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Additional court records (see below) confirm that SEIU-UHW has voluntarily withdrawn its entire lawsuit against the CHA.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

CBS Video: SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan Accused of Assault

Here's the footage from CBS News in San Francisco.

It describes the police investigation into SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan’s alleged assault on a process server who attempted to deliver legal documents to Regan on behalf of the California Hospital Association.

Regan, who also serves as a Vice President of the Service Employees International Union, is now apparently hiding from reporters.

Regan's attorney, when contacted by CBS News, offered the following (super credible) explanation for Regan's assault in which he pushed a court worker down the stairs (whose injuries required medical attention) and then attempted to intimidate a police officer:

"... this is an outrageous attempt of intimidation by the California Hospital Association… the process server tried to intimidate Mr. Regan and his 9-year-old daughter… and refused to leave the home when asked."

Way to go, Dave!

This story aired at the top of CBS's 6:00 pm newscast on February 16, 2016.

Breaking: SEIU's Dave Regan Makes CBS Headline News for Assaulting Hospital Association's Process Server and Intimidating Cop

CBS Channel 5 News Footage

Last night, CBS News kicked off its evening newscast in San Francisco with the following lead story: "Union Vice President Accused of Assaulting Process Server Outside Kensington Home, Intimidating Cop."

This morning, Politico picked up the story in its "Morning Shift" publication with a piece entitled: "SEIU VP Accused of Assault."

Regan, who is the President of SEIU-UHW, also serves as a Vice President of SEIU International, based in Washington DC. In recent weeks, he reportedly broke the arm of a process server who was attempting to deliver court documents, authored by the California Hospital Association, to Regan's home in Kensington, Calif.

Here's a print version of the CBS New story:

Union Vice President Accused of Assaulting Process Server Outside Kensington Home, Intimidating Cop

February 16, 2016 5:30 PM

By Emily Turner

KENSINGTON (CBS SF) — The vice president of a union representing two million members has been accused of assaulting a process server at his Kensington home, and intimidating a police officer investigating the incident.

Dave Regan is accused of pushing a process server down the steps of his Kensington home, refusing to be served legal documents in a dispute with the California Hospital Association.

Police say the server was injured and had to have medical treatment.

When police got to Regan’s home, they say he was aggressive and tried to intimidate the officer.

Kensington police Chief Kevin Hart says the case is now headed to the District Attorney’s office.

“There may be video that we are trying to obtain to get a better idea before we turn that all over to the DA,” Kensington Police Chief Kevin Hart said.

Regan is a union heavyweight.

He is president of the SEIU’s-United Healthcare Workers West, which represents more than 150,000 workers in California, and he’s a vice president of the larger SEIU, which has two million members.

 He is known in union circles for his sometimes combative behavior, with one union blog going so far to call him an SEIU thug.

 In 2008, Regan was at a now notorious labor meeting in Michigan that erupted into violence. In 1995, police in Ohio arrested him for disorderly conduct.

Tasty doesn't yet have video footage of the TV story, but will post it as soon as he does. 

SEIU's assault on Labor Notes

It reportedly includes an interview with the Chief of the Kensington Police Department, a statement from Regan's attorney, discussion of Regan's 2008 violent assault on the Labor Notes Conference, and Regan's 1995 arrest in Ohio for "disorderly conduct."

Intriguingly, the police are now looking for video footage of Regan's alleged assault in Kensington. Tasty's hunch is that Regan’s neighbors have security cameras on their homes, which may have recorded the incident. Kensington is a high-priced residential enclave with a median home price of $1.1 million.

The emerging details of Regan's "Kensington assault" put into sharper focus his history of intimidation, bullying and violence… as well as top SEIU officials' support of Regan's "old school ways."

This history is well-known to insiders, and is even spelled out in a lawsuit that alleges that Regan and other top SEIU officials -- including President Mary Kay Henry and President Emeritus Andy Stern -- violated two California civil rights statutes by carrying out a plan of assault, battery, intimidation, threats and coercion in an effort to silence SEIU's critics.

The suit, filed in 2011, is now heading towards a trial date in San Francisco Superior Court.

It was filed by multiple rank-and-file members of SEIU-UHW, two of whom faced death threats after voicing criticism of Regan and SEIU. Other plaintiffs include elected leaders of NUHW, including Sal Rosselli, who were ousted from SEIU in 2009 after criticizing SEIU leaders' backroom deals with employers and SEIU's undemocratic internal practices.

The lawsuit includes gritty details of the retaliation faced by SEIU's critics, including 25 paragraphs alleging "specific acts of assault, battery, intimidation, threat and coercion directed at plaintiffs and other NUHW supporters by persons purportedly affiliated with the SEIU."

