Last week,
SEIU-UHW laid off a number of staff just days after they petitioned the NLRB
for a government-supervised election to form a union, according to NLRB
records.
The staff
are employed by a nonprofit organization called “Good Health for California,” which was founded last year by SEIU-UHW’s
Dave Regan to enroll Californians in
the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. “Obamacare”).
The
organization, with an annual budget of approximately $2 million, has more than
60 staff in Los Angeles, Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, the San Francisco Bay
Area, and Sacramento. Staffers include Organizers, Screeners, and Data Entry
Associates who run enrollment events to sign up Californians for Obamacare, which is called
“Covered California” in the Golden State.
Until
recently, the organization was headed by Rebecca
Hanson, a former SEIU staffer who recently left “Good Health for California”
to take another job at SEIU-UHW.
On May 2,
the staffers at “Good Health for California” submitted formal paperwork to the
NLRB requesting an election so they can join “United Staff Workers,” which
currently represents SEIU-UHW’s organizers, field representatives, researchers
and other staff.
On May 5 -- just three days later -- “Good Health for California” announced it was laying
off many of the staffers who requested the unionization election, according to Hunter
Pyle (the staff union’s attorney) and SEIU-UHW staffer Jared Mayhugh.
A May 5 e-mail sent by Pyle to the NLRB regarding the layoffs reads as follows:
The screener canvassers were notified today that they will be released. I just got this information this afternoon that they plan to lay them off.
Regan, who
has repeatedly teamed up with hospital CEOs to slash workers’ benefits, also apparently favors the union-busting tactics employed by his CEO buddies.
Regan is
already under investigation by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s
office for his allegedly violent assault against a process server. He will now likely find himself
under the crosshairs of the NLRB for violating workers’ labor rights.
...and the contradictions grow even deeper.
It turns out
that "Good Health for California’s" formal business name is “Good Health Good
Jobs for California,” according to the California Secretary of State (see below).
Hmmm… I
guess when Diamond Dave used the term “Good Jobs” in the organization's title, he didn’t actually intend it to apply to the organization’ own (non-union and now fired) staff.
Way to go,
Dave!
What other
nifty tricks does Diamond Dave have up his purple sleeve?
Nothing will
surprise Tasty anymore.
 |
| From the California Secretary of State's incorporation records. |
