Friday, August 26, 2016

SEIU's Trusteeship of Local 73 in Chicago: "I view it as a hostile takeover.”


Trustee Eliseo Medina addresses Local 73 members
Here’s the latest on SEIU International’s trusteeship of SEIU Local 73, which represents 25,000 public-sector workers in Illinois and Northwestern Indiana.

Soon after the trusteeship was imposed earlier this month, Matthew Brandon -- who was removed from his position as Local 73’s Secretary-Treasurer -- accused SEIU officials of conducting a “hostile takeover” of Local 73. 

Brandon “threatened to file a federal discrimination lawsuit to reverse the international’s installation of emergency trustees,” according to an article in the Chicago Sun Times.

Brandon told the newspaper: “I don’t view this as a trusteeship. I view it as a hostile takeover.”

SEIU officials say they were forced to impose the trusteeship because of a dysfunctional relationship between Brandon and Local 73’s president, Christine Boardman.

However, Brandon told the Sun Times that a top SEIU official was the person who actually sparked the tensions between himself and Boardman by asking him to carry out a secret “stealth” campaign against Boardman.

In June of 2014, Brandon says a Vice President at SEIU International asked him to deal with a personal issue that was affecting Boardman’s job performance, according to the Sun Times. Here’s an excerpt from the Sun Times article:
“I proceeded in that process as stealthily as I could until Christine eventually found about it. That’s when our relationship was destroyed. She saw me as someone attacking her instead of trying to help her,” he said.
Then, Brandon added, the international “backed away from me and accused me of everything that was wrong in the local. These people don’t know what can of worms they’ve opened here. The members are absolutely furious.”
Brandon, who is black, charged that SEIU “discriminates against African-American males” and that he would “be able to prove that.”
Eliseo Medina, who was installed as the trustee of Local 73, issued an emailed statement that offered no direct response to Brandon’s explosive charges…
“As late as Monday, I sent an email to the international general counsel Judy Scott. I told her I was returning to work from an illegal suspension Christine [Boardman] imposed on July 5. Scott said I was insubordinate and not following her directions. Then, she started issues about what was happening the union,” said Brandon.

Nice quote from Judy Scott, right?  "Follow my orders, muthafuka!"

So who’s the SEIU International Vice President whom Brandon refers to? 

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t “name names.”

Any tipsters out there who can help?