Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Article: Dave Regan’s sexual harassment was constant; SEIU-UHW’s president made drunken requests to sniff women’s panties at union events



SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan

Today, a journalist published a jaw-dropping article detailing the alleged sexual harassment and assaults carried out by multiple top SEIU officials.

Half of the alleged offenders are top officers at SEIU-UHW, including President Dave Regan and Vice President Stan Lyles.

In preparing the article, Mike Elk at PayDay Report reportedly conducted exclusive interviews with dozens of union staffers and reviewed hundreds of pages of court documents. (Mike Elk, “SEIU Prez Knew of Sexual Misconduct and Personally Promoted Staffer Anyhow,” PayDay Report, December 11, 2019)

What did he find?

The term “jaw-dropping” doesn’t do it justice. 

Check out the following excerpts from Elk’s reporting on just one of the six officials, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan. (Regan also serves as a Vice President of DC-based SEIU and is a member of SEIU’s International Executive Board). More to follow in Tasty’s next posts.


Regan… stands accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. Indeed, SEIU has even permitted Regan to use his union’s funds to defend himself against sexual misconduct allegations.

…Interviews with scores of SEIU staffers, past and present, and sworn testimony obtained by Payday Report, accused Regan of making it clear that he would promote women from the rank-and-file of the union who were willing to engage in sexual relationships with him.

Veronica Lowery, a contract specialist at UHW, said she once was at a conference when she overheard Regan and others talk about the physical appearance of a rank-and-file member walking by them.

“‘The only way she is getting a job [with SEIU-UHW] is if she sucks my dick,’” Lowery recalls Regan said in an affidavit obtained by Payday Report.

At a training in October of 2017, Regan is reported to have shown up drunk to a meeting and asked women if he could smell their panties.

“I was at a gathering of some of the other women contract specialists, and Mr. Regan went around asking the women if he could sniff their panties,” said contract specialist Carla Grossman in an affidavit obtained by Payday Report. “At one point, another woman’s cell phone rang, and it was that woman’s husband. Mr. Regan took the phone from her and said, ‘I’II smell your panties, too,’ or words to that effect into the cell phone.”

Women like Mindy Sturge say that the sexual harassment from Regan was constant. In one meeting, Sturge says that Regan asked her if “Does the carpet match the drapes?”  in reference to her pubic hair.

In another meeting with others present, Sturge says that Regan asked her, “What would you do for some jewelry?”; an advance that she took as a sexual proposition. Sturge says it appeared that Regan was drunk.

Scores of SEIU-UHW staffers interviewed by Payday Report say that Regan was frequently seen drunk in the office and at union events. Regan was known for getting drunk at union conferences or outings where there was dancing and “grinding” on a woman’s backside on the dance floor. At one union conference, he “grinded” on Sturge in a way that she felt was sexually inappropriate.

“It was embarrassing,” said Sturge.

With so many men at the top of SEIU-UHW creating a workplace of sexual misconduct, some men, who had gotten in trouble at other SEIU locals, found ease in getting employment with SEIU-UHW.

 More to follow.