Barely one week after a federal jury unanimously found NUHW, Rosselli, Lewis, and the other defendants liable to UHW for over $1.5 million, following a two week trial that exposed their corruption and deceit, NUHW is dealt another devastating blow. By withdrawing from the NLRB election at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, NUHW only sped up by a few days what would have been the inevitable result - another win for workers represented by SEIU-UHW!
No matter how hard Rosselli's propaganda machine tries to hide it, each day that passes by reveals that NUHW is losing steam, and after 15 months of having gained NOTHING for even a single healthcare worker in California, these "union reformers'" sole achievement has been discrediting their short lived experiment and "leaving their honor behind."
The hardworking members at St. Francis have reclaimed their hospital and can now return to doing what they do best, taking care of the sick. We, your brothers and sisters in the Daughters of Charity network of hospitals, working in the other facilities congratulate you! We too look forward to reclaiming our facilities, returning to normal, and finally being liberated from the unnecessary distractions that have tried to hurt us this past year. See you at the same bargaining table in 2012!
When the trial started two weeks ago, it was clearly stated what this was all about. It was about rules, the dangers of thinking you can be above them, and the consequences for then refusing to follow them. In his opening arguments, Gary Kholman, attorney for the 150,000 members that were abandoned by Rosselli and his co-defendants, told the jury that he will lay out evidence that showed how the defendants, in reaction to "constitutional mandates" placed upon them by the international, began to plot and put into motion a set of premeditated actions in response. The sole purpose of these actions by the defendants was to pilfer the union's treasury, hijack the local's valuable information network, and ultimately steal members away and put them into a new organization with shady beginnings. In the two weeks that followed those opening statements by Mr. Kholman, witness after witness after witness came forward to testify. They told how they were recruited to either lie to and cheat members out of due representation, or how they were intimidated into cooperation. Mountains of documents, many from the defendants' own hands, were put into evidence. We read secret e-mails, task lists, minutes and notes of meetings, correspondence, and watched videos that showed the evolution of this "great plan" of these 26 OUTSIDERS that sought to destroy our union of over eighty years.
In his closing arguments today, Kholman again reminded the jury what this has always been about rules and consequences. These defendants always had three honorable options before them;
- Accept the rules and abide by them
- Work within the system to change the rules
- Leave the organization
Instead, they chose a fourth, dishonorable option, to defy the rules and breach the rules that govern our union. The means they used to reach that end were equally dishonorable! Taking members' dues monies off the books into a secret slush fund, pirating our confidential information into a shadow database, and creating secret groups that held clandestine meetings. Appalling as that is, the worst offense they made against us was to lie to us and then recruit us as pawns in their sinister scheme.
In society, and the organizations within them, rules are what bind us together and keep us from falling into chaos. Regardless how one felt about the 2000 Bush v Gore election drama, it was because rules were in place that an "orderly transition" occurred from one president to the next. Hard as it may have been for Gore to accept the result, can you imagine what shambles our democracy would be put into if he had decided to not accept or abide by it and instead conspired to have the "blue states" secede? That's what Rosselli and the others are trying to do.
For NUHW, It's Still About Distraction and Distortion:
Two weeks ago Dan Siegel, attorney for Rosselli and his co-defendants, chose to talk about what this trial was NOT about. He wanted to talk about Andy Stern, his salary and a book he wrote. He wanted to preach about democracy and tyranny. He told us how his clients' actions were "motivated by patient care." These attempts to distract the jury only got him stiff admonishments from the judge who then instructed him to follow the rules. Throughout the trial, he offered no evidence to refute our claims against his clients...only spin. He put forth witnesses that proudly verified claims of violent actions, then insinuated the victims were to blame. On the stand, his clients broke down, and Rosselli himself became as nervous as a "sinner in church!"
In his closing arguments today, Siegel offered nothing new...only spin. He spoke about gazing at the stars and pondered the horoscope signs they formed. He dipped his feet into various conspiracy theories like the government's involvement in 9-11 and the CIA's role in the Kennedy assassination. From this, he gathered that SEIU our union of over eighty years, is like Iran. He defended his clients' obstructive actions as mere "expression," saying they cannot be held accountable for them, but then referred to them as "terrible conspirators." Mr. Siegel obviously has never stepped foot in any of our facilities, this much was evident when he had the nerve to ask "Did anything horrible really happen?" The answer to that Mr. Siegel, YES!!! Ask any of the 150,000 members your clients left behind.
