Sunday, October 2, 2011

What Happened to $4.1 Million Strike Fund?


Remember the $4.1 million strike fund that Dave Regan "dissolved" in March? Well, Tasty knows where some of that money went… right into Regan’s pockets. Since 2009 (when SEIU seized control of SEIU-UHW), SEIU has more that doubled the pay of UHW's top officer to $298,647. That’s how much Dave Regan earned in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.




Regan’s huge pay hike would have been impossible prior to the trusteeship. Why? Because UHW's former leaders had a policy that limited the pay of UHW’s president and secretary-treasurer. Back then, the president’s salary couldn’t be 10% higher than the top pay rate in the staff union contract. The idea was to create an egalitarian organization that used members’ dues carefully.

When Regan took control of UHW, he threw this important policy out the window (along with lots of others). In fact, it appears that Regan and his crew of East Coast SEIU staffers are using UHW like a giant piñata filled with gold coins.

Regan has jacked up the pay of out-of-state staffers to astronomical heights. Steve Trossman, UHW’s communications hack, is pocketing $200,000 a year – more than 1 ½ times higher than what UHW’s former president, Sal Rosselli, earned ($130,000). And many other SEIU staffers are making a killing off of union members’ hard-earned dues, like Rebecca Malberg ($152,000), Greg Maron ($137,000) and Hal Ruddick ($152,000).

So... as Regan burns through UHW's resources to fund giant pay hikes for himself and his East Coast buddies, it’s no wonder he's begun liquidating workers’ strike funds. What's next??