Report: Regan Spent Upwards of $1 million of SEIU-UHW Dues on Failed Lawsuits against Hospital Association

Since the collapse of his secretive partnership deal with the California Hospital Association, Dave Regan has spent upwards of $1 million of SEIU-UHW members’ dues money on law firms to represent him in a series of failed lawsuits, according to figures released this week by SEIU-UHW.

The revelations are contained in SEIU-UHW’s annual report to the US Department of Labor, which was signed by Regan on March 30, 2017.

In 2016 alone, Regan delivered $672,049 of SEIU-UHW’s funds to Prometheus Partners LLP, a San Francisco law firm representing him in various lawsuits against the California Hospital Association (CHA). Here’s an excerpt from SEIU-UHW’s Form LM-2 documenting these payments:

Prometheus Partners represents Regan in a lawsuit, “David Regan vs. Duane Dauner,” filed by Regan in February 2016. In January 2017, a judge effectively tossed out Regan’s lawsuit.

Soon thereafter, Regan paid the San Francisco law firm to sue the entire Sacramento County Superior Court. And Regan lost again.

Regan used a separate law firm -- Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld -- to file other lawsuits against the CHA, which were also unsuccessful. According to SEIU-UHW’s filing this week, the union paid more than $1.1 million to the Alameda, Calif. firm during 2016. In addition to representing Regan in those suits, the firm also performed other legal services for the union.

Altogether, Regan has spent upwards of $20 million of SEIU-UHW members’ union dues on his so-called CHA strategy, which hinged on negotiating a secret sweetheart deal with hospital CEOs.

Among other provisions, Regan’s deal was designed to force SEIU-UHW members into pre-negotiated labor contracts with stripped-down wages and benefits, to prohibit workers from striking, and to use a far-reaching gag clause to block them from reporting substandard staffing and other patient-care violations to government oversight agencies. In addition to legal fees, Regan spent millions to hire signature-gathering firms in an effort to qualify initiatives for the California ballot.

In addition to costing boatloads of workers’ money, Regan’s dueling lawsuits with the CHA famously landed him in criminal court after he reportedly broke the arm of a process server who was attempting to deliver legal documents to Regan’s Kensington, Calif. home on behalf of the California Hospital Association. It’s unclear whether Regan used the union’s funds to pay for legal representation in this personal criminal matter, which was referred to the District Attorney’s office.

How much of SEIU-UHW members’ dues payments will Regan flush down the toilet in 2017?

We’ll have to wait until next year’s report to answer that question.

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Runs for Hills, Dropping Lawsuit against Hospital Association

SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan has suffered yet another setback in his $25 million quest to forge a secret "partnership" with the California Hospital Association (CHA).

According to court records, Regan has voluntarily dropped a lawsuit that SEIU-UHW filed against CHA’s top officials just 12 weeks ago.

Here's what's going on:

In November, CHA officials announced they were ditching Regan in favor of their new pals at the SEIU California State Council and the California Teachers Association. Like a jilted lover, Regan angrily sued CHA CEO Duane Dauner in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleging Dauner violated their secret "partnership" deal and was a "saboteur."

The CHA then counter-sued Regan, asserting that SEIU-UHW is barred from filing any lawsuits against the CHA due to a secret gag clause signed by Regan.

The gag clause, which has now emerged in court documents, not only prohibits SEIU-UHW from suing hospitals or their execs, it also blocks the purple union from "raising concerns about... executive compensation in health care," initiating or supporting legislation that's "adverse to the interests of the hospital industry," saying "derogatory" things about corporations and their bosses, etc.

When a process server attempted to deliver legal documents to Regan's home on behalf of the CHA, Regan allegedly pushed the process server down the stairs of his home, breaking his arm. The District Attorney will decide whether to file criminal charges against Regan, according to CBS News.

As for the dueling lawsuits in Superior Court, it looks like the CHA has come out on top.

Earlier this month, SEIU-UHW quietly dropped the lawsuit it filed just weeks earlier amidst beaucoup hoopla.