With both sides resting their cases, a milestone has been reached in the federal lawsuit against ousted SEIU-UHW President Sal Rosselli and his 25 co-defendants. The case is being tried in federal court in San Francisco before U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup.
Ms. "Ungovernable Situation" Takes The Stand:
Barbara Lewis, author of the now infamous "Ungovernable Situation" memo, which plotted out leaving our union in chaos after they were ousted from power, took the stand. From her we learned how she spent $41, 871 at Kinko's to print decertification petitions. When asked if she put her staff on "Code Orange," she replied that she could not recall. However, a January 22, 2009 memo was shown where she instructed trusted staff to:
- Always be accessible by phone
- Not to plan for any sleep - OUCH!
- Be on 24 hour standby
And yes, she did say "Code Orange." She was asked if as high ranking officer of UHW how she felt about trusteeship being imposed to which she said very saddened by the whole situation. Mr. Kohlman then showed a video clip where she called it "A great day for our union." Ooops.
"Define Forming"
NUHW co-founder John Borsos was one of the final witnesses in the case. Despite his lack of recollect, the jury was shown a memo where lawyers advised him to "lay low" about active resistance to the international. He was told to "launder" it through an intermediary. At one point Mr. Kohlman asked him if one still works for one union and uses the resources of that union to start forming a new union, would he consider that stealing. His answer "depends on how you define forming." He then insisted that despite the similarities between this case and the Colcord case of 2005, it's a different situation. Different, apparently, because he's the one on the hot seat.
(Colcord case: In 2005 three organizers while still employed by UHW used union resources such as the member database among other stuff to form a new union to organize EMT workers at AMR. Rosselli and UHW sued the three and won a judgment against them. In this trial, UHW makes the same claim, that Rosselli and the other defendants used UHW resources to form NUHW while they were still the top officers/employees of UHW.)
Tomorrow we will hear the closing arguments and the judge will give the jury instructions they will use for their deliberations.
Sometimes in the midst of a broader organizing effort there's a moment that clarifies exactly what you're fighting for. NUHW activist and union member Eloise Reese-Burns has just such a moment to share with us tonight.
Eloise Reese-Burns has worked as a certified nursing assistant at Cottonwood Healthcare in Woodland California for 39 years. This month, along with 350 of her co-workers, she become one of the first official members of NUHW, a member-led union of healthcare workers formed just this year.
Building NUHW will not be easy. But Eloise Reese-Burns explains why it is necessary...
My name is Lisa Tomasian and I'd like to tell you the story behind a letter I wrote to the trustees of SEIU-UHW.
Having worked at Kaiser Hospital as a Radiology Technologist as well as having served as an elected union shop steward for the past 18 years, I believe that workers' rights are human rights. I've come to believe that labor unions are the vehicle and voice for workers to advocate for social justice.
In my previous posts, United Healthcare Workers Holding our Ground and We are the Union. SEIU who are you? I shared my experience of the trusteeship SEIU International imposed on SEIU-UHW and the birth of our new union, NUHW. What I'd like to do today is share with you why this experience has been a defining moment for me and my sisters and brothers building NUHW...
I hear the chants in my head. When I need them, they come to me.
This line is especially true right now for the former members of United Healthcare Workers-West. We are the union. A week and a half ago, many of my sisters and brothers and I slept in our union hall, before the hostile takeover by our International, SEIU. As we held our hall, my sisters and I worked to maintain our union. We fended off anyone SEIU sent to weasel their way in without warrants. We planned how we'd move forward during an imminent occupation: how we'd communicate with each other; how we would reach deep into our membership to take our union back.
It occurred to me that night hunched over the bare desks in the communication department office, the union solidarity posters hanging behind me, that though we had been member leaders up to that point, stewards and activists for union democracy, something had changed. This was a sort of matriculation, graduation day.
I'm currently on a conference call with the former leaders of SEIU-UHW where they are announcing the formation of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. They'll be working to decertify UHW at many of the facilities. This will be a long fight as the negotiations come up throughout the next coming years.
This is all in response to SEIU International's trusteeship of the UHW local. As I understand it, the International has placed calls to employers notifying them that UHW employees no longer represented the employees.
