Remember
Dave Regan's secret
deal with the California Hospital
Association?
Regan signed
this so-called "21st Century" deal with hospital executives more than
a year ago, but he's refused to show a copy to SEIU-UHW's membership, Executive Board, staff, or the public.
Now, we know
why.
NUHW got ahold of a copy and posted it
on its website!
It turns out
that Diamond Dave did lots of wheeling and dealing when he met with his pin-striped
pals in the executive suites of California hospital corporations.
Regan, for
example, proposed to permanently ban SEIU-UHW members from conducting strikes,
according to the records. And he agreed to allow hospital corporations to
"flex" workers by requiring them to take on more work.
He also signed a far-reaching "gag clause" that blocks SEIU-UHW and its members
from reporting patient-care violations to health inspectors and other
government oversight agencies. (Hmmm... so much for SEIU’s claims to stand up for
patients and the public.)
 |
| CHA's Duane Dauner |
According to
NUHW, Regan’s gag clause violates workers' rights… along with four California
laws. Yesterday, NUHW filed a
complaint with the California Attorney General to block the hospitals and
Regan from implementing illegal gag clauses.
NUHW's complaint (posted below) contains
nearly 100 pages of internal records including e-mails, meeting agendas,
minutes, plaintive letters from Diamond Dave to hospital CEOs, and details of Kaiser Permanente's involvement in the dirty deal, including that of Kaiser exec Greg Adams.
That's not
all.
According to
a copy of the CHA deal, Regan also agreed to prohibit SEIU-UHW from "pursuing,
sponsoring or supporting any legislation, initiative, regulatory, or other
efforts that are adverse to the interests" of hospital corporations.
And Regan agreed
to prohibit SEIU-UHW from engaging in any "Anti-Employer Activities,"
which are defined in a lengthy paragraph of lawyerly text.
 |
| SEIU's Regan tossed patients under the bus. |
Regan also
agreed to ban SEIU-UHW from issuing any communications (e.g., press releases,
leaflets, letters, website posts, letters to the editor, etc.) that "raise
concerns about hospital pricing and executive compensation in health
care."
Remember… just
months ago, Regan stood at podiums, surrounded by patients, and criticized hospital
corporations for charging patients $21 for an aspirin.
It turns out that was
pure theater... and the patients were mere pawns in Diamond Dave's game. Soon
thereafter, Regan tossed California's patients under the bus in order to expedite
his backroom deal with hospital CEOs and the CHA's CEO Duane Dauner.
Stay tuned. More details will
follow as Tasty digests the trove of documents released by NUHW. Here's NUHW’s complaint
along with the 100 pages of exhibits.
