National headlines have highlighted the “Fight for $15”
to win long-overdue wage increases for fast food workers. SEIU, in
classic fashion, has planted its flag atop the movement with Mary Kay Henry gleefully tweeting about
her undying support for a livable wage of $15 an hour.
And then there’s Dave
Regan… who apparently is not too good at math.
It turns out that Regan is paying hundreds of signature-gatherers
as little as $10 an hour (with no benefits) to qualify his fake
ballot propositions for California’s November ballot, according to staffers
on the campaign.
It’s classic SEIU, right?
“Do as I say, not as I do.”
The signature-gatherers are required to collect between 90
and 110 signatures during a six-hour shift. If they fail to meet the quota,
they're fired.
In similar campaigns, signature-gatherers are paid a flat
dollar amount per signature, which would produce higher take-home pay than what
Regan’s currently paying. Instead, Regan is paying a wage that’s
far below what SEIU itself considers livable… and far less than Regan’s salary of $300,000 a year.
Insiders report that Regan will spend $5 million on his
signature-gathering effort. Most of the money will land in the bank account of
"Democracy Resources," a
political consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon that’s staffed by some ex-SEIU
staffers.
In 2012, Regan paid the firm $4.2 million to collect
signatures for the first round of his fake ballot measure maneuver, which he promptly yanked off
the ballot so he could have partnership talks with hospital CEOs.
The following year, Regan paid Democracy Resources an
unknown sum to knock on Kaiser Permanente
workers’ front doors during the giant NLRB election for 45,000 workers.
 |
| Ted Blaszak, Democracy Resources |
This year, Regan’s BFF, Meg
Niemi, also hired the firm to collect signatures for her so-called “consumer
oriented” ballot measures, which she happily traded
away in exchange for partnership talks with some of Oregon’s hospital
bosses. (Uh, sorry consumers.)
Democracy Resources is headed by Portland resident Ted Blaszak, who apparently spends way
too much time watching “Portlandia.”
James Musumeci,
one of the firm's top staffers, formerly worked for SEIU and TruCorps,
a consulting firm co-founded by SEIU’s Jim
Philliou that has pocketed beaucoup bucks from Regan.
“The fast-food workers are fighting for all of us,” said SEIU
President Mary Kay Henry about the "Fight for $15" campaign.
Hmmm… wonder who will fight for SEIU’s $10-an-hour signature
gatherers?
 |
| SEIU-UHW's DOL Form LM-2, 2012 |
