One Final Note

Given the name of this blog, it would be impossible for me not to comment on this week's blockbuster news that Our Glorious Maximum Leader has decided to hang up his spurs. While the news got out in a forum not of his choosing, eventually he had to come to the fore and make his reasons known...



Such a self-serving fable can only be properly bookended by the statement of Sal Rosselli, who has become Nice Scarf's chief antagonist, and who managed against all odds to remain One Day Longer than Andy Stern...

If the reports are true, and Andy Stern steps down as the head of the SEIU, a sad chapter in the once proud union’s history will come to an end.

Stern’s legacy is that he took control of an organization built by more than a million hardworking janitors, healthcare workers, and public servants, and used their resources primarily to secure his own political power.

Instead of helping SEIU members fight for better jobs and better patient care, Stern gave himself the authority to cut secret deals with corporations and trade away members’ rights.

Instead of helping working people build their own organizations, he “restructured” existing unions, crushed democracy, and put his own loyalists in charge: appointees like Tyrone Freeman and Annelle Grajeda, who could always be trusted to vote with Stern, even if they couldn’t be trusted to keep their hands out of the till. Stern’s allies have been exposed for financial corruption and connected to the Blagojevich pay-to-play scandal.

Instead of uniting the labor movement’s strength, Stern tore apart the AFL-CIO and created the “Change to Win” federation, only to tear apart Change to Win four years later with an unprecedented raid on SEIU’s closest partner in the federation, Unite Here.

Last year, tens of thousands of SEIU healthcare workers in California realized that if they wanted to stand up for their patients and fight for their work to be valued, they would have to do it in an independent union outside SEIU. When Stern came to take control of their local union, they founded the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Stern’s multi-million-dollar fights against these healthcare workers and against Unite Here have diverted resources away from healthcare reform and employee free choice, weakening the former and scuttling the latter. These wars of choice have taken a toll on the union’s finances as well as on Stern’s credibility.

Wherever Stern parachutes himself next, he will leave a workers’ organization in disarray, with a crisis of leadership from top to bottom. His likely successors, Mary Kay Henry and Anna Burger, have been tarred by the same ethics scandals and failed policies that marred his tenure. Stern’s legacy is that SEIU has become a rogue union, undemocratic, unable to pay its bills, and unwilling to defend its members at the national level.

The challenge for SEIU is not simply to choose a successor, but to reverse years of bad policy, restore accountability, and steer away from the brink.

I seriously doubt that SEIU will be able to pull back from the brink - the two most likely successors in the short term (Anna Burger and Mary Kay Henry) both owe their souls and their careers to Andy Stern, and thus are unlikely to engineer any course other than to endeavor to continue the prior path of undemocratic and corporate-style "unionism" which is much more concerned with management's rights and the union's bottom line than it is the lives and choices of the workers that SEIU is purported to represent.

¡Adios, Andy! Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.

The Long And Winding Road

To say that this journey has been a long and strange one would be a serious understatement. However, like all journeys, this one must come to an end.

When starting out this blog, my original intent was to bring forth an article once or maybe twice a week, recounting all the issues that SEIU was creating with their misbegotten trusteeship. Little did I realize that SEIU would be such a self-destructive font of information. There were several months during the run of this blog where I was able to put up one post a day, and sometimes more than that on average.

I had also originally intended to continue to write this blog until such time as I was given the opportunity to cast my vote on what was going on inside KP vis-à-vis the trusteeship. In retrospect, that may have been a bit of an ambitious goal; then again, I had trusted (naively, I must admit) that the Kaiser management team would recognize the clearly stated will of its employees, and ask the NLRB to conduct an election based on the stated will of a majority of its employees.

Alas, as we all know, that was not to be, and instead we NUHW partisans have had to fight a Maquis-like insurgency against the lies and terror being perpetrated by SEIU, while being actively colluded against by both SEIU and KaiPerm management.

We all saw what the result of that collusion turned out to be for SEIU down south via the SoCal Tsunami, as well as the overwhelming verdicts at Santa Rosa and the other smaller nursing facilities.

Having seen those results, and having witnessed personally the scornful attitude that SEIU organizers have for the KaiPerm rank-and-file, it’s pretty clear to me that Zombie UHW’s days are numbered within KaiPerm.

