SEIU Voice

Stern fails to justify trusteeship; moves to retaliate against UHW through a sham jurisdictional vote

Thu, 20 Nov 2008

The latest four-day trusteeship hearing ended late Saturday night, November 15, with SEIU's attorneys unable to present credible evidence to justify any action against UHW. In fact, SEIU stopped pursuing two of the bogus charges against UHW without even presenting evidence.

Less than 36 hours later, SEIU President Andy Stern notified UHW that SEIU had begun mailing ballots to hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers across California in a sham "advisory vote" designed to dismantle UHW. An "advisory vote" means that SEIU leaders can ignore it.

At the trusteeship hearing, UHW members turned the tables on national union officials, discrediting SEIU's witnesses and presenting a clear case of retaliation by top officials. There were many dramatic moments, including:

Dolores Huerta testified in support of UHW, and explained how SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina attempted to persuade her to not testify.
Evidence revealed that Tom DeBruin, an assistant to Secretary-Treasurer Burger, was part of a group of high-level SEIU leaders who worked on a campaign to discredit UHW's leadership.

With SEIU leaders having failed to make a plausible case for trusteeing UHW, SEIU leaders quickly shifted to their Plan B: a sham vote with only two choices that would both mean the end of our UHW as we know it.

What's wrong with this vote?

Members are given only two bad choices: forcing half of UHW's members into a new long-term care union run by Stern appointees, or forcing all of UHW's members into a new healthcare union run by Stern appointees. There is no option that would allow members to stay in control of our union and to elect our leaders.
UHW members' votes will be pooled together with votes from other local unions, meaning that every UHW member could vote the same way and still be outvoted by other locals.
Days before UHW was notified about the vote, SEIU officials ordered staff at Local 6434 to begin phonebanking members to influence the vote's outcome on. UHW was notified about the vote AFTER the ballots were already in the mail.
SEIU provided no advance notice that the vote would begin, denying 350,000 members of SEIU - almost a fifth of SEIU's international membership - the right to discuss and debate the issue.

UHW members are boycotting this sham vote and signing cards to the election officer in protest of this phony election. The phony vote process is scheduled to conclude on December 11th.

Keepin' It Real: UHW Ends Hearing With Strength

Wed, 19 Nov 2008

The latest episode of Keepin It Real shows how UHW members stood up to Andy Stern's bogus trusteeship hearing in San Jose. We brought petitions with more than 80,000 signatures of members opposing the trusteeship and Stern's phony vote to tear our union apart. The video also shows elected and community leaders standing with UHW members in our fight to protect our member-led union and return democracy to SEIU.

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Hundreds of Elected and Community Leaders Urge SEIU to Abandon Trusteeship

Fri, 14 Nov 2008

More than 240 elected officials and community leaders from across California have sent a letter to national SEIU officials, asking them to resolve their dispute with UHW members through mediation instead of trusteeship.

The letter is signed by state senators and assemblymembers, Democratic party leaders, members of boards of supervisors of 10 counties, leaders of unions and labor councils, religious leaders, healthcare advocates, leaders of seniors' organizations, and heads of Latino, Filipino-American, and Chinese-American organizations.

The letter says that "UHW has consistently acted with the highest integrity, placing the best interests of caregivers, consumers and communities at the center of its work, and placing top priority on efforts to organize workers who do not yet have the benefit of a union."

Signers of the letter include State Assembly Majority Whip Fiona Ma, State Senator Dean Florez, Sacramento Central Labor Council Executive Secretary Bill Camp, Resources for Independent Living Executive Director Frances Gracechild, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform Executive Director Pat McGinnis, and President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin, among others.

A mediator proposed by SEIU and accepted by UHW offered recommendations months ago for a peaceful path toward resolution of the dispute. UHW accepted the recommendations, but national SEIU officials rejected them. The letter urges SEIU officials to accept the recommendations "rather than precipitate a crippling civil war inside SEIU."

uhwtrusteeship-communitysupportletter.pdf

Stern's Trusteeship Hearing Continues November 12th

Wed, 12 Nov 2008

Member Bloggers at Trusteeship Protests | Slideshows | Keepin' It Real Episodes

Joe Thomas, UHW Member Blogger

Michael Rivera, UHW Member Blogger

What we’re talking about at the Trusteeship Hearing Breakfast Table

I believe that for many of us we see the events of the past days, weeks, and months as something that we can, and have, used to come closer together as a local. We believe in our UHW. We believe in our leaders, we believe in our vision, we believe in each other. Read full blog post

Why We Must Win This Fight

In my letter to the trusteeship hearing officer, former Labor Secretary Ray Marshall, I detail why healthcare workers must maintain a voice for our patients and in our union. Healthcare workers shouldn’t have to abdicate their voice for their patients for the labor movement to grow and thrive. In fact, strengthening the labor movement requires that we exercise our right to speak out. Read full blog post

More blogging by UHW Members here

Keepin' It Real: UHW Rallies Against The San Jose Hearings

DAY 2 Slideshow - UHW Members rally in San Francisco

DAY 1 Slideshow - UHW Members at SEIU Offices throughout California

Our union, UHW, has won great victories in the past several weeks, and now we’re standing up for one more: protecting our union from SEIU President Andy Stern and his D.C. based insiders.

UHW’s record of victories is stellar. We just bargained great new contracts with Catholic Healthcare West hospitals and Horizon West nursing homes, and our members did more than nearly any other union to help Barack Obama’s historic election triumph. Our next victory will be right here in California, to keep our union democratic and member-led.