Here's an excerpt from a sworn declaration submitted to the judge by Matthew Silveira, an attorney for the CHA, describing the phone call and e-mail he received from SEIU-UHW's attorneys announcing "that UHW had filed a Request for Dismissal of this action in its entirety."

Additional court records (see below) confirm that SEIU-UHW has voluntarily withdrawn its entire lawsuit against the CHA.

Bruce Harland: Adios!

So what happened?

Tasty’s hunch is that Ragin’ Dave Regan and his hack attorney, Bruce Harland of Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld, simply f*cked up. 

Back in November, they were so hot to sue the CHA that they simply failed to pay attention to the massive gag clause and arbitration clause that plainly blocked SEIU-UHW from filing a suit. 

Harland actually helped to negotiate the gag clause. Go figure.

Perhaps that's why Regan, in mid-January, dumped Harland and replaced him with a second firm, Prometheus Partners of San Francisco.

In February, SEIU-UHW’s new attorney Eduardo Roy submitted a two-page filing to the court stating:

"…UHW has submitted to the Court a Request for Dismissal. Because UHW is voluntarily dismissing its action, there is no threat that CHA's interests could be impaired…"

Here's the full document. Stay tuned.

  SEIU-UHW's Request for Dismissal of Lawsuit versus the California Hospital Association: 02-04-2016

Email from Dauner to Regan: "You can't call me 'sabateur'"

Regan and Dauner

Here's an e-mail from Duane Dauner to Dave Regan that helps explain the legal battle that's raging between SEIU-UHW and the California Hospital Association.

It highlights a gag clause that Regan wrote into his secret "partnership" deal with the hospital industry. 

According to Dauner, the gag clause is so far-reaching that it blocks SEIU-UHW from supporting legislation, taking legal action, and even exercising free speech.

On November 24, 2015, SEIU-UHW filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court calling Dauner "corrupt" and a "saboteur." It alleges that Dauner (CEO of the California Hospital Association) and two other executives violated their responsibilities to a joint "partnership" committee by entering into an agreement with the SEIU California State Council to sponsor a statewide revenue-generating ballot initiative that competes with Regan's preferred initiative.

Two weeks later, on December 7, Dauner sent the following e-mail to Regan (SEIU-UHW's President) notifying him that SEIU-UHW's lawsuit violates the gag clause in Regan's secret deal with the CHA (aka, the "Code of Conduct").

Under the gag clause, SEIU-UHW is prohibited from calling Dauner a "saboteur." Why? Regan's gag clause prohibits SEIU-UHW from making "derogatory" comments about bosses.

Furthermore, the gag clause blocks SEIU-UHW from filing a lawsuit or taking any legal action against the CHA… or against any of "the officers, directors, managers or shareholders" of the corporations that signed Regan's deal.

Oh... and SEIU-UHW can’t initiate or support any regulatory action or legislation -- including ballot initiatives -- unless it first gets the approval of the hospital industry's bosses.

Regan's gag clause is so broad, in fact, that it bans SEIU-UHW from carrying out any "anti-employer activities" whatsoever!

In the end, we'll likely see that Regan's sell-out gag clause is the source of his own undoing -- a sort of self-administered guillotine blow to the cervical region.

Here are some excerpts from Duane’s e-mail to Dave (full text is below):

Dave,

CHA hereby gives notice of its complaint that SEIU-UHW's litigation against C. Duane Dauner, Gregory A. Adams, Mark R. Laret, James R. Holmes, and Caring for Californians, LLC (collectively, "the Defendants") violates provisions of the Code of Conduct, including Subsections I(B) and II(C)...

In particular, under Section I.B of the Code of Conduct, SEIU-UHW is prohibited from "carry[ing] out or engage[ing] in any ‘Anti--Employer Activities,’" which are defined to include "instigating or supporting... litigation" that is "directed at or with respect to CHA or signatory hospitals or health systems and any of their officers, directors, managers or shareholders." The Union's decision to file a lawsuit against CHA's President and three of its officers is a clear violation of this provision.