When I started this blog, I had no idea of the level of passion and commitment that the NUHW supporters shared throughout the UHW-organized facilities. I have met and become online “friends” with a cross-section of healthcare workers and union activists that will (I hope) last years into a bright and gentle future when the true, democratic way of NUHW will become the norm throughout hospitals in California, rather than just a hopeful exception.

I stand in awe of what the NUHW supporters have done so far, and I am honored by the level of commitment that these people have given to what initially had to have been seen as a quest that would make Don Quixote stand up and take careful note.

To my readers and commenters – you have my sincerest gratitude and respect, for you are people who have been attached to an idea that might does not always make right, and that the quality of the members of an organization stand for much more than the sheer number of members in that organization. I am proud to have been an occasional chronicler of this battle, and I hope that I have done right and well by the long and winding road on which we all collectively find ourselves.

It is for that reason, and because the demands on my personal and professional time have grown far and above what was available to me one year ago, and far and above the free time required to keep ¡AA! both fresh and relevant, that the time has come for me to put ¡AA! to bed. As selfish as it may seem, I would prefer to end the blog well, rather than to continue on a path that must inevitably lead to an inferior presentation. I will instead be concentrating my pro-NUHW agitation at my local KaiPerm facility as well as other locales nearby.

For posterity’s sake, commentary on prior posts will remain open for about two weeks or so, at which time all further commentary will be closed, but I will leave the blog up for public review until the trusteeship is consigned to its well-deserved dustbin of history.

In the meantime, I leave the commentary on all things NUHW and SEIU in excellent hands, and I would encourage all interested readers to go over to Tasty’s place, or go over to Red Revolt and see what Keyser has been up to out in Wine Country USA. And who knows – maybe someday even Perez Stern will make a triumphant return to blogdom.

Until then, keep the faith, and remember that no matter where Andy Stern may find himself, I have no doubt that he will always see RED people.

Farewell, and take care.

Sometimes the Jokes Just Write Themselves...

From TPM Cafe, via the AP...

Obama makes picks for debt commission

President Barack Obama's four appointments to the bipartisan debt panel he established last week include the head of manufacturing giant Honeywell and a former top-ranking Federal Reserve official.

Obama will name David Cote, chief executive officer at Honeywell International, and former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alice Rivlin to the panel today, an administration official said. He will also appoint Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and Ann Fudge, the former chief executive officer of Young & Rubicam Brands.

The only way this makes any kind of logical sense is that in order to sit on this panel, you need to have run up a bunch of debt that you have no hope in hell of paying off. That's something that Our Glorious Maximum Leader knows all about.

Meet The New MAPE, Same As The Old MAPE

(image courtesy of www.new-mape.org)

Clan Barney evidently just can't catch a break.

It appears that one of the old legacy locals of SEIU 1021 is getting itself ready for a petition to pull out of 1021 in favor of going their own way.

The new Marin Association of Public Employees, largely composed of the leadership and rank-and-file of the old legacy SEIU 949, last Friday turned in petitions to the state PERB indicating their wish to separate from SEIU 1021.

Their reasons for doing so can be found on their website, but those reasons sound (once again) eerily similar to those reasons being given by NUHW supporters for wanting to break away from Zombie UHW. Things like wondering where dues money goes, lack of representation, lack of ability to vote on pocketbook and dues issues, etc., etc.

And SEIU 1021 is evidently regurgitating some of the very same lies that they have been and are using against NUHW.

You have to wonder what is going through the head of Our Glorious Maximum Leader right now, seeing as he now has brushfires burning in UHW, 6434, 721, 1021, 221, and a thriving reform movement going on right now in 521 - all locals that were either trusteed by Andy Stern, or were created out of thin air by Andy Stern out of previously functional locals.

When you keep getting whacked in the face by things that you create, wouldn't you think about stepping back and wondering if your creations are getting a bit out of hand?

Fear The Turtle, An Update

Some other folks associated with the University of Maryland have had a chance to weigh in on the story of the SEIU-paid stooge and visiting professor to their University who put out a letter to some members of Zombie UHW under the letterhead of the University of Maryland. Not to put too fine a point on it, the University is NOT pleased...

