Now, for the first time, sources are providing details about
the secret deal. Here's what they say.
Sources say the deal was inked during the final hours
of the partnership negotiations in 2012. At that point, Regan and John August (Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions) signed an "unpublished
side letter" that requires SEIU-UHW and the other partnership unions to eliminate
their members' pensions and slash their health benefits.
Because the deal is memorialized as an "unpublished side
letter" attached to workers’ contract, Regan and Co. believe they can hide it from the membership.
And that's not the only detail to emerge from Tasty’s sources.
They also describe the precise moment when Regan and his
pals inked the dirty deal.
During the final moments of the negotiations, a
handful of the partnership union’s fatcat officials met privately with Kaiser's
execs. Rank-and-file workers were
specifically excluded from the room. And when Regan and August emerged from behind
closed doors, they announced that the contract negotiations were done.
This insider’s account matches up perfectly with workers' previously
published descriptions of the final hours of the negotiations. Check out an
excerpt from a 2012 video-taped interview with Sophia Sims, a rank-and-file member of SEIU-UHW’s bargaining
committee who was at the negotiations when Regan, August and other officials stepped
behind closed doors to ink the secret deal.
Since that day, Kaiser has attempted to force these same cuts on
the members of NUHW and UNITE HERE, who’ve waged multiple
strikes against Kaiser with the support of the California Nurses Association. According
to sources, Kaiser will soon try to push SEIU-UHW’s cuts on the CNA when 18,000
nurses begin negotiations with Kaiser later this year.
Here’s the video.
Hey SEIU-UHW members… it's time to tell Dave Regan: “Show us the unpublished side letter!”
Hey SEIU-UHW members… it's time to tell Dave Regan: “Show us the unpublished side letter!”