The SEIU International has a conference call of its own coming up shortly.
{Amy Thigpen and members of UHW are sleeping in their union halls across California tonight due the threat of imminent seizure of those buildings by SEIU International, which instituted a takeover of UHW West today.}
Last night I slept on the kind of carpet you don't really want to examine too closely. It's splotched with decades of coffee stains and salsa and too many conversations still seem to hang in the stale air, but there I was, curled up on my air mattresses in the union hall in downtown Oakland, the home of United Healthcare Workers West, my union. On my right my sister the Medical Assistant slept peacefully, on my left my sister the Call Center Representative, across my sister the Ultrasound Technician, and my sister the Optical Technician. All of them healthcare workers, member leaders and officers in our union. I realized that I loved this stale, stained room, with carpets held together by duct tape, I love the room because it holds the waking dreams of my sister and brothers in UHW-W. The place may be held together by duct tape but we as a union are held together by something stronger.
UPDATE: UHW just issued a statement, apparently a few members of the executive board planned to raise objections to both the substance and timing of this vote, since there is an official meeting Jan 20-21st. Stern decided to do the vote electronically with the deadline of 2 pm tomorrow. More when I hear it...
ORIGINAL POST: I know I have been quiet here as of late, but I couldn't let this pass without speaking out and making sure it did not fade below our collective radar.
Today a special meeting of SEIU executive board is being called by teleconference. On the agenda is the potential creation of a statewide long-term care union, a new local. SEIU International has established them in several other states and they want to do it here in California. That is not their only motivation and probably not their biggest one. The creation of this new union would gut UHW, by removing 65k members. This appears to be the solution that the International has come up with for weakening UHW, after the charges they went after UHW with fell apart during the trusteeship hearings in the fall.
The SEIU/UHW dispute aside, a statewide local sounds like it could be a good idea, no? Consolidate everyone who have the same type of job and build a new local. It might end up being a new benefit to the workers, or it might not. It depends on if the new local is a better advocate for the workers than the one they left. They would be leaving the known for the unknown.
One would think that SEIU members should have the say over whether or not they want this to happen. Well, there was an election, technically speaking. It gave all of the SEIU health care workers in CA two different options for creating a statewide health care local. There was no option for workers to keep their current representation, staff and elected leadership. Both would end UHW as we know it, which appears to be why the International is pursuing this, despite the results of the "advisory" election.
Ballots representing 7.8% of eligible members were received, a horrible turnout. Notice I didn't say only 7.8% voted. That's because the rules were changed mid-election and members were encouraged to vote more than once. UHW actively organized against the vote, and frankly organized circles around the International.
Perhaps just as important, union members presented the Election Officer with petitions protesting the election signed by 80,000 members. These were accompanied by 40,000 formal letters of protest. UHW members presented these letters and petitions in sacks weighing hundreds of pounds. It was an astonishing outpouring of opposition, organized in less than one month.
It is fair to say that SEIU members are vehemently opposed to the creation of this new local based on the results of the election and the huge backlash against it. However, the International is calling the election "a celebration of union democracy" and using it as justification during today's board meeting. They have not received a mandate to make this change and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous at best.
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 aren't furniture, we can't be moved around on their whims. We weren't 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 couldn't 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 shouldn't 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
We were very pleased to have Robert from Monterey attend the sham trusteeship hearing against members at United Heatlthcare Workers - West. Robert had a great perspective on the hearing.
Here are some of my thoughts as a UHW member:
For the past two days I joined several thousand rank-and-file UHW members in donning red shirts with the slogan "Hands Off Our Union" at our march and protest against Andy Stern and SEIU's attempt to impose a dictatorship on our local union. The tension was thick throughout the trusteeship hearing which SEIU convened with less then a months notice to justify unlawfully removing our elected leaders for political reasons.
SEIU hasn't succeeded in taking control of our union away from healthcare workers like me yet. And we're not going to let them. I'm a CNA at a nursing home in Fresno and what I want right now is to spend my time working hard to elect Barack Obama, helping other workers join our union, and fighting to put patients before profits. Outside the hearing all these things were heavily on our minds while we came together with other healthcare workers in a festival for a democratic, bottom-up union.
Several dozen SEIU staff in blue monitor shirts greeted us when we arrived at the trusteeship hearing yesterday and this morning. I thought to myself that their time could be put to better use working in the swing states for Obama.