More to follow.

More E-mails Describe Terms of SEIU-UHW Dave Regan's Secret Deal with California Hospital Association

SEIU-UHW's Bruce Harland

Here are more e-mails exchanged by SEIU-UHW and the California Hospital Association (CHA) during the course of their arm-breaking legal battles.

In the first e-mail, a CHA attorney -- Curt Kirshner of the Jones Day law firm -- reports that the CHA "has filed three arbitration complaints against UHW which should be scheduled for hearings."

According to the CHA, SEIU-UHW violated three separate provisions of a secret gag clause that prohibit SEIU-UHW from suing hospital corporations, supporting legislation that's "adverse to the interests of the hospital industry," and saying "derogatory" things about hospital corporations and their bosses. The gag clause was signed by SEIU-UHW's President, Dave Regan.

Regan's gag clause is so far-reaching that SEIU-UHW apparently violated the no-derogatory-comments rule when it called CHA CEO Duane Dauner a "saboteur."

The second e-mail is a response from SEIU-UHW's hack attorney, Bruce Harland, who works at the Weinberg, Rogers and Rosenfeld law firm. In 2014, Harland worked hand-in-hand with Regan to write the secret deal with the CHA -- aka the "Code of Conduct" -- including its gag clause.

In this e-mail, Harland acknowledges that SEIU-UHW is bound by the deal's gag clause and arbitration clause. He also makes a final, pathetic plea to the hospital bosses to cough up 30,000 non-union workers to SEIU-UHW.

In so doing, Harland reaffirms the "centerpiece" of Regan's dirty deal with hospital bosses: a "money-for-members" quid pro quo in which Regan agreed to deliver $6 billion in public Medicaid funds to hospital CEOs in exchange for the right to unionize up to 60,000 California hospital workers without employer opposition.

Here's an excerpt from Harland's e-mail. A full copy of the two e-mails is below.

Second, with respect to the first two complaints filed by CHA, UHW is willing to arbitrate these disputes, under the Code of Conduct, so long as CHA and the hospital signatories meet the obligations that they are required to satisfy, under the Code of Conduct, by January 1, 2016. These obligations require, among other things, that "[b]y "January 1, 2016, various hospitals and health systems in California execute a conditional agreement providing access rights to the Union at acute care hospitals in California for at least 30,000 (30,000) non-union, non-supervisory employees." Sec. D(2)  If the hospitals or health systems fail to execute such agreements, then "the Union shall be released from all further obligations under this Agreement..." Id . CHA has already announced to CEOs that it will not satisfy this obligation, and Mr. Dauner has expressed to UHW’s President that the likelihood of CHA and the signatory hospitals executing such an agreement is "highly remote." In addition, despite the Union's best efforts, CHA and the signatory hospitals have failed to agree to a conditional access agreement. 

  E-mail Exchange between SEIU-UHW and California Hospital Association on Secret Deal and Gag Clause: Dec. 15...

Breaking: SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan Reportedly Arrested after Breaking the Arm of Hospital Association's Process Server

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan

Sources report that SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan was arrested after breaking the arm of a process server who served legal documents, authored by the California Hospital Association (CHA), on Regan at his home in Kensington, California.

According to a reliable source, the Kensington Police Department will soon forward Regan's arrest records to the District Attorney for possible criminal prosecution.

Four sources have corroborated the incident. Here's what they say.

The process server reportedly attempted to serve the legal documents when Regan answered his front door on Beloit Avenue.

Regan, rather than accept the documents, violently pushed the process server down the stairs, breaking his arm. When the police arrived at the scene, say sources, Regan got into an altercation with the police and was arrested.

According to court records, the CHA recently served a variety of legal motions on SEIU-UHW officials in response to Regan’s November 2015 lawsuit against the CHA.

On January 25, for example, a CHA process server delivered legal motions to SEIU-UHW's attorney, Eduardo Roy of Prometheus Partners, at the firm's a law firm in San Francisco. Those documents sought the court's permission for the CHA to formally intervene in Regan's lawsuit.

On January 26, the CHA filed its own lawsuit against SEIU-UHW alleging that Regan violated a gag clause contained in his secret partnership deal with CHA officials.

For those familiar with Dave Regan’s history, the reports of his arm-breaking assault will not be surprising. Regan reportedly has a history of violent encounters, including fistfights at SEIU events, some of which were reportedly fueled by alcohol.

