SEIU has withdrawn
from a union election covering 7,000 homecare workers in Vermont after Purple Palace officials concluded they face certain
defeat in a head-to-head contest against AFSCME.
The mail-in election is scheduled to begin on September 9.
The purple departure comes despite the fact that SEIU spent millions of
dollars on a campaign that featured SEIU attack websites
against AFSCME, statewide radio and newspaper ads, glossy mailers and robo
calls, dozens of out-of-state staffers parachuted into the Green Mountain
State, and political spending reportedly aimed at greasing the wheels with the
state’s governor.
One SEIU website -- www.qualityhomecarevt.org -- featured videos
with titles like “AFSCME: Tried & Failed.” SEIU shuttered the website after
pulling the plug on its unsuccessful campaign.
Earlier this summer, the Purple Palace instructed its
lawyers to use bogus legal maneuvers to stall the election in hopes of somehow
convincing enough workers to support the Purple Palace, according to press
reports.
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| One of SEIU's attack videos against AFSCME |
The election was triggered in May when AFSCME filed a
petition signed by 4,500 of Vermont’s 7,000 homecare workers. In late June, SEIU
could only muster 2,000 cards, which nonetheless added SEIU's name to the ballot.
Earlier, SEIU attempted to set the stage for its effort by trying to buy influence from the governor via a flood of political spending
-- similar to SEIU’s influence-buying deals with former Illinois Governor Rod
Blagojevich, who’s now doing 14 years in a federal prison in Colorado.
Observers feared
SEIU was preparing to sell out Vermonters’ efforts to win single-payer
legislation.
SEIU’s desperate bid for Vermont’s homecare workers was fueled
by the Purple Palace’s declining membership rolls. Last year, SEIU’s membership
dropped
by 45,000 members as the Purple Palace suffered $42 million in red ink.
SEIU’s failed campaign in Vermont was headed by Matt McDonald, an SEIU operative who parachuted
into California in 2010 and was involved in SEIU’s campaign of law-breaking that
overturned the NLRB’s election at Kaiser
Permanente.
This isn’t SEIU’s first failed effort to recruit Vermonters.
A decade ago, SEIU failed to affiliate the still-independent Vermont State Employees Association.
Stay tuned for more!