Fortunately, my fellow UHW members made up for them by phone banking during the hearing to union members to urge them to support Obama.
Three thousand of us rallied and marched during the lunch recess of the hearing on the first day and today we had even more members and their families show up. Throughout the day we cycled through teach-in and phone bank tents for trainings and making calls to protect our union and elect Barack Obama.
With so many important issues like universal health care in play, we need to be doing everything we can to get Obama elected. UHW members sent that message to Andy Stern and SEIU loud and clear at their kangaroo court.
Anita Wiltz
Certified Nursing Assistant
Golden Cross Healthcare Center
Things are hopping here in San Mateo. There are around 3,000 UHW members here now, and they estimate about 6,000 will have come through by the end of the day tomorrow. The hearing hall is apparently packed to the rafters - only SEIU members are allowed in. Buses are arriving every few minutes to disgorge more members. First thing that happens is they go to a teach-in, then get signs and participate in rallies.
UHW has also set up a phonebank which is hopping right now - not an empty seat to be found. Currently they're calling other union members to explain the situation here. They plan to call union members in swing states for Obama later today but SEIU hasn't yet delivered the call lists.
You have to see this to really understand how the members are thinking and reacting. I saw this at the UHW Leadership Convention in San José but it's been confirmed here in San Mateo: the UHW membership has NO interest whatsoever in being trusteed. They don't trust the International's leaders, owing to several years of conflict over contract negotiations, including allegations that SEIU International monitors have been trying to go around elected bargaining teams.
I know that many progressives are understandably trying to stay neutral or stay out of this. SEIU International and Andy Stern have been valuable patrons of progressive bloggers and have given valuable support to progressive candidates like Donna Edwards. I get why many progressives want to stay out of it.
But this just doesn't feel right. At the core of progressive values is democracy. Whether it's Americans or union members we progressives understand that democracy is the only way the people's needs will be met, because people have the power to do it themselves. When democracy is undermined needs go unmet. In other SEIU locals run by appointed leaders, like Tyrone Freeman, significant financial scandals have resulted. These discourage members from becoming active and seeking the change we all know we need. Progressive bloggers need to be as wary of this as are the nation's leading labor scholars, who full well understand the long-term costs of undermining democracy.
This is a very diverse crowd where we white men are not just a minority, but stick out like sore thumbs. UHW is doing revolutionary work in mobilizing the very Californians who will be the base and the activists and the leaders of progressive change. If the International destroys their union it's going to take a LONG time to get back to this moment of incipient, transformative change.
I'm sitting here at the San José Convention Center at the annual SEIU-UHW West leadership conference, with thousands of members gathered to plan for their union's future. UHW has a lot of momentum, is engaged in a lot of organizing work to unionize more workplaces, and are among the leading progressive groups in the state at a time when we desperately need such allies.
And they're facing the threat of losing their elected leadership to the SEIU International, which is attempting to place UHW under trusteeship. The International accuses UHW of financial improprieties involving an "educational fund" segmented for a possible health care ballot initiative. UHW leaders and many outside observers believe the charges are groundless. The next move is a hearing on September 22-23UPDATE: Yesterday Stern announced the hearing has been moved to September 26-27.
These developments dominate the meeting, but the rank and file members I've talked to seem resolute in their desire to defend union democracy. A group of allied reformers from other SEIU locals, SMART, have a significant presence here, a reflection of the intense battles going on within the broader SEIU movement regarding union democracy.
Whatever the outcome, there is a strong commitment to democracy among the 2,000 members here - democracy in the workplace, democracy in their union, democracy in their nation. Despite the internal politics that is an extremely positive sign. The labor movement has been at the forefront of social democratic politics in this country for over 100 years. When labor is strong, progressive politics are strong. Which makes the SEIU's efforts to trustee UHW all the more disappointing, as we need unions to be laser-focused on this election and on the policy battles that will begin as soon as the dust settles in November.
Several Democratic politicians have already spoken at the convention, and more will be here tomorrow. Steve Westly spoke on behalf of the Obama campaign, exhorting members to sign up to help canvass for the campaign, particularly in Nevada and New Mexico. Kamala Harris and Jerry Brown are speaking tomorrow. I'll have more coverage of their remarks at that time.
