SEIU-UHW Caught in the Act of "Partnering" with Kaiser at Fancy Hotel

The W Hotel in San Francisco

It looks like the folks over at NUHW caught SEIU-UHW and Kaiser Permanente in the act of "partnering" at a fancy hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Here’s what happened.

Ten days ago, NUHW activists made an unannounced visit to the “W Hotel,” a luxury hotel with a spa, restaurant, two bars and panoramic views of the San Francisco skyline.

At the hotel, Kaiser's turbo-paid Board of Directors was meeting with an army of business-suited Kaiser execs and SEIU officials. 

Among those in attendance was SEIU-UHW’s Hal “Mr. Giveback” Ruddick, who took over John August’s spot atop the "Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.”

NUHW's visit caught the Kaiser board members by surprise. Apparently, the time and location of Kaiser's board meetings are tightly held secrets. Kaiser's board meets just six times a year in fancy hotels in cities across the US. Each board member is paid more than $200,000 a year to attend the six meetings. Quite a tough gig for the 15 fatcats who sit on the board of “nonprofit” Kaiser. 

Readers may recall that NUHW recently exposed massive financial conflicts of interest, which bounced one member, Christine Cassel, off the board and into national headlines.

Check out the video below to see how Phil Marineau, a Kaiser board member and former CEO of Pepsi and Levi Strauss, responded when NUHW activists tried to talk with him inside a lobby of the W Hotel about the crisis gripping Kaiser’s mental health services.

Soon thereafter, the NUHW activists were reportedly surrounded by Kaiser’s plainclothes security guards who pushed them out of the building -- prompting NUHW to file a police report against Kaiser.