More California Public-Sector Workers to Bolt SEIU

Tasty hears that more California workers are preparing to jump the purple ship. Correctional officers in Fresno County announced they’re planning to leave SEIU Local 521 so they can join an independent union they recently created: the Fresno Sheriffs Correctional Officers Association.

Observers say the move, which affects more than 300 correctional officers, would be a blow to the SEIU local. The officers represent nearly 10% of Local 521’s membership in Fresno County. And the correctional officers have the highest benefits among Local 521’s members.

Last year, county officials imposed 9% pay cuts and benefit reductions on the members of SEIU Local 521, which is headed up by CEO Kristy Sermersheim. Tasty hears the correctional officers want to take control of their own destiny by bolting SEIU. A vote could happen in the next month. Stay tuned!

SEIU Insurance Exec on the Lam after Embezzling $350K

Readers might’ve noticed that it was none other than Brandi Madewell who wrote one of the memos about SEIU’s brave new experiment in "insurance unionism." Ironically, Madewell is the SEIU official who embezzled $350,000 from SEIU Local 521’s own insurance company while the union’s president, Kristy Sermersheim, was sending the 37-year-old Madewell on union-paid junkets to North Carolina to study SEIU’s latest insurance industry innovations.

Madewell was also featured in this earlier post, where we learned how she used Local 521’s insurance company to fuel her addiction to internet gambling. (Hey Mary Kay, this SEIU insurance thing sounds like a super good idea!!)

Well, what ever happened to Madewell? Is she being questioned by Perry Mason in a stuffy courtroom somewhere?  Tasty is no lawyer, but he suspects Madewell could make a pretty compelling courtroom defense by pointing out that it actually took her several years to embezzle the $350,000… while Dave Regan made off with $300,000 of workers’ money in just one year!

As for Madewell, Tasty sees she hasn’t landed in court quite yet. The SEIU insurance exec, who's facing three years for grand theft, apparently pulled a “Bonnie and Clyde” and hit the road... with the police in hot pursuit. An article in the Bakersfield Californian begins this way: “Brandi Marcella Madewell, where are you?”

And check out this TV news coverage describing how Madewell made off with $350K:

SEIU’s Bold New Vision for the Future?

Ever wonder what SEIU will look like in the future? Well, it may look a lot more like “AETNA” than the “AFL-CIO.” That’s according to internal documents that offer a revealing glimpse into SEIU’s newest local union.

At SEIU’s most recent convention in Puerto Rico, Andy Stern and Mary Kay Henry literally gushed about SEIU’s newest affiliate, the “State Employees Association of North Carolina” or “SEANC.”  The local, which represents 55,000 state employees, is now called “SEIU Local 2008.”

What does Local 2008 actually do? According to memos penned by two officials at SEIU Local 521, SEIU’s newest union is pretty much a giant insurance company that spends its time selling insurance products to workers. The two California officials visited North Carolina and then wrote memos for Local 521’s president, Kristy Sermersheim, about their experiences.

According to a memo authored by Chuck Waide (Regional Director of SEIU Local 521), “the primary function” of Local 2008 is “selling insurance.” In fact, Local 2008 has 14 insurance salespeople and, says Waide, is “very efficient and well organized in marketing voluntary insurance programs” to the union’s members. Here’s an excerpt from Waide’s memo:

And how many staff people are actually available to help the union’s 55,000 members with grievances, arbitrations, contract enforcement, bargaining, etc?  According to Waide:

 Waide, in an apparent effort to reassure his readers, then writes:  

Now, Tasty ain’t no Einstein, but how can you be a union if you have no “member committees dealing with labor relations,” “no shop steward program” and just 3 Union Reps for 55,000 members?

So where does workers’ dues money go? Good question. Perhaps it pays the salaries of all the insurance salespeople and bill collectors.

In Tasty's book, this ain't no "bold" and "visionary" future for the labor movement. It's a frickin' nightmare on Elm Street! The memos offer one more sign of the ongoing AETNA-ization of SEIU. After all, SEIU’s “call centers” for handling workers’ grievances fit neatly into this vision that's styled on the insurance industry.

Now, that's not to say that this new direction may be plenty "bold" and "visionary" for certain of SEIU's elite officials. After all, Mary Kay Henry and President Emeritus Andy Stern would be next in line to become the CEO of this giant insurance company (a.k.a. “union”). In fact, Tasty bets that Dave Regan is simply salivating at the chance to pocket more money, on top of his $300,000 salary, once he gets a seat on the insurance company’s board of directors!

P.S. In case you wanna read the full memos from the officials at SEIU Local 521, you can find them here.

Kristy’s Cuts in Cali

Remember Tasty’s post about the concessions that SEIU has been negotiatimg for workers, including the retroactive pay cut a University Medical Center in Las Vegas?

Well, a reader sent along this article about a lengthy laundry list of cuts that SEIU Local 521 just negotiated for 8,000 workers in Santa Clara County, California. A publication for the bosses’ -– appropriately named “Public CEO” –- describes the SEIU-negotiated cuts this way:

SEIU employees will take 10 unpaid furlough days off during the year.  Also, County holidays will be reduced from 12 to 8 the first year.  New hires will be paid at 10 percent below the current minimum salary for existing jobs.  Employees will contribute two percent more of their salary towards retirement, for a total of six percent.  Employees will now pay more for health plan copayments, depending on the health plan.   Also, for the first time, current employees are paying contributions towards future premiums for retiree health benefit costs. 

Wow... that's quite a list. Tasty wonders whether SEIU's top official at Local 521, Kristy Sermersheim, will cut her own over-inflated salary, which paid her north of $200,000 last year.

Tasty is a bit doubtful. Why? Well, Sermersheim now calls herself “CEO”… short for “Chief Elected Officer.” (Tasty is not joking! Apparently, this is SEIU’s latest and greatest stage of business unionism.) And, b/t/w, how many CEOs have you seen taking pay cuts?