A professor at the University of Maryland, College Park is facing conflict-of- interest questions after he used university letterhead to deliver a legal opinion in his role as a consultant to a labor union.

Fred Feinstein, an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy, wrote a letter saying that California health care employees could jeopardize their contract benefits if they left Service Employees International for a competing union. Feinstein received $240,000 in consulting fees from SEIU in 2007 and 2008, which he did not mention in the Jan. 12 letter that was distributed as a flier in the continuing union battle.

Officials of the rival National Union of Healthcare Workers say Feinstein implied that he was speaking for the university and thus compromised its academic objectivity. The Web site Inside Higher Ed first reported Feinstein's role in the conflict.

College Park officials said Feinstein violated university policy by writing the opinion on official letterhead. He signed the letter as a "senior fellow and visiting professor."

"Mr. Feinstein violated university procedures by improperly using university letterhead in the course of his outside work," Donald F. Kettl, dean of the School of Public Policy, said in a statement. "This activity was wholly unrelated to his work at the University of Maryland, which has no involvement or stake in this outside matter. He should not have written the material on university letterhead nor invoked his title as a university employee. In addition, he should have disclosed the payment he received from one of the parties in the issue on which he commented."

Kettl said he reprimanded Feinstein in writing and asked him to inform all recipients of the SEIU letter that he was not speaking for the university.

Mr. Feinstein, for his part, is convinced that the fault lies not with himself, but with us and our lyin' eyes for even making an issue of this obvious conflict of interest...

Feinstein, a former general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, said he made a mistake using the letterhead but said the competing union, NUHW, is trying to exploit his carelessness to get a leg up in the bitter labor battle.

"I wasn't as conversant as I should have been with the guidelines for using letterhead," Feinstein said. "It was an unfortunate oversight. But this is part of a pretty intense battle, no holds barred, and I think it's important to understand that context."

Feinstein said he stands behind the opinion he delivered and doubts that the letterhead made much difference to workers reading the document.

Feinstein's consulting, a matter of public record because of union financial filings, does not violate his contract as a part-time professor, Kettl said. Feinstein said he felt no need to disclose his relationship with SEIU in the letter, because readers would understand without being told that it is a lawyer's job to deliver opinions on behalf of paying clients.

Translation - it's up to the reader of that letter (on UMD letterhead) to know, beforehand, that Feinstein is SEIU's paid stooge so that we can discount the fact that the letter is, indeed, written on UMD letterhead, and Feinstein's signature is slugged with his UMD title.

Only then can we understand the True Brilliance of Feinstein's Completely Neutral Analysis.

Color me amazed that such a person is in the employ of Our Glorious Maximum Leader.

The Tribe Has Spoken...

...it's time for you to go.

Hospital admits NUHW won majority in union election, agrees on challenged ballots

"Sour grapes": With less than 3% of vote, defeated SEIU still trying to stand in workers' way

Santa Rosa, Calif.—One month after a hotly contested union election at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, both hospital management and the newly-elected National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) have agreed to accept a determination by the federal government that resolves the question of 13 challenged ballots and gives the new union an absolute majority.

"There's no question that my co-workers and I are joining NUHW," said Melissa Bosanco, a care partner at the hosptial. "We voted NUHW because we want a voice to make our hospital a better place to work and a better place for our community to get care."

The National Labor Relations Board determined that 12 of the 17 challenged ballots should not be counted because the voters were not eligible under the rules of the election; another ballot will not be counted because of stray marks on the ballot. The four challenged ballots left unresolved are not enough to affect the final result: 283 votes for NUHW, 263 for No Union, and 13 for SEIU.

Both the union and hospital management have signed an agreement accepting to the labor board's determination, but the defeated SEIU, which tried unsuccessfully to interfere in the election, has not. After being soundly rejected by more than 96 percent of voters, SEIU officials are still refusing to accept the outcome, a move that could cause another short delay for workers hoping to get to the bargaining table as soon as possible.

"Isn't that the worst case of sour grapes?" asked Bosanco. "SEIU said they cared about workers at our hospital, but it looks like they were just lying to try to get our votes."