On Wednesday, more than 1,000 of us rallied at SEIU International’s offices in Oakland and Los Angeles, and at Sutter Health’s headquarters in Sacramento, showing Andy Stern and our employers that we as members should determine the future and leadership of our own union. We brought a petition with nearly 80,000 signatures of UHW members demanding that our member-led union be respected. But SEIU wouldn’t let us in—they shut down their offices in Los Angeles and Oakland just to avoid hearing our voices!

“When these hearings are over, President Stern and Secretary- Treasurer Anna Burger will have to acknowledge that their charges were completely without merit,” said Joe Ruocco, a senior lab assistant at Western Medical Center-Anaheim. “Then they’ll have to address the real issue: members need more of a voice in SEIU, not less. We can’t build strong unions by shutting caregivers out of important decisions.”

We also brought down the house at Stern’s trusteeship hearing in San Jose, to deliver the message loud and clear: his attempt at a hostile takeover of UHW should be rejected. Dozens of members arrived ready to testify before hearing officer Ray Marshall, and tell him both how strong we are and why UHW’s democratic approach must be maintained.

We were also joined by Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farmworkers Union, who came to the hearing to support our eff ort. She spoke about the integrity of UHW’s leadership and the strength of our members. SEIU wrapped up its presentation on Wednesday, and we’ll be presenting our case today.

SEIU-UHW TV

Watch KIR Nov. 11th Episode "UHW: Victories"

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Keepin' It Real - UHW's ground breaking television program presents some hard won union victories, new contracts at Catholic Healthcare West hospitals and Horizon West nursing homes. We also follow union members in Reno and Las Vegas as they campaign for Barack Obama.

Educators, Writers, Worker Advocates: Trusteeship of UHW Would be 'A Disaster'

Tue, 11 Nov 2008

More than 50 authors, educators, and worker advocates from around California have sent a letter to SEIU President Andy Stern, urging him to halt his attacks on UHW.

The letter states that an "unjustified takeover of the 150,000-member UHW would be a disaster for the California labor movement" and questions the need for such an action. It also takes Stern to task for moving forward with trusteeship proceedings against UHW "despite an enormous outpouring of opposition from UHW members and others" and in spite of statements earlier this year by SEIU International staff that trusteeship threat against UHW was "a myth."

Signers include the writer and UC Riverside Professor Mike Davis; UCSF Professor of Sociology and Nursing Charlene Harrington; UCLA Historian and Economist Robert Brenner; and the presidents of the Los Angeles and Oakland teachers' unions, Betty Olson-Jones of the Oakland Education Association and A. J. Duffy of the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

Click here to download a PDF of the full letter.

New UHW Contract Outpaces SEIU, Sets Standard

Thu, 06 Nov 2008

More than 500 nursing home workers at six facilities have ratified a new contract with nursing home operator Horizon West. The agreement was reached after six months of contract negotiations led by an elected rank-and-file bargaining team and was settled on the eve of a strike at four homes.

This historic settlement includes a number of new standards for nursing home workers throughout the country and follows the pattern set by contracts won at Mariner Health Care and Sava Senior Care earlier this year. Key elements of the settlement include:

Wage increases of up to 25 percent over three years and wage scales at all six facilities. These increases move toward closing the wage gap between hospital and nursing home workers in Northern California.
Quality of Care Committees that will give frontline caregivers a role in staffing and other patient care decisions. These committees provide for third party mediation if no agreement can be reached.
Successorship language, so that if a facility is sold, the new owner must abide by the contract. While standard in many hospital contracts, this is a pioneering victory in the California nursing home industry.
Defined-benefit pensions for workers.
A Code of Conduct for organizing, which will allow UHW to organize 18 non-union Horizon West facilities in Northern California without employer interference.
Participation in the UHW Joint Employer Training and Upgrade Fund, giving Horizon West workers the opportunity to participate in career ladder training and upgrade programs.

SEIU International's recent agreements with a number of nursing homes in Southern California pale in comparison to the Horizon agreement. The SEIU settlements do not include many of these key standards won by UHW members, including wage scales to ensure equity, a defined-benefit pension plan, successorship protections, or a code of conduct for organizing non-union workers. Notably, they do not establish quality care committees or any other mechanism to give frontline caregivers a direct voice in patient care issues.

The Horizon West settlement clearly demonstrates that as long as workers are leading the fight, we can win at the bargaining table and organize new workers without having to sacrifice patient care or other standards. SEIU, on the other hand, favors a model in which key standards are sacrificed in return for limited opportunities to organize new homes. Nursing home experts have denounced SEIU's approach.

In fact, UHW now has the opportunity to organize nursing home workers at 22 homes across California, based on the agreements reached so far this year at Mariner, Sava and Horizon West. These three contracts alone comprise organizing opportunities beyond the number of homes available to UHW under the obsolete Alliance model. Most importantly, newly organized workers will be able to achieve full collective bargaining rights, as opposed to the limited rights for members under the approach advocated by SEIU.

6,000 Healthcare Workers Take Action at Ten Hospitals

Wed, 29 Oct 2008

Nearly 6,000 United Healthcare Workers members at ten California hospitals and one clinic are striking and picketing today, after their employers engaged in unfair labor practices.

The strike is occurring at five hospitals owned by the Sutter Corporation, five hospitals owned by the Daughters of Charity Health System, and Alliance Clinic in Healdsburg. Workers at these facilities have been in negotiations for months, but the employers have pushed the workers to accept below standard working conditions that could jeopardize patient care. Read the full press release here.

The strikes follow the recent contract settlement that UHW members reached with Catholic Healthcare West, one of the largest hospital chains in the nation. That contract includes average wage increases of 26 percent over four years, and strengthens workers' rights on the job. More information about the CHW contract can be found here.

