More California Workers to Bolt SEIU

This just in: a unit of 272 county workers has filed for an election to decertify SEIU Local 221 in San Diego, California so they can join an independent union called the Association of San Diego County Employees (ASDCE). The independent union was founded last year by another breakaway group of SEIU members.

Below, Tasty has posted the county’s official notice about the decert filing, dated November 21.

So what’s causing workers to rush for the exit signs? Here’s what one member of Local 221 says about SEIU’s leaders:

They treat us like "mushrooms." You know, keep us in the dark and feed us sh*t.

He goes on to describe the sell-out contracts negotiated by SEIU that “have left us with less money in our pockets and less respect from our employers.” And then there are “the bloated paychecks of the local president” …not to mention the six-figure severance packages and consulting gigs that allow SEIU's departing officials to line their pockets.

In recent years, at least six bargaining units have decertified SEIU Local 221. A member of Local 221 describes some of these departures by county workers:

In 2009 the Probation Officers (PO) Unit did it, and voted to form their own new union, the San Diego County Probation Officers Association (SDCPOA). That was about 900 members that SEIU lost then. In 2011 the Crafts (CR) Unit did it, and voted to form their own new union, the Association of San Diego County Employees (ASDCE)… This time, it's the CM Unit (Construction, Maintenance and Repair)…
 This is a huge vote of "NO CONFIDENCE" in the way SEIU Local 221 is being run, no matter how this all turns out! And for that, we can all thank SEIU Local 221 President David Garcias and his mentor, former President Eric Banks, and his former boss, former President Sharon-Frances Moore and former SEIU International President Andy Stern (who appointed her to run our union in 2007). SEIU Local 221, since it was chartered in 2007, has not had a single president that had even a clue about how to empower the union members to democratically run our own union.

And that’s not all. As Tasty recently reported, the US Department of Labor is conducting its second investigation in just three years over alleged vote fraud during the Local 221's recent internal officer elections. Stay tuned!
Notice of Decertification Petition by members of SEIU Local 221 in San Diego, California 11-21-12

Feds Investigate SEIU Local 221... Again

As attention in the U.S. focuses on Tuesday’s national elections, workers report that another one of SEIU’s own elections is under investigation by federal officials for alleged vote rigging.

A member of SEIU Local 221-- which represents public-sector workers in San Diego, California -- writes:

On October 30, 2012, the federal Department of Labor began an investigation into possible illegal union election campaign activity at SEIU Local 221. The union conducted elections for the positions of local president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and twelve other executive board seats on July 10, 2012. A legal complaint was filed contesting the election results.

So what’s going on?

Well, during the elections, the Purple Palace’s favored candidate for president -- David Garcias -- eked out a narrow victory by fewer than 250 votes.

Workers allege that SEIU committed multiple violations during the election, including these:  

First, they say SEIU sent out 777 “extra” ballots to “voters.” Even though the union had just 6,009 members who were eligible to vote, SEIU officials sent out 6,786 ballots. Who got the “extra” ballots? That’s the big question.

Secondly, workers allege that a posse of SEIU officials campaigned for Garcias while being paid by SEIU. It’s strictly illegal for SEIU officials to use members’ dues money to support one slate of candidates vs. another. The posse of allegedly illegal campaigners includes Eric Banks (the union’s former president), Barbara Mohondro (Banks’s office manager), Kirsten Clemens (Banks’s chief of staff) and executive board member Liliana Camarena.

For those who don’t know him, Banks is the guy who fell for this hilarious prank during the giant Kaiser election in 2010. Since stepping down as president of Local 221, Banks has signed a consulting gig with Local 221. His new title? “Strategic Adviser” to SEIU Local 221. Hourly billing rate? Unknown.

 

If the feds overturn Local 221’s recent elections, it will be the second time it has done so in recent years. According to member at SEIU Local 221:  

A similar complaint regarding the 2009 union elections resulted in the government throwing out the election and forcing the union to run a "do-over" election in 2010.

Below, Tasty posted the 2010 letter from the DOL announcing the overturning of election results at Local 221. 

Altogether, it sounds like SEIU is keeping the U.S. Department of Labor plenty busy -- earlier on, Tasty covered the news that DOL officials are apparently investigating alleged election violations at SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles. Stay tuned!

US Department of Labor's Out-of-Court Settlement with SEIU regarding Misconduct during Elections at SEIU Lo...

Josie Mooney Joins Skunks at Whitehurst/Mosher

Ever wonder what happened to SEIU’s Josie Mooney after she was dumped by the California School Employees Association? Well, just like a slow-flushing toilet, Josie appears to be swirling around with the same set of unsavory characters.

