This just in: a unit of 272 county workers has filed
for an election to decertify SEIU Local 221 in San Diego, California so they can join an
independent union called the Association
of San Diego County Employees (ASDCE). The independent union was founded last year by
another breakaway group of SEIU members.
Below, Tasty has posted the county’s official notice about
the decert filing, dated November 21.
So what’s causing workers to rush for the exit signs?
Here’s what one member of Local 221 says about SEIU’s leaders:
They treat us like "mushrooms." You know, keep us in the dark and feed us sh*t.
He goes on to describe the sell-out contracts negotiated by
SEIU that “have left us with less money in our pockets and less respect from
our employers.” And then there are “the bloated paychecks of the local
president” …not to mention the six-figure severance packages and consulting
gigs that allow SEIU's departing officials to line their pockets.
In recent years, at least six
bargaining units have decertified SEIU Local 221. A member of Local 221
describes some of these departures by county workers:
In 2009 the Probation Officers (PO) Unit did it, and voted to form their own new union, the San Diego County Probation Officers Association (SDCPOA). That was about 900 members that SEIU lost then. In 2011 the Crafts (CR) Unit did it, and voted to form their own new union, the Association of San Diego County Employees (ASDCE)… This time, it's the CM Unit (Construction, Maintenance and Repair)…And that’s not all. As Tasty recently reported, the US Department of Labor is conducting its second investigation in just three years over alleged vote fraud during the Local 221's recent internal officer elections. Stay tuned!
This is a huge vote of "NO CONFIDENCE" in the way SEIU Local 221 is being run, no matter how this all turns out! And for that, we can all thank SEIU Local 221 President David Garcias and his mentor, former President Eric Banks, and his former boss, former President Sharon-Frances Moore and former SEIU International President Andy Stern (who appointed her to run our union in 2007). SEIU Local 221, since it was chartered in 2007, has not had a single president that had even a clue about how to empower the union members to democratically run our own union.
Notice of Decertification Petition by members of SEIU Local 221 in San Diego, California 11-21-12