In contrast to Sutter and Daughters of Charity's backwards-looking approach, Catholic Healthcare West agreed to a contract that will provide industry-leading wages and benefits. The same is true with Kaiser Permanente, which recently agreed to wage increases with all of its union-represented workers.

However, instead of working to develop a positive relationship with their employees, the Sutter Corporation and the Daughters have decided to try and disenfranchise workers by eliminating their right to speak up on the job and work together to improve patient care. Additionally, these employers have attempted to use the internal dispute between UHW and parent union SEIU to drive a wedge into contract negotiations, even going so far as to state their preference to bargain with SEIU International rather than with the workers themselves.

The 24-hour Unfair Labor Practices strike began at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. In addition to UHW members, registered nurses represented by the California Nurses Association will join in a sympathy strike at three Sutter Health facilities: Alta Bates, Alta Bates Summit, and Sutter Solano.

Photos from the day of the strike

Complete Summary and Transcript from September 26-27 UHW Trusteeship Hearing

Tue, 21 Oct 2008

Download a Summary of Testimony presented

Download a Summary of Factual Evidence

On September 26-27, 2008, SEIU held the first two days of its hearings to impose a trusteeship on United Healthcare Workers West (UHW), the second largest local union in SEIU. The hearing was convened by Ray Marshall, who was Secretary of Labor in the Carter Administration. SEIU President Andy Stern, one of the International Officers seeking to put UHW into trusteeship appointed Secretary Marshall as the hearing officer. Stern also named SEIU assistant general counsel Orrin Baird as Secretary Marshall’s legal advisor.

Both SEIU on behalf of Andy Stern and UHW began the hearing with an opening statement. The transcript of the UHW’s opening statement, which was incomplete, is reproduced and available to download in the following links UHW Opening Statement, Sal Rosselli and UHW Opening Statement, UHW Attorney, George Harris.

As the moving party, SEIU, on behalf of Andy Stern, was required to put on its case first. Secretary Marshall separated the hearing into multiple phases, the first dealing with the allegations regarding the creation of the United Healthcare Workers and Patients Education Fund. SEIU called five witnesses, then rested its case. In the remaining time, UHW was able to call in its defense one witness, whose testimony was not completed.

The last two hours of the second day of the hearing were allocated to testimony from individual UHW members. Over seventy UHW members spoke powerfully about their opposition to trusteeship, how trusteeship would be detrimental to the interests of the members, and their strong support for UHW and its leaders.

Click on the links to download a full copy of the transcript:

UHW Trusteeship Transcript for September 26, 2008

UHW Trusteeship Transcript for September 27, 2008

Summary of Hearing Testimony

14,000 UHW Members win Historic Contract Despite Damaging Actions Taken by SEIU Officials

Mon, 20 Oct 2008

On October 12, nearly 14,000 workers at 33 hospitals and multiple clinics won a historic master contract with one of the largest hospital corporations in the nation. The settlement was achieved by an elected bargaining team of over 80 rank-and-file UHW members in spite of actions taken by SEIU International officials that weakened the workers' position.

If ratified, the contract with Catholic Healthcare West will set new standards for hospital workers across the country and also set the pattern for other hospital negotiations under way with UHW workers. It includes average wage increases of 26 percent over four years, and features paid time for UHW stewards to build the union in their facilities. Additionally, it establishes a supplemental unemployment fund that will provide benefits to workers in the event that they lose their jobs after all other attempts to avoid layoffs are exhausted. For six months, Catholic Healthcare West will pay laid-off workers 60 to 80 percent of their base wages. More information here.

UHW members achieved this victory despite actions taken by SEIU International officials that weakened the workers' bargaining position. In February, SEIU President Andy Stern unilaterally dissolved the Catholic Healthcare West Unity Council. The Unity Council was a way for multiple local unions to coordinate their negotiations with a single employer. Stern's decision to disband the council and eliminate its democratic decision-making process placed members of UHW, SEIU Local 1107, and SEIU Local 121RN in a weaker position at the bargaining table. As of today, workers at Locals 1107 and 121RN still do not have a contract with Catholic Healthcare West, and 121RN members may hold a five-day strike in the coming weeks.

Additionally, UHW members had to contend with SEIU International "monitors"-a group of officials appointed by Andy Stern to watch over UHW's operations and finances. The imposition of these monitors was essentially an attempt to intimidate and interfere with the union's operations in the months leading up to Stern's attempted trusteeship of UHW. (Read more here).

Stern's escalation of a trusteeship threat in late August also led to a pause in the progress that UHW members had been making at a number of bargaining tables. Several employers began to slow down negotiations to see what the outcome of the trusteeship hearing would be, dragging out the process unnecessarily.

This settlement is important not only because of the tremendous gains made for thousands of workers and their families. It also shows that despite difficult economic times, workers can improve their own lives and the lives of those they care for by determining their own destiny at their workplaces and at the bargaining table.

AFL-CIO blog: SEIU scandal shows need for union democracy

Thu, 16 Oct 2008

By Jeff Crosby

Excerpt:

The recent investigations into several local and state SEIU leaders by their national leadership, the U.S. Department of Labor and others into financial irregularities raise questions not only for the largest and most important union in the United States, but for all of us in the labor movement. A little more than a year ago, the head of the New York City Central Labor Council was removed for similar betrayal and financial misdeeds. A Communications Workers of America (CWA) local president in New Jersey is in receivership, in part, as a result of a financial investigation. We know these problems are not the norm, and they harm the huge majority of union members whose leaders’ work is done with little personal financial reward.

According to press reports and the union’s own internal investigation, the local leaders were collecting salaries in an annual range of $200,000 and also using union funds for questionable purposes, either paying family members for doing union business or spending union funds for unacceptable personal expenses. In some cases the local leaders represented workers who make little more than minimum wage. The union is assessing methods of addressing the problem.