Memorial Hospital management is still pressing forward with objections to the election, claiming that workers were confused when they voted for union representation. Those objections could be dismissed within weeks.

Elected officials and religious leaders have called on hospital management to drop its objections, including Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, State Senators Mark Leno and Pat Wiggins, Assemblymembers Jared Huffman, Noreen Evans, and Wes Chesbro, local Catholic leader Monsignor John Brenkle, and former Sister of St. Joseph of Orange JoAnn Consiglieri.

It is not surprising to see a certain lack of grace regarding this outcome from SEIU. However, much like the drubbing the Purple Plague took at Doctor's, they just can't seem to wrap their minds around the concept of people rejecting their brand and their leadership.

13 votes, children. You seriously cannot expect to hold up this election having gotten a grand total of 13 votes out of almost 600 cast.

The tribe has spoken, Andy, and it's time for you and your cloven-hooved minions to go.

Hell Hath No Fury...

...like Jane Hamsher scorned. (h/t to Tasty for this one)

An E-zine columnist has picked up on some of the unique ways that Hurricane Jane Hamsher (she of Firedoglake.com fame) has been fighting against the compromise going on in health care reform, while at the same time bonding (at least temporarily) with Grover Norquist over her request that Rahm Emanuel be investigated, and has penned a semi-fictitious "Dear God" letter that Andy's Ex might have written to The Almighty, given the chance...

I didn’t know if the world turned upside down or my moral compass lost its magnetism. That’s what I get for sleeping with Andy Stern, I guess. To make matters worse, something within me wants the personal attacks on me to continue. This feeling alone has caused me to reconsider my place within the progressive political community.

Ouch One. Here comes Ouch Two...

If there’s anything I learned from Andy, it’s that you don’t need balls to get shit done around here. A good grip will do.

Yee-haw. Nothing like Our Glorious Maximum Leader having even satirical shots being tossed at him from the left side of the aisle.

Senate Rejects Andy's Lawyer for NLRB

It seems that the U.S. Senate does not think much of the prospect of Our Glorious Maximum Leader's in-house counsel to sit on the board of the NLRB, so much so that the Senate has returned Becker's nomination to the White House.

The Obama Administration will now either be forced to wait until the next session of the Senate to resubmit Becker's nomination, or they will have to use a controversial "recess appointment" in order to get Becker seated.

Stronger Together.

John Burton: Enemy Of The State

Confirmation from another source that The Plague has decided John Burton is now on Andy's Enemies List due to Burton's support of NUHW in general, and Sal Rosselli in particular...

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.

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...

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.

First Came The Chicken...

...and then came the eggs. From a SoCal reader:

We now have the answer to the age old question: what came first? the chicken or the egg??

November 16 the chicken appeared at the NUHW fundraiser in SF.

BUT tonight, the EGG appeared at the LA NUHW fundraiser.

As guests were coming in, SEIU-UHW zombies threw EGGS at several guests. The chicken was no where to be seen, but the eggs were flying.

Another brillant move: one of the "guests" who was egged was the vice president of the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), one of the largest unions in Southern California that hosted the event at their union hall.

The zombies were relegated to the side walk down the street from the main entrance to the building, and police tape blocked them from picketing in front of the actual entrance.

They did have blaring lights that they flashed from the distance as people where walking in. If anyone attending the event was "nuetral", seiu's behavior changed all that when several guests walked in shocked at seiu's behavior.

I'm almost depressed at the level to which Zombie UHW has sunk in the last two weeks.

UPDATE @ 5:27 p.m.: Randy Shaw has weighed in on SEIU's egg-o-grams...



The text reads as follows:

One night after withdrawing its support for the California Democratic Party and picketing progressive politicians and labor leaders in San Francisco, SEIU threw eggs at those attending an event honoring NUHW in Los Angeles. Among those hit were the Vice President of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, the union whose support for NUHW led SEIU to threaten to organize teachers in charter schools (not that SEIU has any staff available to implement such a threat). NUHW supporters from UNITE HERE Local 11 were also targets of eggs and water bottles, with reports that one organizer was “roughed up” as they tried to enter the event. Meanwhile, the LA County Federation of Labor rebuffed SEIU’s threats to withdraw its funding -- a threat it has also made in San Francisco and the North Bay -- as each member voted to raise its per capita contribution to make up for SEIU’s withdrawal. Through its tactics, SEIU is unifying the labor movement -- against it.