Furthermore, the inflammatory language SEIU-UHW uses in its complaints -- labeling Mr. Dauner as a "saboteur" and accusing him of "corrupt acts," for example -- constitutes a separate violation of the Union's duties to refrain from "reputation... attacks" or "personal attacks" directed at CHA and its officers and to avoid "derogatory comments" about CHA. (Sec. I.B.1 and I.B.2)

These recent actions make clear that SEIU-UHW has abandoned any pretense of compliance with the Code's requirement that it address differences with CHA through "cooperation rather than confrontation" and "in a positive manner." (Preamble, Sec. I.B.1) The CHA therefore intends to bring this complaint to Arbitrator Ahearn promptly, seeking an order requiring SEIU-UHW to immediately withdraw both lawsuits and prohibiting SEIU-UHW from filing similar litigation in the future.

  California Hospital Association's e-mail to SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan on Violations of Secret Gag Cla...

SEIU-UHW's Officials Run for Cover as Boss Opens Fire on Workers

Here’s another shocker of a story that features courageous SEIU-UHW officials scurrying for cover while two of the union’s members are left to take incoming fire from their Boss.

Here’s what happened, according to an article in the Mountain View Voice.

Last year, SEIU-UHW’s members gathered signatures and placed a measure on the local ballot to cap the salaries of the high-paid execs at a public hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Why a salary cap? Well, check out how much the CEO at this public hospital actually earns: a base salary of $695,000 per year, with the possibility of a 30% bonus for good performance; a $175,000 relocation fee; $147,380 to reimburse the CEO for the loss of bonuses at her prior job; and a $400,000 interest-free loan to buy a new house.

Kary Lynch, one of the hospital’s workers, told the newspaper: "I just can't see why anybody should be paid that amount of money.”

So, last November, Mountain View’s voters approved the measure, thereby capping each exec’s salary at no more than twice that of the governor of California.

Soon after the ballot count, the hospital’s execs filed a lawsuit to block the measure. That’s when SEIU-UHW’s high-paid officials went into hiding… and then refused to give legal assistance to two union members who were targeted by the lawsuit because their names were on the paperwork when the ballot initiative was first filed.  

Here’s what Kary Lynch (a psychiatric technician and an SEIU-UHW shop steward) told the Mountain View Voice:

Lynch said he'd like to stand up to the hospital, but that no one he reached out to -- including the SEIU and the ACLU -- would represent him pro bono. With no one contesting the hospital's legal action, he said it is his understanding that the Measure M case will be set aside by a judge, which will effectively kill it…

Lynch said he was disappointed about the way Measure M played out. After the initiative was approved by voters in November, the hospital sued Lynch and Laura Huston, another hospital employee who co-sponsored the initiative with Lynch.

Lynch suspects that he and his colleague were targeted because the hospital's lawyers knew neither of them had the means to mount a legal defense.

Officials from the SEIU-UHW said they said they could not represent Lynch as they were not named in the suit. Two lawyers who work for the SEIU-UHW-- Bruce A. Harland and Emily P. Rich, both of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld -- did meet with Lynch, making sure to say they were not speaking as union lawyers.

The newspaper article finishes this way:

Harland and Rich could not be reached for comment, but Lynch believes that Measure M has been extinguished for good. Unless the judge decides not to set the case aside, even if someone came forward now and offered free legal assistance, they would not be able to revive the case, he said.

Quite a story of principled determination and solidarity, right? In the end, the officials at SEIU-UHW not only hung the workers out to dry, but they also took a disgraceful dive on the whole issue of limiting the public hospital execs’ fat-cat salaries.

So what’s behind this story? Undoubtedly, another one of Dave Regan’s backroom deals.

