_______________________________
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brothers and sisters,
A few weeks ago at an all staff meeting we made a commitment to a set of common principles and values for UHW, including Honesty and Accountability. That’s why I have to start this email with an apology for writing anonymously. I’m sorry that I’m not being more open about my identity, but as you will see from what I have to say I’m afraid this organization, and our leaders in particular, are not ready for real honesty yet.
Two days ago I read something that troubled me. It was an article about the trial next week against NUHW, and it said that the charge that Sal Rosselli and the others stole $3 million from the strike fund was not true—but that is not what bothered me (because different writers have different opinions). No, what bothered me was the fact that the article said that the allegation about the $3 million is not even mentioned in the lawsuit against NUHW. You read that right: SEIU didn’t even put that allegation into the lawsuit.
Let me ask you: why do you think they didn’t include that charge?
I asked myself that question, and I started investigating, and guess what I found: the $3 million never left the union, it was transferred from the strike fund to the general fund. And it was done openly, the E-board approved it unanimously (see attachment). We know where it is, there’s not a single cent missing.
Like many of you, I was told on numerous occasions that NUHW leaders had “stolen $3 million from the strike fund.” I believed these charges to be true, and I repeated them, like it was a fact, to many members. It was one of the things that I reminded myself about when I sometimes doubted what we were doing here with the trusteeship. I even carried a picket sign around San Francisco that said it. (There is even a video that is up on our website still to this day that has a member saying, “They took our strike fund; we don’t know where it went, or what happened to it.”)
At that all staff meeting where we came up with the new values for UHW there was a small group breakout discussion about these values, and in my group we talked about how “honesty and accountability” were the foundation of the kind of union we wanted to be a part of. Let me say again, I’m sorry I don’t have the courage to sign my name, but I have to say Dave Regan and the leaders of this local made me a much bigger liar already for repeating that $3 million slander.
Why am I calling attention to this? Here’s why: Does anyone really believe all the members we’re telling this lie to won’t eventually find out the truth? Of course they will—we can’t even charge NUHW with this allegation in court, because we’ll lose! Is this how we are going to build a strong organization, based on common principles and values like Honesty and Accountability? No, it is not.