Just keep winning friends and influencing people, plaguesters.

Anti-Union Group Asks for Investigation of Andy...

The Alliance for Worker Freedom and Americans For Tax Reform have sent a letter to the acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, as well as the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the U.S. Senate, requesting an investigation into unregistered lobbying activity conducted by Our Glorious Maximum Leader during his multitudinous visits to Casa Obama after The One took office in January of 2009...

By this letter, we urge you to investigate the activities of Mr. Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), regarding meetings and other lobbying contacts with administration, White House and Congress during 2009. Specifically, it is important to determine whether those and related activities could constitute unregistered “lobbying” by Mr. Stern in violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), 2 U.S.C. 1601, et seq. In fact, Mr. Stern was a registered lobbyist for SEIU until January of 2007 when he terminated his registration. For the reasons discussed below it appears that Mr. Stern continued to lobby extensively after he terminated his registered status, and in 2009 devoted so much time on lobbying and related activities that he should have re-registered as a lobbyist under LDA.

Failure to file accurate reports or to register under LDA is a violation of the Act, which provides for civil penalties of up to $200,000 and criminal penalties of up to 5 years in prison. Reports must be filed electronically with the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate. Responsibility for enforcement of the Act rests with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, under 2 U.S.C. 1605. In addition, the Government Accountability Office is required under the LDA to conduct random audits of filers. It does not appear that there has been an audit of the SEIU reports.

Therefore, we urge you to immediately investigate Mr. Stern’s activities, detailed below, to assess whether a violation of the LDA has occurred and if so, what appropriate enforcement actions should be taken.

Now, it's no surprise that Andy was going to be a frequent visitor to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, considering the amount of our union dues that were (IMHO unnecessarily) contributed toward getting The One elected.

However, the law is (at least theoretically) the law, and should apply equally to all citizens no matter their rank or station in life.

With that said, I'm sure that each and every one of Stern's visits to Casa Obama and Capitol Hill were perfectly social in nature, and had no illegal lobbying activity conducted whatsoever. And I'm also sure that Andy will be able to produce oodles of witnesses who would claim just that.

Whether the average reader of this blog agrees with the goals of AWF or ATR or not, I think it appropriate to let everyone know that our dues money is now going to start getting used for a legal defense for Andy Stern because he was either too G-D lazy, or too G-D arrogant, to properly register himself as a lobbyist prior to pestering everyone who would listen about Health Care Reform.

SEIU's Game Of Risk

With this new front being opened in the SEIU War of the Worlds, I thought it would be helpful to have a handy diagram of just where SEIU is fighting its battles and against whom they fight. Fortunately, the folks at Labor Pains have been able to provide a handy map that quite accurately portrays Andy's order of battle:



(click on the map to enlarge)

Another layout of the current troubles that we all face with Andy's Army can be found at the Fresh Juice blog, which has the following to say:

The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has charged the SEIU with intimidating immigrants in a recent Fresno union election. NUHW has been seeking to break away from the undemocratic SEIU. According to the NUHW, SEIU has engaged in violence and worker intimidation. They are not the only victim of SEIU’s plundering. It is no wonder that the SEIU is pushing to eliminate secret ballot elections (designed to prevent this very kind of coercion) by backing Card Check Forced Unionization (the perversely named “Employee Free Choice Act”).

NUHW has been seeking to break away from the undemocratic SEIU’s top-down-control structure. NUHW accuses the SEIU of using scare tactics and violence to keep workers from voting to leave SEIU, and of illegally coercing Bank of America into giving the SEIU an $88 million credit line (despite federal law prohibiting financial ties between employers and unions attempting to organize their employees). Their latest complaint alleges that the SEIU intimidated immigrant workers – coming to their homes several times a day, questioning their legal status, and threatening deportation or loss of wages and benefits if they voted to leave SEIU. “It’s disturbing to watch SEIU eat its own like this,” says NUHW’s attorney.

