Check out this news coverage from Tuesday’s giant statewide
strike against Kaiser Permanente. The strike -- the biggest in Kaiser’s history
-- involved 22,000 members of NUHW, the California Nurses Association and the
International Union of Operating Engineers... as well as members of SEIU-UHW who
defied threats by Kaiser supervisors and SEIU Field Reps.
Here's TV footage from CBS News in Southern
California, where NUHW’s 2,300 RNs, mental health workers, social workers and
others were on strike.
And here’s CBS News footage from CBS from Kaiser Oakland Medical
Center where NUHW, the CNA and the Operating Engineers were on the line.
Tasty hears that other unions also backed the walkout, including the Teamsters (delivery drivers) and the building trades, who shut down massive hospital construction sites at Kaiser facilities in Oakland, Fontana and elsewhere.
Check out this article by labor journalist Steve Early, the author of The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor. Early discusses how SEIU is "M.I.A." from any effort to fight Kaiser's effort to slash workers' pensions and health coverage. He also describes the recent leaked speeches by Dave Regan and John August, which point to SEIU's plan to sell-out Kaiser workers at the bargaining table.
So where was SEIU in the run-up to the strike? They were working with Kaiser management to circulate strike-breaking leaflets like this one. How low can SEIU go? Seems like there's no limit at the Purple Palace.