In 2008, Regan led busloads of SEIU staffers and supporters in an attack against a national conference held by "Labor Notes," a network of union activists seeking to democratize and reform US labor unions. Regan's troops violently forced their way into the conference in Dearborn, Michigan, where they reportedly punched, kicked and knocked participants to the floor.

Regan's troops assaulting the Labor Notes conference: 2008

One female conference attendee was sent to the hospital with cuts and other injuries to her head.

Tragically, one of the members of Regan's union at the time, SEIU 1199 West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, died during Regan's assault from a heart attack.

John Sweeney (then President of the AFL-CIO) denounced Regan's attack on the conference, stating: "There is no justification -- none -- for the violent attack orchestrated by SEIU," according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

When Regan parachuted into California in 2009, sources say he schooled SEIU-UHW's staff in his "old school ways," including the use of threats and intimidation against the union's members and its critics.

During a 2009 election among homecare workers in Fresno County, SEIU staffers reportedly threatened immigrant home care workers with deportation unless they voted for SEIU-UHW, according to TV news coverage and video-taped testimonials of workers and SEIU staff.

During NLRB elections at Kaiser Permanente, SEIU-UHW employed a "World War III" strategy designed to intimidate its members by employing, for example, violent "shout downs" against union members.

In one infamous incident inside a hospital cafeteria, SEIU-UHW staffer Tiffany Ford issued death threats against Kaiser employees… for which a Los Angeles Superior Court judge imposed a restraining order on her.

Another SEIU-UHW staffer, Liz Castillo, became a YouTube sensation (88,000 views) for her violent assault in a hospital cafeteria captured on videotape.

SEIU-UHW -- including staffer Angela Hewett -- even threatened and intimidated 80-year-old labor legend Dolores Huerta, who co-founded of the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez. In one incident, SEIU-UHW representatives shamefully screamed at Ms. Huerta to "go back to the fields."

All of which raises important questions:

Why did SEIU officials -- including Andy Stern and Mary Kay Henry -- install a man with a history of violence to head a union of healthcare workers in California?

And why have Henry and SEIU's International Executive Board allowed Regan to remain in his seat atop one of SEIU's largest local unions in the nation despite his repeated acts of intimidation and violence -- including his latest assault against a processor, who good just as easily be a union member?

Are SEIU presidents and officers permitted to break the arms of court workers without being held accountable?

Stay tuned.

Hospital Association's Lawsuit Details SEIU-UHW Dave Regan's Dirty Deal with CEOs

SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan

Here's the lawsuit that the California Hospital Association (CHA) filed against SEIU-UHW on January 26, 2016 in Sacramento Superior Court.

In the 11-page suit, the CHA asks a judge to toss out SEIU-UHW’s November 2015 lawsuit and to force SEIU-UHW into binding arbitration per the terms of their secret "partnership" agreement.

The lawsuit discusses the "money-for-members" quid pro quo in which SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan agreed to deliver $6 billion in public Medicaid funds to hospital CEOs in exchange for the right to unionize up to 60,000 California hospital workers without employer opposition.

The lawsuit also offers new details about the massive gag clause that Regan wrote into his secret deal with CEOs. 

In addition to the terms of the gag clause already detailed in previous posts (e.g., no "anti-employer activities," no "derogatory" comments about corporations and CEOs, no regulatory complaints or legal actions against hospital corporations, etc.), we learn that Regan also agreed to block SEIU-UHW from "raising concerns about... executive compensation in health care."

What does this mean?

For at least the past two years, Regan has blocked SEIU-UHW from writing leaflets, issuing press releases, or even talking to legislators, journalists and the public about hospital CEOs' excessively fat paychecks.

So much for speaking out against the CEOs who’ve created the worst wealth inequality crisis in the United States since the 1930s. It turns out that SEIU -- a company union that's for sale to the highest bidder -- is bought and paid for by the CEOs.

For SEIU-UHW's members, Regan's secret gag clause will help explain why their union hasn't issued a single leaflet criticizing their bosses' multi-million dollar paycheck… even as they try to ram pay and benefit cuts down their throat.

Finally, here are some excerpts from the lawsuit. A full copy is below.

