SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan Gives Away Workers’ Pensions at Los Angeles Hospital

In his latest assault on workers, Dave Regan has allowed a Los Angeles hospital to eliminate the defined-benefit pensions of 500 SEIU-UHW members and replaced them with a cheap 401(k) plan, according to an article in today’s Los Angeles Times.

And that’s not all.

Under Regan’s deal, the 500 workers at Motion Picture Television Fund will get wage increases of just 1 percent per year for the next three years… even as the hospital pockets tens of millions in savings due to the elimination of workers’ pensions!

According to observers, Regan’s latest cuts have deep significance for California’s healthcare workers. 

Here’s why.

Since parachuting into California to seize control of SEIU-UHW in 2009, Regan has personally implemented billions of dollars of cuts to workers’ benefits -- including the elimination of defined-benefit pension plans for tens of thousands of workers at Dignity Health, the Daughters of Charity Health System, and other corporations.

And... as Regan methodically slashes and burns workers’ benefits, more and more fatcat execs from greedy companies are lining up at Regan’s door and saying: “I want a piece of that action, muthafucka!”

In 2012, Regan allowed Kaiser Permanente to slash workers’ retiree health benefits, which gave Kaiser a $1.9 billion payday, according to Kaiser’s quarterly financial statements. And according to a top Kaiser exec, Regan has already accepted Kaiser’s request to eliminate the pension plan for all of the “partnership” unions.

Experienced insiders believe that Regan's most recent benefit-slashing bonanza is aimed at showing the California Hospital Association (CHA) that he'll deliver deep cuts to workers' wage and benefits if the CHA inks a sweetheart unionization deal covering 100,000 healthcare workers. 

They also say Regan's cuts will undoubtedly deepen tensions with other unions in California. Why? 

Regan’s cuts at the Motion Picture Television Fund -- which cares for 60,000 members of LA’s entertainment industry -- will hurt thousands of members of AFSCME Local 3299, who are currently fighting the efforts of the University of California to cut health workers’ pension benefits. According to the Los Angeles Times, UCLA recently signed a deal to jointly operate the Television Fund’s outpatient clinics. As a result, members of AFSCME and SEIU-UHW will presumably work side-by-side under a two-tiered system of retirement benefits.

Stay tuned for more news.

“Stop Eating So Much, Fatso,” says SEIU-UHW’s Email to Workers

As 2013 draws to a close, most unions are sending out end-of-the-year emails summarizing last year’s battles and victories, and highlighting the challenges that lie ahead.

Except, of course, SEIU-UHW!

Last week, Dave Regan sent off a strange-ass email that could have been penned by a corporate HR executive.

SEIU-UHW’s email doesn’t even mention unions or workers. Instead, it tells workers to stop eating so much!

Forget “bread and roses.” 

Regan’s “21^st Century Unionism” is all about “Total Health Program,” “Wellness Cops,” and filling the Boss’s stocking with billions of dollars of benefit cuts taken from workers.  

Dear Meg,

Ever have a holiday dinner so big it ended with the "I'll never do that again" New Year's resolution?

We’re all working to get healthier as part of the Total Health program, but let’s be honest – there’s no better feeling than sitting at the dinner table with family around the holidays. But that doesn’t mean we’re doomed to an unhealthy life.

That’s why I’m changing things up a little this year with a healthy, delicious, and quick-to-make side dish. I’m working hard to get healthier for my family.

What are your favorite holiday recipes? Check out our Let’s Get Healthy at Kaiser Facebook Group, where you can leave your favorite recipes, post photos, and talk about what your facility is doing to get healthy.

One thing you’ll find there is my recipe for Garlic Herb Roasted Potatoes.

I can’t wait to see what you bring to the table.

Happy Holidays!

Gloria Charles

LVN Kaiser Baldwin Park

 

More California Workers Bolt SEIU-UHW... 5 Victories in a Row for NUHW!

Last Friday, workers at a nursing home in the San Francisco Bay Area voted unanimously to join NUHW!

This latest win caps a string of five election victories for NUHW in the past month. Three of the elections were by non-union workers at Kindred Healthcare and Sutter Health and two were among workers who decertified SEIU-UHW to join NUHW.