NUHW is not SEIU’s only victim. Elsewhere, SEIU is besieging breakaway rival UNITE HERE. SEIU has spent millions attacking rivals who accuse it of strong-arm tactics, including coercion, threats, and harassment. Why is SEIU doing this? They are after plunder – “prime Manhattan real estate, considerable cash reserves and a majority stake in Amalgamated Bank in New York, which has more than $4 billion in assets.”

SEIU’s intimidation tactics make clear that they are pushing to eliminate secret ballot elections because it facilitates their piracy. SEIU’s tactics give lie to their recently leaked talking points that claim we need “employee free choice” (election-free union intimidation) because “working families” (code name for unions) are being victimized by “a company-dominated system” that “denies workers a free choice” (secret ballot elections designed to prevent intimidation). Even their fellow unions make it clear that SEIU is an anti-democratic organization that threatens and intimidates working families – the neighborhood bully.

Those "talking points" referred to above are an indication of what pro-EFCA people should say when confronted by opposition to EFCA. Needless to say, what they say on the "yes" side of the ledger, they would typically say "no" to when dealing with NUHW...



I particularly like, in the "yes" column, the entry that says that we need to make sure that "workers can have a free choice to join together in a union without management interference or intimidation." Another good one is their claim that the "company dominated system we have today" is one that "denies the workers a free choice." I'm sure, of course, that SEIU and the Zombies will fully and completely implement those precepts in the upcoming vote at SRMH, right? (/sarc)

One other note to the Plague - if you ever put on a document...

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION

...all you are doing is guaranteeing that it gets external use, and will be distributed as widely as possible - and not in any way that you would like. The 'tubes are like that, ya know?

SEIU Now Defending Decert Efforts In Maine

From the UnionMaine blog...

MSEA is holding a convention at the end of October. The rumor is that SEIU has troops in Maine. Is it to pat us on the back, support us, or is it due to the resolution that MSEA disaffiliate from SEIU. Some members feel that we will be asked to believe the following:

SEIU has been a tremendous help to MSEA and adds to our successes. Let us look at the recent past - SEIU provided for California, they have provided millions of dollars in advertising to support State Employees.

They have provided a voice in Congress to stand up for California State Employees. SEIU has fought in every way for California State Employees.

Is this what SEIU can do for Maine or is there another reason?

Why have they put so much effort gone into what has been the crown jewel of SEIU?.

Last year they ran a battle with tens of thousands of employees voting to leave SEIU and join another Union and all of a sudden the money, the staff, and more money poured into California. SEIU is estimated to have spent at least ten million dollars fighting attempted decertification efforts from tens of thousands of members.

It seems as if SEIU has won that battle......for now.

Those who believe the above sentence seriously need to get themselves checked, especially in light of the events of the past week.

What did the battle cost other than money? SEIU had to publicly reject card check to defeat the upstart NUHW. NUHW wanted to use card check to validate their decertification efforts and SEIU said card check was not a valid way to vote, probably sealing the fate of the EFCA card check provision.

What the battle has cost is SEIU's soul, not to mention its collective ability to be a positive force in the labor movement. SEIU now stands as a scorned, castigated, management-friendly cabal whose leadership is more interested in personal power than in serving its membership.

Why can't SEIU provide for its membership what they have been providing in the West? More dues $ means more influence and what SEIU offers other states as a matter of common policy, seems too much to offer to Maine.

Trust me when I tell you this, you do NOT want what SEIU provides to members in California.

We took a hit this year in our health care, our longevity, and our pay. Remember Andy Stern says the day of employer paid health care is a dying. Why whould he fight for a benefit he thinks shoud be administered and provided by the Union?

On the other hand, we’re told MSEA with SEIU can achieve what no other major Union in New England has done in years, win a contract with fair raises and a return of benefits. MSEA joined SEIU for several reasons and many of those reasons are still valid. National presence, experience, being part of something that can reach beyond State Employees to the rest of Maine.

That works just as long as you toe the party line. UHW prior to the trusteeship was one of SEIU's crown jewels as well, and look what is going on now.

