Here’s the latest news from the SEIU’s exercise in “union
democracy” at the Daughters of
Charity Health System in California.
As Tasty reported last night, dozens of workers sent letters
to Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry to protest SEIU’s unconstitutional
contract-ratification vote.
Regan and Henry basically ignored the letters. Late last
night, they announced that “the membership” had enthusiastically ratified an SEIU contract that will eliminate workers’ pension plan and slash their health
benefits.
And today, SEIU-UHW officials announced their “victory” to
workers while company officials handed out slices of cake to workers to
celebrate “your new contract.” (Tasty is not kidding).
Of course, workers are still scratching their heads and
wondering what’s actually IN the contract. You see, Regan and Co. are STILL
refusing to give workers copies of the actual agreement.
Fortunately, an inside source sent Tasty a block-buster excerpt
that reveals the dirty deal behind SEIU’s sell-out contract. It turns out that
SEIU-UHW officials -- including Chief Negotiator Julie Kwiek -- traded away workers’ hard-earned pensions and health
benefits for a new arrangement that’s designed to lock workers inside SEIU.
Perhaps you’ve heard of a “Golden Parachute.” Well this is a
“Purple Ball-and-Chain.”
Here’s how it works. For decades, each of the five Daughters
of Charity hospitals has been a separate “bargaining unit,” which means that workers
at each hospital have the right to vote separately on whether to leave SEIU-UHW
if they want to. For example, several months ago, 750 workers at Seton Medical
Center requested an NLRB election to leave SEIU-UHW and join NUHW.
But under SEIU’s new deal, workers would no longer have this
option. Instead, SEIU’s deal merges all
five hospitals into a single, statewide “bargaining unit” of 3,000
workers. In order for any of the hospitals to leave SEIU-UHW, a majority of
this entire statewide “bargaining unit” of 3,000 workers would have to vote to leave.
This purple ball-and-chain was Regan’s top priority during negotiations.
And in order to get it, he gave away workers’ pension plan and health benefits. And
guess what? The entire, disgusting deal is captured in the following side
letter.