So many of us have a hard time living up to our own values. Here is a story of one example.
The Sisters of St. Joseph have a proud history of fighting for human rights and human dignity and improvement of conditions for working people. But like so many progressives -- and people in general -- the Sisters of St. Joseph appear to be having trouble living up to these values when they apply to themselves.
UPDATED - see this video coverage of our march into the SEIU International officials' secret meeting.
Today, myself and 5,000 other UHW members from all over the state are in Manhattan Beach to protest. But we're not protesting another corrupt boss. We're protesting a process rigged by SEIU International officials designed to take away the voices of 65,000 long-term care workers in California.
What's this all about? It's about whether SEIU, our union, will stand on the principles of democracy and be governed by its members, or whether Washington D.C. union officials will force us into another union, against our wishes and against our vote. We are here to say clearly: we are not to be moved around like pieces of furniture. We won't be forced out of our union against our will.
In the past, we have been critical of SEIU leaders in D.C. meeting behind closed doors to cut deals that hurt healthcare workers. But now we've seen it in action.
• Assemblymember and former Banking Committee Chair Ted Lieu had a good piece yesterday on the foreclosure crisis and how continuing a laissez-faire attitude toward a deregulated lending industry is a recipe for even more disaster. AB 1830 is the vehicle to crack down on irresponsible lenders and ban risky loans.
• Steve Wiegand writes about the circuitous route the Governor has taken this year, first toward fiscal austerity, then toward revenue enhancement, and everywhere in between. Schwarzenegger is completely squeezed, knowing his legacy and reputation is on the line and at his wit's end over how to bridge the chasm between Republican intransigence and a way forward for California.
• The California Labor Fed has released its endorsements for legislative races. Not a lot of surprises here, nor a lot of variance from the CDP endorsements, although Carole Migden and Bob Blumenfield didn't see their endorsements vacated on the convention floor. The Labor Fed can endorse multiple candidates in one race, which allows them to wiggle out of some of the more contested primaries (in AD-14 they actually had a TRIPLE endorsement). The Labor Fed does bring member education, and in some cases money and volunteers, so it's not a little thing.
• Wired's Autopia looks at LA's future in mobility. In a word, I would call the report frustrating. It's basically going to take forever until the city truly has the transit system it deserves; right now, just 7% of the city uses mass transit.
"I am concerned that ICE enforcement actions are creating an impression that this region is somehow less hospitable to these critical businesses than other regions," Villaraigosa wrote in a March 27 letter to Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security [...]
In his letter, Villaraigosa said ICE has targeted "established, responsible employers" in industries that have a "significant reliance on workforces that include undocumented immigrants."
"In these industries, including most areas of manufacturing, even the most scrupulous and responsible employers have no choice but to rely on workers whose documentation, while facially valid, may raise questions about their lawful presence," he wrote. He said ICE should spend its limited resources targeting employers who exploit wage and hour laws.
"At a time when we are facing an economic downturn and gang violence at epidemic levels, the federal government should focus its resources on deporting criminal gang members rather than targeting legitimate businesses," said Matt Szabo, the mayor's spokesman.
In general I agree with worksite rules enforcement, but the issue does seem to be out of proportion and balance. It's selective.
• This is a really interesting and refreshingly honest article by Brad Plumer on the SEIU/UHW situation.
My name is Barbara Lewis and I’m VP in the SEIU-UHW (United Healthcare Workers – West) Hospital Division. We’re glad to continue this discussion about the direction of SEIU and defending the voice of the membership.
SEIU has made outrageous allegations here and elsewhere that my local union, SEIU-UHW had a hand in the California Nurses Association (CNA) raid against SEIU’s Ohio CHP (Catholic Healthcare Partners) campaign -- a raid that resulted in SEIU pulling the campaign and 9000 workers being denied the right to form a union.
Andy Stern, Mary Kay Henry and Dave Regan’s effort to shift the blame onto UHW for the Ohio tragedy is simply an attempt to cover up their own responsibility in this.
Things are hopping here in San Mateo. There are around 3,000 UHW members here now, and they estimate about 6,000 will have come through by the end of the day tomorrow. The hearing hall is apparently packed to the rafters - only SEIU members are allowed in. Buses are arriving every few minutes to disgorge more members. First thing that happens is they go to a teach-in, then get signs and participate in rallies.