Judge Backs Worker’s Lawsuit against SEIU-UHW and Kaiser Permanente over Meth-Snorting Supervisor

Remember the hospital worker’s lawsuit about her meth-snorting supervisor at a Kaiser hospital in California?

In July, the worker sued Kaiser Permanente for illegally terminating her after she complained to H.R. that her supervisor was snorting crystal meth while running the hospital’s Admitting Department. She also sued SEIU-UHW for failing to defend her against Kaiser’s illegal firing (this is called a breach of SEIU-UHW’s “duty of fair representation” or “a DFR.”)

Soon after the worker filed her lawsuit, Kaiser and SEIU-UHW teamed up to try to kill the suit. But just two days ago, the worker won an important victory when a federal judge delivered a legal smackdown to Kaiser and SEIU-UHW. The smackdown came in the form of a 17-page decision that rejects Kaiser/SEIU’s efforts to toss the lawsuit.

Tasty has posted the full decision below. Also, here’s a news story about the judge’s action: “Fired Kaiser Worker Can Pursue Retaliation Case.”

The ruling offers another interesting glimpse at SEIU-UHW’s horrific, ongoing failure to support and defend its members. Tasty has received countless emails from Kaiser workers who’ve been unjustly terminated because Dave Regan’s SEIU-UHW has simply refused to help them.

According to the judge’s ruling, the worker who filed the suit had a spotless employment record during her 10 years on the job. After she was unjustly disciplined by Kaiser, SEIU-UHW prohibited her from speaking at grievance meetings, failed to inform her about scheduled grievance meetings, and failed to request any records from management so she could defend herself against Kaiser’s false accusations. SEIU-UHW even twisted her arm to try to get her to withdraw her grievance.

And then... SEIU-UHW officials simply dropped her case. Here’s an excerpt from the judge’s ruling:

On January 12, 2012, a union representative informed Plaintiff ‘that her case had no merit,’ and that UHW was withdrawing the grievance. The representative offered no further explanation of why the UHW had concluded her grievance was without merit. (p. 6)

According to the worker, SEIU-UHW and Kaiser were actively in cahoots with each other:

Plaintiff alleges that both Kaiser and the UHW were aware of Ms. Taylor’s drug problems, and knew that Plaintiff’s complaints about Ms. Taylor spurred retaliation that led to her termination. (p. 6)

Here’s another excerpt describing the worker’s charges against SEIU:

Plaintiff has alleged… that the UHW's investigation of her grievance was merely perfunctory, indeed virtually nonexistent, and that its action evinced a 'reckless disregard' of Plaintiff's rights. (p. 14)

So what’s next? The judge has ordered SEIU-UHW, Kaiser and the worker to appear at a case-management conference in federal court on December 14. Court records indicate that SEIU-UHW is being represented by two of its hack attorneys: Bruce Harland and Yuri Gottesman of Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld.

Congrats to the Kaiser worker for taking on Kaiser and SEIU-UHW... and for winning her first, important victory in the legal battle! 

Here’s a full copy of the judge’s 17-page ruling:
Federal Judge's Order Denying SEIU-UHW's Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit for Failing to Assist Union Member at Ka...
 

Dave Regan's SEIU-UHW Is Busted Again for Threatening, Bullying Kaiser Workers

As SEIU's scandal at Kaiser Vallejo Medical Center continues to unfold, Dave Regan's storm troopers have now been caught bullying and threatening more workers at Kaiser Permanente. This time it happened at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, where SEIU-UHW's thugs were nabbed by the NLRB, according to an official legal settlement posted below.

According to the settlement, SEIU-UHW interrogated, surveilled and threatened its own union members. Here's what the document says under the section entitled "Scope of the Agreement:"

• SEIU-UHW-W engaged in surveillance and/or the impression of surveillance by photographing bargaining unit members engaged in protected activity on behalf of NUHW.
• SEIU-UHW-W threatened a bargaining unit member with discharge from employment because of the member's protected activities on behalf of NUHW
• SEIU-UHW-W coercively interrogated a bargaining unit member regarding his or her support and protected activities on behalf of NUHW. 

