Remember this post
about San Diego workers voting to decertify SEIU Local 221 so they could create
an independent union called the Association
of San Diego County Employees (ASCDE)? Well, the new union just settled
a contract that’s better than the contracts negotiated by SEIU, according to the San Diego
Union-Tribune: “Breakaway
County Association Gets Better Deal than Others.”
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
The two-year deal eventually accepted by five bargaining units of SEIU is generally less favorable to workers than the contract accepted by the Association of San Diego County Employees.
The newspaper quotes ASCDE’s interim Chief Steward as saying:
“The numbers are indisputable.”
So how did SEIU members end up with such a bad contract? Well,
it might have something to do with the fact that SEIU rigged
workers’ contract-ratification vote – with the boss’s
help – in order to ram SEIU's sell-out contract down workers’ throats.
And, in retrospect, SEIU probably should've told Local 221's staff to actually help the local’s members… instead of sending them up north to
bully and lie to Kaiser workers as part of SEIU’s illegal campaign during last
year’s NLRB election.
Of course, the head of SEIU Local 221, Eric Banks, doesn’t sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer. He’s the one who fell for this
hilarious prank by a reader posing as Dave
Regan, which included a line like this: "Unless you want to work as a field rep in Oklahoma I'd
suggest you stop fucking around down there and get us some people."
So what’s next for SEIU Local 221’s members? Sounds like more workers are
planning to dump SEIU. Here’s what the San
Diego Union-Tribune says:
At least one other bargaining unit says it has taken the first steps to decertify from SEIU. In 2009, probation officers broke away after disagreements over legal representation.La Mesa city and the San Diego Community College District, among others, also cut ties in recent years with SEIU. Union officials emphasized that their ranks have stabilized and that the latest defections don’t signal a widescale revolt against SEIU.
Hmmm… At least five bargaining units have bolted the union, and more are on the way. Sounds like a “widespread revolt” to Tasty!
