New York Times reports on criticism that SEIU's "growth at any cost" mentality hurts workers

From http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29labor.html

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE. Published February 29, 2008

“An overly zealous focus on growth — growth at any cost, apparently — has eclipsed S.E.I.U.’s commitment to its members,” Mr. Rosselli wrote in a letter to Mr. Stern. Mr. Rosselli complained that Mr. Stern had had top officials negotiate deals with national health care corporations, depriving rank-and-file workers of adequate say in their contracts. ...

Mr. Rosselli is vowing a major fight at the union’s convention in June in Puerto Rico, saying he wants to end what he calls Mr. Stern’s top-down style. ...

Mr. Stern declined to be interviewed. ...

Mr. Rosselli said rank-and-file workers should be given maximum say in determining contracts, which often results in their calling for maximum increases in pay and benefits. That, he said, would attract new members. ...

Michael Torres, a respiratory therapist at U.S.C. University Hospital in Los Angeles, part of the Tenet Healthcare Corporation, said Mr. Stern’s approach had hurt Tenet employees. He complained that union leaders had sought to make a deal that called for not pushing for pensions or retiree health coverage; in exchange Tenet would not fight unionization of 23 facilities in Florida.

“We were handicapped from the get-go in our negotiations,” Mr. Torres said. “We were fighting not only the employer but the international union. I think we need a major correction within the union if we are going to build a sustainable organization.”