In her latest adventure, Josie landed a gig as a "Special Counselor" for “Whitehurst/Mosher,” the San Francisco lobbying and P.R. company that played an infamous role in Andy Stern’s attempted ‘character assassination’ campaign during SEIU’s California trusteeship. In fact, Josie was thigh-deep in the scandal when a conscientious insider outed the conspiracy in a tell-all article published in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

The article revealed how Josie, SEIU Executive Vice President Tom DeBruin and Andy Stern hired hatchet-men John Whitehurst and Mark Mosher to try to smear California union leaders after they criticized SEIU officials for selling out frontline workers in secret deals with healthcare corporations. (Sound familiar?) Josie and DeBruin even worked hand-in-hand with Sutter Health, California’s biggest anti-union hospital company, to wage their so-called “Skunk Team” attack against union reformers.

So what kind of work is Josie doing now? Well, it turns out that Josie is still sucking dues from SEIU members’ pockets. Check out these meeting minutes from SEIU Local 221’s Executive Board. They show how Josie was present when union officials steered a $50,000 consulting contract to Whitehurst/Mosher earlier this year:

In the end, it sounds like Josie’s consulting firm didn't do such a good job for county workers. In fact, SEIU Local 221’s members ended up with a contract that’s inferior to the one negotiated by workers who recently decertified Local 221 and joined an independent union.

So, union members, if you happen to see Josie Mooney lurking around your union hall, look out! She’s probably trying to score a fat consulting gig funded by your union dues!

More Workers Leave SEIU Local 221 in San Diego

“Another group of workers recently flew the purple pond here in San Diego,” says a reader. Just one year after voting to join SEIU Local 221, a unit of 402 employees at the San Diego Regional Center voted to decertify the local union. The workers, who provide services to people with developmental disabilities in San Diego and Imperial Counties, had their election results certified by the NLRB in September.

According to Tasty’s source, this recent election brings to six the number of bargaining units that have bolted Local 221 in recent years:

1) San Diego Community College District

2) City of San Marcos

3) City of La Mesa

4) San Diego County Probation Officers Unit

5) San Diego County Crafts Unit

6) San Diego Regional Center

And from what Tasty hears, more workers are preparing to join the rush for the exit...

San Diego Workers Bolt SEIU, Then Win Better Contract

Remember this post about San Diego workers voting to decertify SEIU Local 221 so they could create an independent union called the Association of San Diego County Employees (ASCDE)? Well, the new union just settled a contract that’s better than the contracts negotiated by SEIU, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Breakaway County Association Gets Better Deal than Others.”

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

The two-year deal eventually accepted by five bargaining units of SEIU is generally less favorable to workers than the contract accepted by the Association of San Diego County Employees.

The newspaper quotes ASCDE’s interim Chief Steward as saying: “The numbers are indisputable.”  

So how did SEIU members end up with such a bad contract? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that SEIU rigged workers’ contract-ratification vote – with the boss’s help – in order to ram SEIU's sell-out contract down workers’ throats.

And, in retrospect, SEIU probably should've told Local 221's staff to actually help the local’s members… instead of sending them up north to bully and lie to Kaiser workers as part of SEIU’s illegal campaign during last year’s NLRB election.

Of course, the head of SEIU Local 221, Eric Banks, doesn’t sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer. He’s the one who fell for this hilarious prank by a reader posing as Dave Regan, which included a line like this: "Unless you want to work as a field rep in Oklahoma I'd suggest you stop fucking around down there and get us some people."

So what’s next for SEIU Local 221’s members? Sounds like more workers are planning to dump SEIU. Here’s what the San Diego Union-Tribune says:

At least one other bargaining unit says it has taken the first steps to decertify from SEIU. In 2009, probation officers broke away after disagreements over legal representation.

La Mesa city and the San Diego Community College District, among others, also cut ties in recent years with SEIU. Union officials emphasized that their ranks have stabilized and that the latest defections don’t signal a widescale revolt against SEIU.

Hmmm… At least five bargaining units have bolted the union, and more are on the way. Sounds like a “widespread revolt” to Tasty!

Latest… San Diego County Workers Vote to Leave SEIU!

A day after 350 healthcare workers in Canada bolted SEIU, approximately 220 county government workers in San Diego, California voted to leave SEIU Local 221 and join the independent Association of San Diego County Employees (ASDCE).

According to this official tally of votes posted on ASDCE’s website, the margin was roughly 60% to 40%. This vote by workers in the Craft Bargaining Unit is the latest in a string of decertifications by dissatisfied SEIU members in San Diego, where SEIU's Eliseo Medina once served as the appointed head of the local union.

Why are workers bolting SEIU? Here’s what ASDCE’s website says. Sound familiar?

The complaints that are voiced are the same over and over again:

No response from SEIU Local 221 to calls

Poor representation

Continual worksite organizer changes

A general feeling that SEIU Local 221 doesn’t care about the members

The Craft employees want more control over their work life, want to feel that their problems and concerns are important and that they deserve to be helped and listened to. With the formation of the Association of San Diego County Employees this will happen. The members will decide how the Association is run, they will have help with problems and their concerns will be addressed. The Association will focus solely on its members and their needs and the members will not be put second to other priorities.

Congratulations, Craft workers!