Remember the corporate wellness programs that Dave Regan rammed down the throats of tens
of thousands of SEIU-UHW’s members at Kaiser
Permanente, Dignity Health, Sutter Health and the Daughters of Charity Health System?
Well, check out an interesting development, which speaks volumes
about how badly SEIU is screwing its members.
Recently, Penn State University tried to implement a wellness
program like the ones that Regan and his corporate bedmates have already
imposed on California’s healthcare workers.
The plan, which Penn State administrators call “Take Care of
Your Health,” requires employees to undergo regular biometric testing (body
weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking, etc) and to hand over tons of
intimate details about their health, sex life, habits, marital situation, etc by filling out extensive online health questionnaires.
If employees fail to fill out the questionnaire, Penn
State planned to dock their pay $100 a month, according to this article
in the New York Times.
So how does the Penn State program compare to Regan's wellness plans?
Interestingly, a number of Regan's programs are even worse. At the
Daughters of Charity Health System, SEIU-UHW's 3,000 members have to pay a "wellness penalty" of up to $5,200 a year if
they fail to fill out the intrusive wellness questionnaire.
Luckily, Penn State’s employees are not represented by SEIU. So here’s what they did.
The faculty senate, a volunteer group of professors
that meets monthly, waged a fight against the administration and its wellness program. And
they won! Penn State stopped the program, as described in this New York Times article.
The Times reports that employees and professors were especially angry about the
invasion of their privacy. Some employees even called for a campaign
of civil disobedience to disrupt the program. Others circulated
petitions against the program.
Their successful fight offers a sharp contrast with SEIU, which has repeatedly forced wellness programs onto its members in order to please SEIU's corporate partners.
Hmmm... What does it say when an unpaid group of professors and employees is far better at defending workers’ privacy rights and health benefits than SEIU?