Friday’s election at a nursing home in San Rafael offers another startling chapter in the tale of fraud and deception that SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan has brought to California.

Here’s what happened.

Last year, SEIU-UHW’s Myriam Escamilla conducted secret negotiations with the workers’ boss… and then signed a full contract without ever talking to the workers!

The story gets worse.

Workers heard some buzz from their supervisors about the negotiations, so they repeatedly asked SEIU-UHW: “Are you negotiating with our boss?” 

Escamilla -- who now directs SEIU-UHW's Hospital Division -- boldly lied to workers, telling them “No.” But workers soon discovered that SEIU-UHW had allowed the Boss to slash their benefits, working hours, and other conditions.

Myriam Escamilla

After repeatedly confronting Escamilla, workers forced her to show them the secret agreement. Workers then forced Escamilla to put it to a vote of the membership. Workers voted it down unanimously! And then filed a petition to decertify SEIU-UHW and join NUHW!

In typical fashion, SEIU-UHW launched its stall-and-delay tactics at the NLRB, which held up the election for more than half a year. 

But as last Friday’s election finally drew near, SEIU-UHW officials acknowledged they had zero support among the workers… So, just 48 hours before the election, SEIU-UHW formally withdrew from the election and workers voted unanimously to join NUHW.

Congrats to the workers for prevailing in their lengthy fight to free themselves from the purple tentacles!  

Email Reveals Dave Regan's Role in SEIU's Backroom Deal with Nursing Home Industry

Remember the 50-year ban on strikes that SEIU officials discussed with California’s nursing home bosses during their “partnership” negotiations in 2007?

Well, an email reveals that Dave Regan was neck-deep in those negotiations (see copy below).

At the time, Regan was the Chair of the Executive Committee of SEIU’s National Nursing Home Unity Council. SEIU President Andy Stern ordered Regan to lead the negotiations with California’s nursing home bosses after Sal Rosselli and his team refused to sell out workers.

On the bosses’ side of the bargaining table sat Scott Carlson, the chief negotiator for the nursing home companies or “operators.” Carlson sent the following email to Regan, Gerry Hudson (one of SEIU’s Executive Vice Presidents) and Nicole Berner, an SEIU attorney in Washington, DC. A printed copy of the email is posted below.

From: Scott Carlson

Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 4:01pm

To: Dave Regan; Gerald Hudson; Nicole Berner

Subject:  Affirmation of CA Operator Interest in Bargaining New Alliance with SEIU Unity Council

Operators have now affirmed their interest in bargaining a new agreement with you. They have no precondition of starting negotiations upon SEIU moving [Sal Rosselli] UHW’s jurisdiction to 434B [Tyrone Freeman]. It makes sense to start now and see where we end up. Operators know that [Sal Rosselli’s] UHW strongly prefers their historical labor approach and will continue to undermine progressive collaboration [with the bosses] as long as permitted.

Attached please find company coalition consensus interests in a long-term relationship. Unless you want to provide me with SEIU’s corresponding specific interests/concerns, we could start working from this framework to draft an improved agreement. Since there are three of you and one of me, I’ll put the ball in your court to schedule a conference call to discuss next steps. I’d suggest scheduling some in-person meetings asap so that participants can plan far in advance.

Scott Carlson, Esq.

The email is important for at least two reasons:

First, it shows that Regan is no stranger to the kind of sell-out partnership deal that he’s currently trying to negotiate with the California Hospital Association.

Secondly, the email helps us understand why the Purple Palace was so focused on removing Rosselli and his team. The bosses wanted Rosselli out of the picture so they could negotiate with highly accommodating and corrupt leaders like Tyrone Freeman and Dave Regan, who’re willing to sell out workers at the drop of a hat.

Of course, Stern -- who’s now on the payroll of a billionaire who employs thousands of SEIU’s members, Ron Perelman -- was only too willing to accommodate the bosses’ every desire, which he accomplished through a bogus trusteeship of Rosselli and his team in 2009.

Makes you wonder… How many similar emails were sent to Stern from the CEOs of Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Sutter Health, etc? 

 

   Email to SEIU's Dave Regan, Gerry Hudson and Nicole Berner from Scott Carlson on Negotiations for Cali...