The issue here is self-governance. If a union local is deliberately set up so that it is virtually impossible for a member or group of members to challenge the appointed incumbent officers, what is gained and what is lost?

The argument in favor of appointed favorite sons (or daughters) proposes that we need the “Smart People” to make decisions at this critical time, and that the members cannot be expected to elect the “Smart People” and cannot hope to make the far-reaching decisions themselves that will allow their union to survive and grow. Hence the Smart People must make their decisions for them.

If this seems a bit crude or overstated, let me concede that democracy has its drawbacks and is no panacea.My own local union votes on practically everything, even which grievances to take to arbitration and which ones to drop, yet building the kind of membership involvement we want has been a constant struggle since the local was founded in 1936. Change can come slowly, but when it comes, it is sure. At critical moments the members always respond, and some 80 percent of our members vote in local elections and on contract proposals.

If favorite sons or daughters are set up in locals or labor councils or national unions so that they can’t be challenged, and treated like part of an inner circle of Smart People, bad things tend to happen—in any organization. This may be a product of a corrupt culture, or by-laws, or both. Supervision and accountability need to come from below as well as from above.

Full blog post here.

Report from the SEIU Trusteeship Hearing on September 26th and 27th

Tue, 07 Oct 2008

Some Report Highlights:

More than 8,000 UHW members attended the two-day hearing to express their opposition to a trusteeship

Largest gatherings of this kind in the recent history of the U.S. labor movement

SEIU assigned its own attorneys to serve as the hearing officer's staff during the course of the hearings

SEIU offered no concrete evidence to support claims

SEIU attorneys tried repeatedly to block UHW from discussing evidence

Time constraints meant that UHW was able to present only one of its witnesses

Powerful testimony of nearly 70 UHW members that continued for 2 1/2 hours... Hundreds more had signed up to speak

Rank-and-file workers from across the state sent a very strong message - that they love their union, that they are outraged by the unjust effort to remove their elected Executive Board and officers

UHW requested that hearing dates be scheduled after the November election so our union's collective energy can be focused on putting Obama in the White House

The continuation of the hearing is scheduled for November 7th, 8th and 9th

REPORT:

On September 26th and 27th, SEIU held a hearing in San Mateo, California to consider President Stern's request to place UHW in trusteeship. More than 8,000 UHW members attended the two-day hearing to express their opposition to a trusteeship, making it one of the largest gatherings of this kind in the recent history of the U.S. labor movement. Members traveled to the hearing by car, van, plane and nearly 80 rented buses that came from cities across the state. On Saturday, the crowd exceeded expectations, forcing event organizers to scramble for more food after running through 6,000 box lunches.

At the beginning of the hearing, UHW's attorneys formally objected to the biased structure of the hearing. While the hearing is supposed to be overseen by a neutral hearing officer, SEIU assigned its own attorneys to serve as the hearing officer's staff during the course of the hearings.

Testimony centered on SEIU's allegation that UHW set up a 501(c)(3) organization in May of 2007 to serve as a "shadow union" in case of trusteeship. SEIU offered no concrete evidence to support these claims, and cross-examination revealed profound weaknesses in each of their witnesses' testimony.

The hearing had many dramatic moments that were witnessed by the 1,400 people who were permitted inside the hearing hall at any given time. SEIU attorneys tried repeatedly to block UHW from discussing evidence of SEIU's campaign against UHW, including SEIU's "implosion" email as well as President Stern's voiding of the charter of the SEIU California State Council and his cancellation of the Council's normal voting rules in order to remove UHW's President Sal Rosselli as its elected president.

At another point in the hearing, SEIU attorneys sought to bar testimony regarding SEIU leaders' collusion with employers, including testimony about a tentative agreement that SEIU leaders secretly negotiated with Tenet Healthcare. The tentative agreement, which SEIU leaders negotiated and signed without ever consulting UHW's elected bargaining committee, gave Tenet the right to subcontract 12% of UHW members' 7,000 jobs and was an early source of the criticism that UHW members have directed at SEIU leaders.

During the hearing, SEIU presented five witnesses: SEIU staffers Bob Hauptman and Amado David as well as three outside witnesses. Time constraints meant that UHW was able to present only one of its witnesses. According to the hearing rules, each side presents its own witnesses, who can then be cross-examined by the other side's attorneys. SEIU's attorneys attempted to circumvent the rules by trying to call UHW's Secretary-Treasurer Joan Emslie to the stand before she had given testimony as part of UHW's own presentation. The hearing officer ruled that SEIU's efforts were not permitted under the hearing rules.

Perhaps the biggest highlight was the powerful testimony of nearly 70 UHW members that continued for 2 1/2 hours until the hearing officer formally closed the proceedings on Saturday evening. Hundreds more had signed up to speak but were unable due to time constraints. Rank-and-file workers from across the state sent a very strong message - that they love their union, that they are outraged by the unjust effort to remove their elected Executive Board and officers, and that they will fight to keep control of their union.

With the two-day hearing completed, the hearing officer will now schedule a second hearing to hear additional evidence. The continuation of the hearing is scheduled for November 7th, 8th and 9th. As in the case of the first hearing, UHW requested that hearing dates be scheduled after the November election so our union's collective energy can be focused on putting Obama in the White House. SEIU's attorneys did not initially agree to this proposal, but they eventually consented. The hearing officer noted that at the conclusion of the hearing process, there will be a 30-day period during which each side can submit additional written testimony. The hearing officer will then review all materials and issue a formal recommendation.