On May 5, 2014, CHA, UHW, and a number of California hospitals and health systems entered into an agreement entitled the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct sought to "create a new model for labor relations that is based on cooperation rather than confrontation," including by laying out "a labor-management relationship as reflected in the code of conduct" and ensuring that "every opportunity will be taken to resolve differences quickly and in a professional and non-confrontational manner." (p. 2)

UHW agreed that it would not engage in "reputation or economic attacks; personal attacks; or instigating or supporting... litigation" that was "directed at or with respect to CHA... and any of [its] officers, directors, managers or shareholders." UHW also specifically agreed that it would not "sponsor or support legislation, initiatives, or regulatory action adverse to the California hospital industry during the terms of this Agreement." (p. 3)

  

The Second Complaint addresses UHW’s efforts to qualify California Initiative 15-0111, "Hospital Executive Compensation Act of 2016" ("Compensation Initiative") for placement on the 2016 California ballot. As CHA explained to UHW in its November 30, 2015 complaint, the Union's decision to sponsor the Compensation Initiative violated Sections I(B) and II(C) of the Code of Conduct, and in particular UHW’s agreement not to "sponsor or support... initiatives adverse to the California hospital industry" or make comments "raising concerns about... executive compensation in health care." (p. 6)

Upon learning of the [UHW] lawsuit [filed in November 2015], CHA notified UHW that it viewed the litigation as a violation of Section I(B) the of the Code of Conduct, which prohibits "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 CHA also noted that the inflammatory language UHW had used in its complaint -- labeling [CHA CEO Duane] Dauner a "saboteur" and accusing him of "corrupt acts," for example -- constituted 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. (pp. 7-8) 

The Code of Conduct anticipated that signatory hospitals might choose to execute "Conditional Access Agreements," which would provide UHW access rights at California acute care hospitals in the event of "the achievement of a legislative or political solution that meets the previously agreed upon goal of obtaining full Medi-Cal funding and payments to hospitals for services rendered to Medi-Cal beneficiaries...by December 31, 2016." … The parties agreed that "[i]n the event that, by January 1, 2016, an insufficient number of hospitals or health systems execute Conditional Access Agreements to meet the requirement of [UHW access to] thirty thousand (30,000) non-union, non-supervisory employees..., the Union [would] be released from all further obligations under this Agreement and this Agreement shall terminate." Upon such termination, "all of [the Code of Conduct's] terms are terminated with respect to all signatories." (pp. 3-4) 

  California Hospital Association's Lawsuit against SEIU-UHW for Violating Terms of Secret Partnership A...

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...

More Implosions Hit SEIU-UHW Dave Regan's Secret Deal with the California Hospital Association... and Expose Hidden Documents

More ear-splitting implosions are rocking Dave Regan's "groundbreaking" partnership with the California Hospital Association… quickly transforming it into a pile of twisted, smoking rubble.

Here's what's happening.

In recent weeks, the CHA has filed two counter-lawsuits against SEIU-UHW in response to Regan's November 2015 lawsuit against the CHA.

One of the CHA's suits -- filed last week -- says SEIU-UHW's original lawsuit should be tossed out because Regan, in his secret deal with the CHA, signed an "arbitration clause" that prohibits him from taking disputes to the courts. It also asserts that Regan violated the deal's "gag clause," which SEIU-UHW famously denied even existed.

So, in a stroke of poetic justice, the CHA has been forced to hand over a copy of Regan's secret deal in order to prove its case! A source snatched copies from the court and sent them to Tasty.

For nearly two years, Regan has stubbornly refused to allow journalists and the public to even catch a glimpse of the deal. In fact, he refused to show it to SEIU-UHW's members and even its "Executive Board," the union's top governing body.

Last year, NUHW filed a complaint with California Attorney General Kamala Harris over Regan's gag clause. That complaint was based on an unsigned version of the deal that was leaked to NUHW. At the time of the complaint, SEIU-UHW officials vigorously challenged the authenticity of the unsigned version.

Now… we have a SIGNED version of the deal with Dave's "John Henry" at the bottom! (See a full copy below.)

The CHA lawsuit also contains a trove of previously unseen documents…  including a one-page "Side Letter" signed by Regan and the CHA's Duane Dauner on May 5, 2014.

The documents detail the deal's corrupt "money-for-members" quid pro quo in which Regan agreed to deliver $6 billion in public Medicaid funds to hospital CEOs in exchange for the right to unionize 60,000 California hospital workers without employer opposition.  

Regan agreed to force the newly unionized workers into cheap, pre-negotiated labor contracts with substandard wages and benefits, a gag clause, and a ban on strikes.

Regan’s newly outed "Side Letter" also details the creation of a $100 million political slush fund -- using $20 million of SEIU-UHW members' dues money -- to help hospital CEOs boost their profits at taxpayer expense. 

Here are the two documents. More to follow in the days ahead.

  Side Letter to SEIU-UHW's Secret Deal with the California Hospital Association: May 5, 2014 by tastysternburger

  SEIU-UHW's "Money-for-Members" Deal with the California Hospital Association: May 5, 2014