document states, in part, "The Employer will provide the number of positions being eliminated by facility, classification, position, and employee names for their respective bargaining unit(s). Such notice shall result in the commencement of the redeployment and transition process for impacted employees." You do NOT get to the redeployment process unless there is intent to lay people off. The above was agreed to by Kaiser, and it was agreed to by Zombie UHW. This is indisputable.

Going on to Page Two:



How do you get "there will be no layoffs" out of the above? Especially when KaiPerm eliminated a whole bunch of vacant positions for which those affected by the August 4th agreement could migrate themselves?

Going on to Page 5:



Translation of the above passage: If you don't like this agreement, too damn bad. The above language limits any grievance to the language of the agreement itself, and completely eviscerates any protection affected employees may have within the contract. In one agreement, SEIU-UHW and KaiPerm have rendered the entire 2005 contract null and void.

But wait, it gets better...



Contracts are supposed to contain clear and concise language, such that there can be no misunderstanding. That was the point of the Employment and Income Security Agreement language of the National Agreement. Of course, both KaiPerm and Zombie UHW had to get around this particular little mine field, so what do they do? They tell everyone that the EISA language does not apply to this agreement (even though they acknowledge that there is a "difference of opinion" on that matter), and then try to weasel out of it by setting in language that indicates there is no precedent being set.

Two words: BULL CRAP.

KaiPerm needed the EISA language to be set aside for the upcoming contract negotiations, and Zombie UHW gave that language away in this agreement, for nothing in return.

This August 4th agreement guarantees layoffs, eliminates contracted grievance protections, and sets the Employment and Income Security Agreement aside. It represents everything Kaiser wants, and nothing that anyone in UHW would want - if UHW was even half the union it used to be.

And do keep in mind, THIS WAS SIGNED OFF ON BY SEIU REPRESENTATIVES!!!





It has taken NUHW representatives to get this out to the affected employees - SEIU won't send it out.

I wonder why that is...

What If The Plague Threw A Protest...

...but nobody showed up?

From an alert reader at the Roseville facility, we have these pictures of the Zombie UHW "We Didn't Really Negotiate For Layoffs (eventhoughwereallydid), We Promise!!!" Informational Picket.

From the reader at Roseville:

"These pictures were taken 15 minutes after the scheduled start time for the pickets - even though management had sent out three different announcements to the entire Roseville area staff (Eureka, Riverside, Lava Ridge, Parkway), telling us precisely where and at what time this "union activity" was to take place, and assuring everyone that they (Kaiser) respected their unions' rights when it comes to demonstration.

So much so that there was a HR Rep from Roseville helpfully directing people as to where to go in order to participate in the protest. Unfortunately for the Zombies, he didn't need to tell very many people where to go, because in the first 15 minutes of the protest, somewhere between 5 and 10 people had come out. Everyone else there had arrived on the Barney Bus."

Peering Into Andy's Purple Future

Herman Benson has once again given us a peek at what Our Glorious Maximum Leader has in store for the American Labor Movement, once he gets his grimy paws on the pursestrings...

Putting it together: Any local which "voluntarily" refuses to cede control over collective bargaining to the council, can be financially starved of the resources necessary to conduct its own effective collective bargaining and so forced into submission. It can't happen here, you will say? Then you don't know where Stern is taking the SEIU.

The locals have no right to their own money. The council president is endowed with sweeping financial powers. He or she is authorized to hire and fire and direct the whole council paid staff and set their rate of pay and to retain attorneys, accountants, and other consultants. The president is insulated from membership control.

Because the council is an intermediary body, not a local, the president, despite those enormous powers, is not elected by the membership but by a delegated body, in this case by the council executive board. After their four-year appointive term is up, executive board members will be elected by the locals, but that status does not give them a paid job. The president's power of the purse extends even to those who have the constitutional power to elect him or her. An executive board member depends upon the president for a paid staff job.

In the old style SEIU, the now-familiar mega locals remain formally autonomous; they collect and retain dues; their members elect local officers; they are responsible for organizing, collective bargaining, processing trials and charges --- all the authority and responsibility traditionally vested in local unions remains. With the new California janitors council, the role of locals is transformed. To sum it up:

The council takes over dues and assessments. As required by federal law, after the appointive term has ended local members will be permitted to elect local officers, but not necessarily to pay them. Money for all salaries, including for elected local officers, depends upon decision of the council. Who pays the piper calls the tune. Without independent access to money, local members lose control over their own locals. The handling of grievances and the processing of charges and trials are removed a greater distance away from the membership. The council dominates the locals; the international president, through his appointive power, dominates the council.

As they say, read the rest.

It gives Andy Stern's penchant for control a whole new level of focus.

Anyone who believes in democracy should avoid SEIU like the (purple) plague.

Happy Labor Day

On this Labor Day holiday, and to display the honor and the pride that exudes from being a (unwilling) part of the Purple Plague, I give to you a new and updated picture of the SEIU Barney Bus, which was so kindly sent in by one of the commenters:



Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Zombie UHW: "Keep Your Hands Off Our Dues Money!"

So an E-mail comes into ¡AA! from the Zombies, informing us that they would like us to sign the petition to tell Ralph, Sal and Joan to keep their hands off of Zombie UHW dues money...

First they tried to take $3 million of our dues money for their own use...then they spent $11.5 million of our dues for their own personal power...then they took another $3 million from our strike fund, and now these three former officials have grabbed another $265,000 from our union treasury.

SIGN THE PETITION TO TELL THEM TO LEAVE OUR DUES MONEY ALONE!

Former Vice President Ralph Cornejo claimed 352 days of unused vacation. That's 11.7 years' worth of vacation pay. Former President Sal Rosselli claimed 261 days, or 8.7 years' worth. This was on top of 140 days of vacation Cornejo cashed out while still part of SEIU-UHW, and 120 days Rosselli had already cashed out. They each claimed they were entitled to five weeks of paid vacation every year plus an extra week every year for "relief time."

The labor commissioner has ordered these payments:

Rosselli will get a total of $128,341.
Cornejo will get a total of $129,809.
Former Secretary-Treasurer Joan Emslie will get a total of $47,873.

Overall, former staff and officials have received $1.8 million of our dues money on their way out the door.

Earth to SEIU: This is what happens when you fire people without proper cause. If you had proper cause, then the labor commissioner would not have found SEIU liable for those payments.

And while you're at it, perhaps you folks in SEIU should start a petition to make sure that Annelle Grajeda, Alejandro Stephens, Rickman Jackson, and Tyrone Freeman should keep their hands off of our dues money as well.

Just saying is all...

Quick Hits

Keeping the UHW members locked up in Hotel California is expensive.

Raiding UNITE/HERE to create WU is even more so.