SEIU: You Won’t Intimidate Organized Rank-And-File Union Members

Tue, 30 Sep 2008

In my years as an activist member with SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West I have been a part of many struggles for working people. But in the last months we have been in a different kind of fight. We have stood up to the arrogance of Andy Stern, Anna Burger and other SEIU International officers who, in an attempt to flex their muscles and stifle dissent, have chastened many rank-and-file members and our local, United Healthcare Workers - West with the threat of trusteeship. But I will say now, organized union members will never be intimidated by anyone, International Union officers included. We will stand up to anyone.

I saw this stifling of members voices at the SEIU Convention in Puerto Rico from the moment we entered the convention center, when our delegation was harassed and followed. I saw this as the Convention voted to move me and other workers out of my union and into corrupt Local 6434, ignoring our right to decide where we belong. The hundreds in Puerto Rico voted to move us 65,000 from California. But we were not intimidated then.

UHW member Ella Raiford, protesting the Convention's vote to force members out of UHW.

In response, we came out in force. At our mass demonstration in Manhattan Beach, where we organized 6000 members to protest another sham hearing, I personally went up to Anna Burger and confronted her, telling her that we will not be swayed and demanded that Stern and Burger meet with our membership. We arenít furniture, we canít be moved around on their whims. We werenít surprised when she said no to a meeting. We stood strong in front of them, never scared.

My UHW brothers and sisters protesting the International's plans to divide us in July.

We continued on to Madison, Wisconsin, where a group of us were determined to meet with SEIU International. We continued in our demands for a meeting with Andy Stern, and to our surprise he agreed to meet us for a brief talk. But he said very little to us, claiming that he couldnít say anything without his lawyers. Instead of our elected officers working for us, Andy and Anna wanted the lawyers to do their job, so they could wash their hands when we pressed them with questions. When faced with dozens of informed, angry union members, maybe our International union officers were intimidated by us!

We confronted Andy Stern; me right after our meeting with him.

And most recently, I and fifty other UHW members occupied the SEIU International office in Alameda to demand answers from out-of-touch union officials who support taking away our voice. We shouldnít be afraid to confront them -- they work for us!

Us confronting International officials at the SEIU Office in Oakland.

This is a movement of union members who have one goal: to keep our democratically run union, UHW, where we make decisions. I and others in our union have confronted our bosses and won, through the power of organized union members. We are not afraid to take on any fight, even against SEIU International officials.

JuanAntonio Molina
Proud UHW Member
In-Home Healthcare Provider
San Francisco, CA

Highlights from UHW members' visit to Andy Stern's trusteeship 'hearing'

Mon, 29 Sep 2008

Member Voices Amy Thigpen and Mary Mundy | Slideshows | Keepin' It Real Segments on SEIU-UHW TV

SEIU President Andy Stern's trusteeship "hearing" was held on September 26 and 27. This was only his latest attempt to silence our voices and put Our UHW under the control of his appointed leaders. But we showed up with more than 5,000 of our members and one message: Hands off our union!

It's not yet clear what result will come out of the event. The hearing officer chosen by Andy Stern said he wants another session to be held in November, after the election, in order to hear more member comments and information about our case. One thing is certain. We'll be there to protect our union!

SEIU-UHW TV

Keepin' It Real: Hearing shows UHW's Strength

Taped at Trusteeship Hearing: day 2, episode 2

Keepin' It Real: Day Two of SEIU's "hearing" against UHW

Taped at Trusteeship Hearing: day 2, episode 1

Keepin' It Real: Breaking News Update from SEIU Hearing

Taped at Trusteeship Hearing: day 1, episode 2

Keepin' It Real: UHW takes on Andy Stern's Kangaroo Court

Taped at Trusteeship Hearing: day 1, episode 1

Photo Slideshows: UHW Members Rock! at the Rally

Amy Thigpen Gives Reflections on the Trusteeship Hearing

Fri, 26 Sep 2008

HANDS OFF OUR UHW - LIVE AT THE TRUSTEESHIP HEARING

AMY THIGPEN

Medical Social Worker, Kaiser Permanente Fremont

Stern ignores growing support for delay of hearing, rebuffs Department of Labor

Thu, 25 Sep 2008

Andy Stern’s single-minded campaign of retaliation against UHW’s leadership for speaking out against his policies is blinding him to the realities of holding a sham trusteeship hearing this weekend. Stern is now ignoring the requests of his own hearing officer, the San Mateo Police Department, the San Mateo Events Center, UHW, and even the Department of Labor in order to press forward his attack on UHW’s elected leaders.

Already, SEIU officials speaking anonymously to the San Francisco Bay Guardian have said they’re worried that moving toward trusteeship now is endangering SEIU’s ability to help elect Barack Obama. Other labor experts, like Nelson Lichtenstein and Bill Fletcher, have agreed with this position.

U.S. Department of Labor letter dated Sept. 23 informing SEIU that even though the department’s request to observe the hearing was denied, investigators from the department’s Office of Labor Management Standards would continue to monitor the situation. [PDF]

UHW letter dated Sept. 22, requesting that the trusteeship hearing be postponed in order to be fully prepared. Note: former U.S. Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall, Stern’s hand-picked hearing officer, stated that he supported our call for postponing the hearing. [PDF]

Letter from Andy Stern’s chief of staff denying our request for a postponement. [PDF]

UHW letter dated Sept. 23, appealing the denial of our request. New information includes the request by both the San Mateo Events Center, which is hosting the hearing, and the San Mateo Police Department for the hearing to be postponed due to logistical concerns. [PDF]

Letter from Andy Stern’s chief of staff denying our appeal of original denial for a postponement. [PDF]

Read more about the campaign of retaliation against UHW here.

