As attention in the U.S. focuses on Tuesday’s national
elections, workers report that another one of SEIU’s own elections is
under investigation by federal officials for alleged vote rigging.
A member of SEIU
Local 221-- which represents public-sector workers in San Diego, California
-- writes:
On October 30, 2012, the federal Department of Labor began an investigation into possible illegal union election campaign activity at SEIU Local 221. The union conducted elections for the positions of local president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and twelve other executive board seats on July 10, 2012. A legal complaint was filed contesting the election results.
So what’s going on?
Well, during the elections, the Purple Palace’s favored candidate
for president -- David Garcias -- eked
out a narrow victory by fewer than 250 votes.
Workers allege that SEIU committed multiple violations during
the election, including these:
First, they say SEIU sent out 777 “extra” ballots to “voters.” Even
though the union had just 6,009 members who were eligible to vote, SEIU
officials sent out 6,786 ballots. Who got the “extra” ballots? That’s the big
question.
Secondly, workers allege that a posse of SEIU officials campaigned
for Garcias while being paid by SEIU. It’s strictly illegal for SEIU officials to use
members’ dues money to support one slate of candidates vs. another. The posse of
allegedly illegal campaigners includes Eric
Banks (the union’s former president), Barbara
Mohondro (Banks’s office manager), Kirsten
Clemens (Banks’s chief of staff) and executive board member Liliana Camarena.
For those who don’t know him, Banks is the guy who fell for
this hilarious prank
during the giant Kaiser election in 2010. Since stepping down as president of
Local 221, Banks has signed a consulting gig with Local 221. His new title? “Strategic
Adviser” to SEIU Local 221. Hourly billing rate? Unknown.
If the feds overturn Local 221’s recent elections, it will
be the second time it has done so in recent years. According to member at SEIU Local 221:
A similar complaint regarding the 2009 union elections resulted in the government throwing out the election and forcing the union to run a "do-over" election in 2010.
Below, Tasty posted the 2010 letter from the DOL announcing the overturning of
election results at Local 221.
Altogether, it sounds like SEIU is keeping the U.S. Department of Labor
plenty busy -- earlier on, Tasty covered the news that DOL officials are apparently
investigating
alleged election violations at SEIU
Local 721 in Los Angeles. Stay tuned!
