Sunday, March 22, 2015

Dave Regan Is Taken to Task for Violating SEIU's Order... even as Regan Plots More Violations


Diamond Dave and Mary Kay during an earlier time
Here's the latest on Diamond Dave's battle with the Purple Palace.

Sources say the Purple Palace erupted in anger when, earlier this month, Dave Regan had SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board pass a resolution opposing the January order issued by SEIU's International Executive Board (IEB). The IEB’s order directs SEIU-UHW and SEIU Local 521 to transfer their home care and nursing home workers to SEIU Local 6434, which is headed by Laphonza Butler.

In January, the IEB apparently placed a gag order on the three affected local unions. Each of the leaders of the three affected local unions (SEIU-UHW, Local 521 and Local 6434) pledged to abide by the gag rule, which bars them from speaking publicly about the matter.

So… when Regan passed his own resolution opposing the IEB’s order, Local 6434's Laphonza Butler and Local 521’s CEO Luisa Blue reportedly “flipped out" in anger and called for the immediate transfer of the long-term care workers rather than waiting until June, say Tasty's sources.

In recent days, Butler, Blue and Regan met with retired SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina. SEIU President Mary Kay Henry brought Medina out of retirement to serve as a hearing officer to iron out the details of transferring the long-term care workers. Henry tasked Medina with producing a recommendation by June 2.

During Medina’s recent meeting with Butler, Blue and Regan, tensions between the three local union leaders were reportedly sky high. Sources say Medina ultimately convinced Blue to withdraw her demand that the workers be transferred immediately due to Regan’s violation of the gag order. Meanwhile, speaking of the gag order, Medina reportedly told Regan to "keep his mouth shut."

Despite Medina's warning, sources report that Regan is already planning more violations of the gag rule -- basically thumbing his nose at Mary Kay Henry, the IEB and Medina.

Here's what the sources say:

First, Regan has convinced George Gresham (the president to SEIU 1199 New York) to send a letter to Mary Kay Henry backing Regan's position on the long-term care workers. As described in an earlier post, Regan and Gresham are reportedly working together to try to unseat Mary Kay Henry in SEIU’s internal officer elections in 2016. These political ambitions are the underlying dynamics driving the SEIU infighting… the deep subterranean plates that are producing earthquakes on the earth’s surface.

In addition, Regan reportedly announced to SEIU-UHW staffers that he’s approaching the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions ("the partnership unions") to get their support in battling Mary Kay Henry. This promises to spread SEIU's infighting to the broader U.S. labor movement. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions is made up of 28 local unions across the US, including the Teamsters, Steelworkers and UFCW.

Regan's outreach to other Kaiser unions also points to his real motivations for delaying the transfer of the long-term care workers until June. At its January meeting, the IEB initially ordered Regan to transfer the workers on a rapid timeframe. Regan successfully argued for a delay until June, claiming that the transfer of the long-term care workers would somehow weaken SEIU-UHW’s ability to negotiate a contract with Kaiser Permanente.
 
Eliseo Medina
At the end of March, Regan and the partnership unions begin their “negotiations” with Kaiser -- which will undoubtedly follow Regan's recipe of backdoor deals with the boss and a pathetically choreographed “show” to try to get worker buy-in.

So... with Regan now poised to commit more violations of the IEB's gag order, how will the Purple Palace respond?


Stay tuned...