Mary Mundy Blogging from UHW Trusteeship Hearing

Thu, 25 Sep 2008

HANDS OFF OUR UHW - LIVE AT THE TRUSTEESHIP HEARING

MARY MUNDY

Member Blogger, Certified Nursing Assistant, La Mariposa Rehabilitation Center

4:00pm - Report from day 2 of the trusteeship hearing

It's the second day of the hearing and while thousands of us returned for the second day there are also more members arriving every hour.

There was a beautiful breakfast laid out for us this morning and we were serenaded by live music for lunch.

There are only 1400 seats in the hearing hall so there are thousands of us outside showing our support.

This morning we marched in a group led by the home healthcare workers with drums and megaphones screaming chants and gathering up UHW members as we marched along, ending with a rally at the main stage.

It's important that we're all here to let Stern know that WE ARE THE UNION and WE WILL BE HEARD.

Considering the passion of our members to stay in UHW, it's hard to understand how Stern can believe he has the slightest chance of successfully taking us over.

We have right on our side. We have thousands of passionate members on our side. We have the will to win, and we WILL NOT give up, WE WILL WIN!

7:01pm- Report from day 1 of the trusteeship hearing

Thousands of UHW members showed up today in San Mateo at the trusteeship hearing to make our voices heard. At the same time workers at Windsor nursing homes were on strike for 2 days and this morning got locked out when they tried to return to work. They are in a difficult fight to achieve standards set for acute care workers throughout the state and this trusteeship hearing is emboldening their employer. So even in the middle of their fight they took a break from their picket line to attend the hearing. Amid music and speeches our members LOUDLY proclaimed their belief that UHW is our union and we won't let SEIU take it away from us.

I got the chance to talk with a member of SEIU Local 6434 who was here. She was overwhelmed at the massive turnout of UHW members. She told me that this would never happen at her union. She was so impressed by our mobilization and the level of involvement of members that she voiced her desire to be part of UHW.

There was a rally outside the hearing and a lot of other activities. There is a t-shirt transformation booth where you can personalize your union shirts and also sign-making and face-painting activities for kids. These activities allow us to have some fun and let off a little steam.

Most importantly we could sit in on the hearing and will hopefully have a chance to speak on the record tomorrow.

This hearing is just an attempt to retaliate against us for speaking out against SEIU. If this hearing doesn't go our way it's only because the hearing is being held for purely political reasons and the decision was already made. But we're committed to fight because there is so much at stake.

Instead of attacking us, SEIU should be working with us on the hundreds of UHW nursing homes and hospitals that are in contract negotiations. They should be spending their time and effort working to get Obama elected. Just imagine what we could accomplish if SEIU wasn't wasting staff and money attacking us.

This is an attack to silence us. We have shown the world and SEIU that we will not be silenced.

Bill Fletcher on Democracy Now!: Attack Against UHW Absurd, Ironic

Sat, 20 Sep 2008

In an interview on Democracy Now!, Bill Fletcher talked about the challenges currenlty faced by organized labor following the Change to Win split and the battle for union democracy within SEIU. Excerpt:

JUAN GONZALEZ: Bill, I’d like to get back to your book, per se, Solidarity Divided. Most of it deals with the period when John Sweeney became head of the AFL-CIO and then the split within the AFL-CIO and the creation of a new labor federation, Change to Win. And I know you were a special assistant to John Sweeney for many years. Your take on what’s been happening now among the—within the dissident federation, the reformers, led by the most influential union, I guess, in the country now, SEIU, the Service Employees International Union? Now the reformers are racked by a major battle within that union over corruption and union democracy, and there are many people speculating that it’s going to have an impact on labor’s ability to mobilize for the presidential campaign. Your sense of what’s going on among the reformers of Change to Win?

BILL FLETCHER: Well, I’m actually deeply worried, Juan. The split accomplished nothing. Nothing. There were—nothing of any significance. I mean, there has been some level of growth on both sides of the split, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win. There have been plans that have been announced for organizing.

But part of the problem is that when you have a split that’s not based on principle, that’s not based on anything that’s very concrete, but that’s based on rhetoric and spin, it is almost inevitable that things will start to unravel. And I think that that’s what we’ve been witnessing very recently. In both SEIU as well as UNITE HERE, which was the merger, as you know, of the hotel workers and the textile workers, textile and garment workers, we’re seeing very serious problems of instability and challenges in terms of direction.

In SEIU, as you mentioned, what we’re witnessing is, in the West Coast there have been allegations of very serious corruption among locals that have been allied very strongly with SEIU President Andy Stern, and in the middle of this, this absurd attack on one of the largest SEIU locals by the SEIU President Andy Stern—and this is United Healthcare Workers-West—an attack that comes at absolutely the worst time, in an attempt to trustee the local, that is, to take it over by the international.

So—and it’s ironic, Juan. In the spring, there were many of us that were concerned that when United Healthcare Workers-West started raising various issues and differences with the Stern leadership, that they were going to be trusteed, and we were told, “No, no, no. You’re paranoid. This is ridiculous!” What did they do a few weeks ago? Announce that they’re going to have trusteeship hearings with the intention of taking over the local.

See, I think that the problem is that the debate that we should have had in our movement back in 2004 and 2005 did not take place. Instead, there were these exchanges about whether organizing or politics was more important, as opposed to understanding, getting at the root of why is our movement in the shape that it’s in.

Full transcript and video of the interview here.

