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| Scott Courtney |
More coverage
of the details emerging around Mary
Kay Henry’s suspension of SEIU EVP Scott
Courtney…
In an
article published this afternoon, Josh
Eidelson (the reporter who initially
broke the story) describes more allegations from unnamed current and former SEIU
staffers about Courtney’s romantic relationships with multiple women staffers. (Josh
Eidelson, “‘Fight
for 15’ Leader Suspended While Union Investigates Office Dating,” Bloomberg
BNA.)
Here’s an excerpt:
Beyond his relationship with his new wife, multiple current and former SEIU employees who spoke to Bloomberg said that [Scott] Courtney had a pattern of dating subordinates. His conduct, these people say, has been a source of tension and concern within the union and has spurred an internal ethics complaint that preceded this week’s suspension. Some co-workers said that they believed people working for Courtney had been rewarded or reassigned based on romantic relationships with him.
… One woman recounted a time when she felt pressured by him into agreeing to have dinner together and had to scramble to find a way to back out. “The climate he created was hostile to women, and ultimately it didn’t stop with him,” said the woman, who now works elsewhere in the labor movement.
The full
article is below.
The article mentions
Courtney’s marriage in recent days to an SEIU staffer after they apparently eloped
in Europe. The article notes that Courtney has publicized their marriage in
photos on Twitter and Facebook. Here’s one of the photos posted by Courtney.
The sexual
harassment inside SEIU that’s grabbing headlines is more widespread than the current case, according to Tasty’s sources. For example, sources say
SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern
was known to sleep with women staffers when he was SEIU’s Organizing Director.
Tasty, in
earlier coverage, described multiple allegations surrounding a former SEIU
staff leader, John August, who
reportedly was notorious for sexual harassment inside both SEIU and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. In
2013, he was ousted
from his job atop the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions after months of
investigations regarding sexual
harassment and abusive behavior against staffers. His removal apparently
took place after he sexually harassed a staffer at Kaiser Permanente.
 |
| SEIU's Dave Regan |
Courtney, prior
to becoming a top officer at SEIU International, served as the Organizing
Director at SEIU 1199 Ohio, which
was headed by Dave
Regan.
Regan, who currently serves as the president of SEIU-UHW and is a member of SEIU's International Executive Board, has been the subject of a number of allegations of sexual misconduct targeting both staff and union members.
According to
Tasty’s sources, the harassment of women staffers has existed for many years
inside SEIU but the union’s leaders have largely turned a blind eye and failed
to hold high-level SEIU officials accountable.
Bloomberg
BNA
‘Fight for 15’ Leader Suspended While Union Investigates Office Dating
Current and former SEIU staff describe a union leader’s pattern of
relationships with subordinates.
By Josh
Eidelson
October 19,
2017, 12:34 PM PDT
An architect
of the high-profile union campaign to raise U.S. fast-food wages has been
suspended from his duties at the Service Employees International Union this
week over a relationship with a subordinate whom he married, and multiple
current and former colleagues say his conduct is part of a pattern of previous
romantic relationships with women working for him.
Scott
Courtney, an executive vice president at SEIU who played a key role in creating
and leading the union’s “Fight for 15” campaign, was suspended from his job on
Monday by SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. A staff email sent by Henry on
Wednesday said that there had been questions about Courtney “relating to a
romantic relationship between a staff person and a supervisor.”
Courtney,
reached via Twitter earlier this week, said he was on his honeymoon and “in no
position to respond at this time.” His new wife, an SEIU organizer who now goes
by Ashley Courtney, seemed to address the controversy by posting to Twitter and
Facebook a photo of the couple in wedding attire with the caption, “No matter
what you do to us, I will not apologize for getting married. #LoveAlwaysWins.”
Mr. Courtney did not respond to further questions, and it not clear if the
couple still work together at SEIU.
Beyond his
relationship with his new wife, multiple current and former SEIU employees who
spoke to Bloomberg said that Courtney had a pattern of dating subordinates. His
conduct, these people say, has been a source of tension and concern within the
union and has spurred an internal ethics complaint that preceded this week’s
suspension. Some co-workers said that they believed people working for Courtney
had been rewarded or reassigned based on romantic relationships with him.
SEIU
spokeswoman Sahar Wali said the union is investigating “the situation that gave
rise to” allegations about Courtney’s relationship with the staffer and the
union’s “ethical code and anti-nepotism policy.” She declined to comment on the
details. It is unclear from SEIU’s statements if Courtney’s suspension and the
ongoing investigation are limited to his relationship with his now-wife.
With nearly
2 million members, SEIU is the nation’s second-largest union and arguably its
most politically influential. Courtney is a major figure in the leadership,
previously serving as organizing director of the health-care division and
national organizing director. Courtney has been central to the “Fight for 15,”
which has successfully pulled Democratic Party politicians to the left while raising
minimum wages through state and local legislation. The campaign has combined
strikes against some low-wage employers with political and legal pressure
tactics. The goal is to enact a $15 minimum wage across the country and
organize low-wage industries.
The
campaign’s chief target has been the fast-food industry, which SEIU has so far
failed to unionize. “Holding McDonald's accountable is our air traffic
controllers moment—our chance to reverse a steady decline for workers that
started when President Reagan fired 11,000 striking air traffic controllers,
undermining the bargaining power of workers for decades," Courtney said in
2015. As part of the union’s effort against McDonald’s, the Fight for 15 sought
to highlight claims of sexual harassment filed against the company with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
This month’s
sexual harassment scandal involving Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein
may have spurred SEIU employees to be more outspoken about alleged impropriety
within the union. "Without Harvey Weinstein, there may have been an ethics
complaint filed, but I don’t know that there would be the scale of conversation
that’s happening now," said one current SEIU employee. "There are
some very clear parallels—that there is a man with an outsize amount of power
in a certain dynamic and a whole system that has enabled that behavior.”
In her
internal email, SEIU’s Henry acknowledged that the investigation into Courtney
would cause a big stir in the union. “I know that this situation has profound
impacts on our staff family,” she wrote. “Just as we fight to make change in
our society, we know that our organization should reflect the kind of just
society that we fight for across the country.”
Some women
who had left SEIU said they felt Courtney’s alleged relationships with subordinates
would cast into doubt any recognition or advancement bestowed on women working
below him in the union, since co-workers might assume the promotion came from a
sexual relationship with him. One woman recounted a time when she felt
pressured by him into agreeing to have dinner together and had to scramble to
find a way to back out. “The climate he created was hostile to women, and
ultimately it didn’t stop with him,” said the woman, who now works elsewhere in
the labor movement.
Janice Fine,
a labor studies professor at Rutgers University and a former union organizer,
said the macho culture that has historically prevailed in organized labor
remains a widespread issue. “This generation of young women in the labor
movement, they’ve just come up in a time where they are so much better at
calling that stuff out,” she said.
—With
assistance by Ben Penn (Bloomberg BNA).