Make no mistake, a break up from SEIU will be painful , messy, and expensive. Don't expect to see any benefit from that 1.8 million dollars for years to come. SEIU does have the will and money to make life hell for ex members.

So do we believe that staying with SEIU is the way to go? Have they been tremendous force for good, or are they concerned that this could foul up the possible marriage of SEA and SEIU?

Too bad, bub. If you're already in SEIU, you are well and truly screwed. Good luck with your resolution to leave SEIU. If it passes, they may well let you leave, considering the amount of resources Zombie UHW is still having to pour into Hotel California.

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...

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.

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...

SF Labor Council to Purple Plague: Get Bent!

Maybe it's just something in the water that comes out of Crystal Springs, but it seems that the labor bigwigs in San Francisco just aren't interested in tugging at their forelocks whenever any of the cloven-hooved minions of Our Glorious Maximum Leader open their traps...

In a further sign of SEIU’s growing estrangement from the labor movement, the San Francisco Labor Council has rejected SEIU’s threat to withdraw 40% of its Council funding unless UNITE HERE Local 2 drops its support for NUHW’s decertification campaign against SEIU’s home health care workers. At an August 21 Executive Board meeting, representatives of several unions took turns castigating SEIU-UHW Trustee Dave Regan for threatening the Council’s funding, while praising Local 2’s historic commitment to worker rights. Although Regan had threatened the “immediate withdrawal” of SEIU’s $17,000 monthly Council contribution during an August 15 meeting with Local 2 officials, he now denied that SEIU had decided to withdraw funding. Instead, he said that he had requested to meet with Local 2 to see how SEIU-UHW could help UNITE HERE in its contract fight against San Francisco’s hotels. Most striking about the meeting was the widespread criticism of SEIU’s bullying tactics, and the strong defense of Local 2’s efforts to help NUHW decertify SEIU’s local home health care workers.

As the epicenter of labor’s internal wars shifts to San Francisco, SEIU now finds itself in deep trouble with the powerful San Francisco Labor Council. Labor officials were angered by SEIU’s threat to withdraw its Council funding, and did not respond well to what Teachers Union President Dennis Kelly described as “the two faced-ness of (Dave) Regan’s presentation and by the threats and bullying.”

Thug Regan described as a "bully"? As "two-faced"? Somehow, I think we've seen that before...

The Council was brought into the SEIU-UNITE HERE fight after Dave Regan told Local 2 officials that SEIU was withdrawing its monthly per capita contributions “effective immediately” in retaliation for Council President Mike Casey’s support for NUHW’s campaign to decertify SEIU’s local home health care workers. Although Regan denied at the Council meeting that any decision to withdraw funds had been made, I confirmed with Local 2’s Northern California Organizing Director Tho Do that her notes of the Regan meeting confirmed that he said SEIU’s dues would be withdrawn “effective immediately.”

Translation: THUG REGAN IS A LYING SACK OF CRAP.

Not wanting to have his individual union’s decisions negatively impact the Council, Casey began the August 22 meeting by offering his resignation as President. It was unanimously refused, with much of the Council irate over SEIU’s tactics. John Ulrich, of United Food and Commercial Workers 101, told the Council, “for SEIU to continue to try and extort CLC’s (Central Labor Councils) over issues is terrible.” Ulrich stated that he “belongs to four Labor Councils, and SEIU has pulled this kind of threat in three of those councils many times over the years over different issues.”

Casey made it clear that he felt that NUHW “is the true voice of homecare workers in California,” and that “it was Sal Rosselli, former UHW staff and the union’s rank-and-file leadership, not SEIU, who did the work on behalf of homecare workers in San Francisco.” In an ominous sign for SEIU’s relationship to the broader labor movement, nobody criticized Local 2’s support of NUHW’s de-certification. Nor did any dispute Casey’s crediting Rosselli’s team for the gains of the home health care workers who will soon be choosing between SEIU and NUHW as their representative.

To the Purple Plaguers: The above passage is what is known as "Solidarity." It is the end result of actions taken in the past which are consistent with your values, and which help others while helping yourself. This is what you utterly lack, having cast your fate to the winds of corporate look-a-like "unionism."

And like I've said before, Mike Casey is a stand-up guy.