E-mail Exchange Exposes SEIU Officials Plotted Against Members

Thu, 18 Sep 2008

This e-mail from top SEIU official Bill Ragen to several other International Union executives shows the depths to which Andy Stern's coterie has gone to retaliate against UHW. These high-level discussions covered several pieces of a multi-pronged attack against UHW. Pieces of this attack include:

an unlawful trusteeship
the cynical use of jurisdictional hearings to cause "implosion" of UHW, by removing 40 percent of our members
the suggestion to disrupt bargaining of contracts covering some 75,000 healthcare workers
a willingness to support baseless complaints against the union by a handful of disgruntled members

The e-mail is dated June 5, and in the months since then, we have already seen this full-fledged assault in action. For example, numerous employers have indicated they are uninterested in bargaining openly with UHW while the International ponders whether to trustee us. A trusteeship hearing has been scheduled for later this month, despite the lack of any evidence to support such an action. And Stern has called for a bogus vote on union jurisdiction in California, with a lose-lose scenario for UHW: one option is to remove 65,000 members from our local, and the other calls for revoking UHW's charter completely.

Stern and others in the International Union have claimed their actions were not motivated by desire to attack UHW. This e-mail is only the tip of the iceberg disproving those claims.

Read the full document here. [PDF]

UHW Members Sue Stern, Burger over Suppression of Free Speech

Thu, 18 Sep 2008

UHW's rank-and-file leadership has filed a lawsuit against Andy Stern and Anna Burger for their campaign of systematically trying to silence the members of UHW who are speaking out against Stern and Burger's power grabs. The lawsuit notes several actions taken by Stern's inner circle--including threats of a politically motivated trusteeship and dismantling of UHW--which are intended to chill dissent within SEIU.

The full text of the lawsuit is here. [PDF]

Thu, 18 Sep 2008

Whose union? Our union! UHW members get inside SEIU's 'War Room'

Thu, 18 Sep 2008

For weeks, UHW members have been hearing the buzz. From their "war room," we've heard, SEIU International staff are preparing to force a bogus trusteeship and phony vote, take control of our union away from us, and hand UHW over to a crony of International President Andy Stern. On Wednesday, more than seventy UHW members visited that "war room" to tell SEIU that this is our union, and that we are going to fight for what is ours.

We crowded into SEIU's regional office on the seventh floor of an Oakland office building. You would have thought we were invading a foreign country rather than walking into the office of our own International union. That we are engaged in a war for the control of the direction of our union is becoming increasingly apparent.

We demanded to see someone who could give us a straight answer. The person we got was International staffer David Kiefer. As flash bulbs flashed and our cameras rolled, he asked what he could do for us. We said we wanted to know why the SEIU International is trying to take over our local union. Kiefer talked about protecting SEIU's financial strength by "following procedure" and investigating the conduct of UHW's leadership. That prompted Mell Garcia, a 31-year UHW member, to tell Kiefer, "stop the smear campaign, stop the persecution, stop trying to take our union away from us."

"Back off," she said, "because a purple storm is coming!"

Roy Chaffee, a longtime UHW member leader, asked Kiefer point-blank whether Andy Stern had designated him to lead the trusteeship of UHW, as we had heard. Kiefer denied it, claiming that he was in Oakland to "focus on organizing long-term care workers." But even as he denied that he was hand-picked to take over our local, he defended the International's maneuver, insisting that the upcoming trusteeship hearing will be "fair." We told him we are putting the International on notice that we will not go away. Chants of "Whose union is this? OUR union!" erupted, reverberating through the office halls for several minutes.

When the chants died down, JuanAntonio Molina, a homecare worker, came forth with an impassioned plea. "This is our union. We have a voice. Listen to UHW's members, you can't just move us around like pieces of furniture." Kiefer remained impassive, arms crossed, and replied, "I appreciate your input, and it will be put to a vote." Amidst loud booing, a member demanded, "how can an election be 'fair' if both options lead to the same result – the SEIU International taking over our union and taking away the members' control?" That's because the International has proposed a sham "vote" how to reorganize long-term care workers in California, with just two options: one is to dismantle UHW by taking away 65,000 members, and another is to reoganize UHW entirely out of existence.

With that, member Stengel put Kiefer on notice again that we won't sit by quietly and let our union be taken away.With our chants echoing through the office building, we walked out, single-file, to the parking lot, where we started to plan the next phase of what looks like it will be a long war to keep this union democratic, to keep it member-run – to keep UHW ours.

Editor's note: David Kiefer, a Washington, D.C.-based SEIU official, is the key leader of the SEIU nursing home alliance and has advocated for template contracts with poverty wages and poor standards for nursing home workers. Kiefer has also led efforts to bar our members from being at our own bargaining table.

SF Bay Guardian: SEIU Internal Battle Diverting Critical Resources from Election

Wed, 17 Sep 2008

By J.B. Powell

According to several sources within SEIU, the union will be devoting resources to the Golden State this fall, even though the state is widely expected to remain a Democratic stronghold. The sources contend that the organization is preparing to deploy hundreds of its staffers to the region to take control of a local union affiliate and to deal with any potential fallout. At least some of those staffers, the sources say, would have been devoting their time and energy to the election campaign if not for SEIU's internal troubles.

Last month the union's international office was forced to "trustee," or take over, its largest California affiliate after the Los Angeles Times ran a series of articles exposing alleged corruption by its leader, Tyrone Freeman. Then, in late August, SEIU announced it was initiating a process to assume control of its second-largest California local, the Oakland-based United Healthcare Workers–West (UHW). For months, SEIU president Andy Stern has feuded with UHW head Sal Rosselli over Stern's push to consolidate local union chapters into larger and more centralized units [see "A less perfect union," 4/9/08, and "The SEIU strikes back," 4/16/08].

Stern and the international have charged Rosselli and other UHW officials with misappropriating millions of dollars. In late July, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by SEIU covering these same charges. Now SEIU has scheduled its own hearings on the matter to decide whether to clean out UHW's leadership. The hearings are set for Sept. 26-27 at the San Mateo County Event Center. A separate lawsuit challenging UHW leadership brought by individual UHW members is also moving forward. Rosselli and his supporters strongly deny the allegations of financial misconduct. They claim the upcoming trusteeship hearings are simply Stern's latest attempt to stifle dissent within the union.