So what are details?

One day during shift change at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, a number Kaiser workers were passing out NUHW leaflets to their co-workers outside the hospital. This, of course, is their right. After all, the NLRB will hold a new election at Kaiser and -- as in any election -- workers have the right to talk, debate and advocate for their choice on the ballot.

As workers handed out the leaflets to their co-workers, SEIU-UHW Field Rep. Arturo Castellanos showed up with Sandra Jimenez (another SEIU-UHW Field Rep.) and an SEIU-UHW Shop Steward named Yvonne Gurski. Apparently, Gurski is a well-known bully at the hospital.

Castellanos (also known as "super-scab") interrogated the workers who were leafleting, asking: "Where do you work?" and "Who's your supervisor?" Castellanos then threatened to use SEIU's chummy relationship with Kaiser to get one of the workers fired from her job. Next, Castellanos took out his iPhone and began videotaping and photographing the workers in an effort to intimidate them.

Of course, this is totally illegal. Federal labor law protects the rights of workers to engage in leafletting, advocacy and free speech. And it strictly prohibits thugs like Castellanos, Jimenez and Gurski from surveilling, interrogating and threatening workers' jobs.

Following the incident, workers filed a complaint with the NLRB. The federal agency conducted a lengthy investigation and recently announced that it had affirmed the workers' complaint and was preparing to put Castellanos, Jimenez, Gurski on trial in front of a judge. At this point, SEIU's Dave Regan instructed his attorneys to seek an out-of-court settlement with the NLRB rather than face a trial. The settlement (see below) was signed by SEIU-UHW's attorney, Bruce Harland.

The settlement requires SEIU-UHW to send a formal email notice to all of its members at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center about the settlement -- and to post notices on the hospital's bulletin boards and SEIU-UHW's website. In the notices, SEIU-UHW's officials commit that they will not threaten, interrogate or surveil the union's members. Tasty has pasted the exact notice below, along with the legal settlement.

So what about Castellanos, Jimenez and Gurski? Well... if SEIU and Dave Regan have any integrity whatsoever, they would immediately fire/remove these thugs from their union positions. It's simply outrageous that SEIU's Field Reps and Shop Stewards -- who're paid by the union's members to ensure that workers get fair treatment on the job -- are instead teaming up with the Boss to threaten workers' jobs.

SEIU's violence, threats and bullying are a perversion of everything a union is supposed to stand for! And it's an embarrassment to the labor movement. So... if SEIU wants to try to rescue its dirty reputation from the gutter, Regan and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry need to fire these bullies!

Here's the NLRB posting and out-of-court settlement:
SEIU-UHW's out-of-court settlement with the NLRB regarding threats, interrogation and surveillance of SEIU ...

NUHW Scores Lopsided Victory in California Hospital Election!

This just in! Today, NUHW won a lopsided NLRB election among 450 workers at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California. Here's the final tally:

NUHW - 183
SEIU-UHW - 135
"No Union" - 7

Quite a victory... especially when you consider all the dirty tricks that SEIU threw at the hospital's workers.

It was way back in February 2009 that workers requested an NLRB election to leave SEIU-UHW and join NUHW. SEIU officials used every dirty trick in the book to block workers' election for the next 2 1/2 years. In one disgusting episode, SEIU attorneys Bruce Harland, Manuel Boigues and Glenn Rothner filed seven NLRB "blocking charges" in just two days as part of SEIU's campaign of obstruction and delay.

Meanwhile, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry shamelessly issued press releases declaring SEIU's steadfast support for speedy NLRB elections to preserve workers' fundamental right to democracy. Talk about hypocrisy!

Then, last August, the NLRB finally conducted an election for the hospital's workers. NUHW won by four votes, but various "challenged ballots" and votes for "No Union" left the outcome unresolved. SEIU's Dave Regan quickly began a campaign to stall the re-run election... until today!

Way to go, Children's Hospital workers!!