In order to protect its finances, the Labor Council has initiated a “Solidarity Pledge” whereby unions are being asked to agree to provide additional funding to that if SEIU leaves their will not be a shortfall. Plumbers chief Larry Mazzola, who announced at the end of the August 22 meeting that his union would “step up” to fill any funding gap, kicked off this strategy.

According to Labor Council Vice-President Conny Ford, since Mazzola got the ball rolling the solidarity pledges are “going great.” Ford told me that in response to her single e-mail message about the pledge, “people are either signing up or saying that they are awaiting ratification of the proposed dues increase from their executive boards.” Ford said she had not heard from a single union that they did not want to pledge higher dues to protect the Council from SEIU’s withdrawal.

In addition, Local 2’s support among other unions continues to grow. IBEW 1245 Business Manager Tom Dalzell is providing Local 2 with two fulltime organizers to help on its contract fight, and is also providing the services of longtime former SEIU organizing strategist Fred Ross, Jr., who now works for IBEW.

See above regarding the concept of "Solidarity"...

As the AFL-CIO convention opens on September 13, the union unity exhibited at the San Francisco Labor Council over the dispute between SEIU and UNITE HERE could well emerge at the national level. SEIU’s former Change to Win partners at UNITE HERE and the Laborers Union are negotiating to rejoin the AFL-CIO, and the UFCW – whose San Francisco representatives strongly backed Local 2 against SEIU — may not be far behind.

Incoming AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently gave an interview in the Las Vegas Sun in which he vowed to move labor in a different direction than that promoted by SEIU President Andy Stern. Trumka noted “the difference between me and (Stern) is that he believes you can look at that system and play within that box by accommodating employers. I believe that the system has to be changed because it’s designed for employers to win and workers, every time, to lose.”

Whereas Dave Regan told the Labor Council that this “tag line” about SEIU and “top down unionism and corporate unionism” hasn’t “been his experience,” most labor leaders are not happy over SEIU’s vaunted “partnerships” with Wal-Mart, Big Pharma and other corporate interests. Trumka and international union presidents are increasingly joining UNITE HERE and NUHW’s critique of SEIU’s approach, which could soon result in a labor movement with nearly all unions on one page and SEIU on another.

SEIU has been AFL-CIO's best recruiter of late, as well as NUHW's and UNITE/HERE's. However, the Purple Kool-Aid is strong, and it will not be until it is almost too late for SEIU for their "leadership" to realize that Andy Stern is almost single-handedly destroying years of goodwill so painstakingly put up.

Wrong Way SEIU

Go Forth And Learn, Purple Plaguers!

SEIU Pensions - Fully Funded for Officers, Not for Us...

There are three different "levels" of pension funds that SEIU is directly responsible for - one fund for SEIU rank-and-file in certain unions, one fund for SEIU employees, and one fund for SEIU officers. However, they are all jointly invested in one single trust, with one single set of trustees for each fund, with Andy Stern sitting at the head of each of those boards of trustees.

Anyone wanna guess which, of those three funds, is the only one that is currently fully funded at 100% of the requirement to pay future responsibilities?

If you guessed "the SEIU officers" pension fund, you guessed correctly.



So you say, that doesn't affect everyone in SEIU, does it? Well, let's take a look at how some other locally-controlled SEIU industry-specific pension plans are doing:



Fine, the Plague would say: It's just the economy, ya see? Everyone's pension funding is down because of the economy, right? Wrong. Look at the dates in the image above - Each of those funds (with a couple of exceptions) were floating in the high 70s to low 90s but all started a generalized downward trend in SEIU Pension funding when Our Glorious Maximum Leader was elected to the SEIU presidency in 1996 - even though we had large upward swings in the economy in the late 1990s and throughout the middle of the first decade of the 2000's. And those trendlines do not reflect what has happened to those pension funds in the wake of the Mortgage Meltdown.

Right now, it appears that the only SEIU-controlled pension fund that is fully funded is the one dedicated for the officers of SEIU.

Anyone want to guess what the Zombie UHW pension fund looks like nowadays, now that both Thug Regan and Esquirol Medina are both pulling down quarter-mill salaries for basically nothing?

"Stronger Together," indeed...