"It's a kangaroo court," Rosselli told us. "It's a purely political move to silence our members. And it's a huge distraction."

Full article here.

Invasion or Implosion? How To Cripple UHW-W

Tue, 16 Sep 2008

Posted on Talking Union by Paul Garver

I propose to any reader of this blog who wants to delve into the roots of the conflict between national SEIU and its dissenting local UHW-W to read the full texts of their respective legal positions.

You can download the UHW-W’s “Disciplinary Charges Against Andrew L. Stern and Anna Burger” from SEIUVoice. Here is Anna Burger’s letter to Local UHW-W members with the offical notice of the trusteeship hearing .

Although both documents are phrased as legal cases, they are actually political platforms, justifying past and present actions and preparing their respective casus belli for war.

The national union’s brief alleges a number of technical violations that have already been corrected, and does not present even a prima facie case for the need to impose a dictatorship over UHW-W and suspend its autonomous operation. The main purpose of alleging financial corruption, besides trying to justify a trusteeship, must be to link the UHW-W to instances of real financial corruption in other California SEIU locals.

The UHW-W’s filing is unusual and perhaps groundbreaking in charging national leaders with violating the SEIU’s constitution by seeking to impose an unlawful trusteeship over UHW-W as political retaliation for criticizing SEIU policies and actions. Although the SEIU International Executive Board certainly has the legal power to discipline Stern and Burger, provide relief to UHW-W and agree to an impartial overseer to monitor compliance, it is not likely to do so.

UHW-W’s document charges that Stein and Burger had been directing a campaign to cripple UHW-W and remove Sal Rosselli and its other executive officers for at least several months. One piece of evidence it cites is an email dated about 5 June 2008 from SEIU official Bill Ragen to several top SEIU officials setting forth an argument for orchestrating the “implosion” of UHW-W through means like stripping away its long-term care members, filing lawsuits, exploiting “pockets of dissatisfaction” among UHW-W members, etc. Ragen regarded trusteeship as too risky an option, leading to a quagmire like Iraq and the possible resistance of key senior staff to participating in a “suicide mission.” According to this hypothesis the option of imposing a formal trusteeship on UHW-W was chosen only after the corruption scandal against Local 6434 President Tyrone Freeman began to break, making the plan to shift UHW-W’s long-term care membership into Local 6434 less plausible.

Many other charges and counter-charges are made in both documents, but I suggest you read them for yourselves. Here I will comment only on the tactics available to the national union in its jihad against UHW-W leaders. Imposing a trusteeship over UHW-W would indeed lead to negative consequences analogous to the fall-out from the US invasion of Iraq. But could an “implosion” brought about by a war of attrition against UHW-W have succeeded? I am reminded of another U.S. intervention, this against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. That intervention “succeeded” in crippling the faint possibility of positive change, helping to stifle and distort a movement that had briefly brought hope to a desperately underdeveloped society. To make a bad pun, Ragan’s doctrine sounds a lot like Reagan’s.

But if Sal Rosselli is an improbable Saddam Hussein, are the UHW-W leaders any more like the Sandinistas? Is UHW-W likely to eventually crumble under the weight of national SEIU (no Colossus of the North!)? I doubt if the analogy holds. Maybe imposing a direct trusteeship over UHW-W, hated, undemocratic and unpopular as it might be, with all the collateral damage to SEIU and to the progressive movement in the USA it would entail, is the only option left to crush the opposition party within SEIU. My question to SEIU leaders and staff remains: Is this the path you really want to take? Is this dubious cause worth destroying all that we who are now or were once in SEIU have worked for? It is never too late to negotiate.

Paul Garver worked as an organizer, field representative and staff director from 1974 to 1989 for SEIU Local 585 in Pittsburgh.

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/invasion-or-implosion-how-to-cripple-uhw-w/

SEIU Voice

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Report from the SEIU Trusteeship Hearing on September 26th and 27th

SEIU: You Won’t Intimidate Organized Rank-And-File Union Members

UHW member Ella Raiford, protesting the Convention's vote to force members out of UHW.­

­My UHW brothers and sisters protesting the International's plans to divide us in July.

We confronted Andy Stern; me right after our meeting with him.

Us confronting International officials at the SEIU Office in Oakland.

Highlights from UHW members' visit to Andy Stern's trusteeship 'hearing'

SEIU-UHW TV

Keepin' It Real: Hearing shows UHW's Strength

Keepin' It Real: Day Two of SEIU's "hearing" against UHW

Keepin' It Real: Breaking News Update from SEIU Hearing

Keepin' It Real: UHW takes on Andy Stern's Kangaroo Court

Photo Slideshows: UHW Members Rock! at the Rally

Amy Thigpen Gives Reflections on the Trusteeship Hearing

Stern ignores growing support for delay of hearing, rebuffs Department of Labor

Mary Mundy Blogging from UHW Trusteeship Hearing

Bill Fletcher on Democracy Now!: Attack Against UHW Absurd, Ironic

E-mail Exchange Exposes SEIU Officials Plotted Against Members

UHW Members Sue Stern, Burger over Suppression of Free Speech

Whose union? Our union! UHW members get inside SEIU's 'War Room'

SF Bay Guardian: SEIU Internal Battle Diverting Critical Resources from Election

Invasion or Implosion? How To Cripple UHW-W

UHW member Ella Raiford, protesting the Convention's vote to force members out of UHW.

My UHW brothers and sisters protesting the International's plans to divide us in July.