SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Sparks Split between Partnership Unions Just Hours before Kaiser Permanente’s National Bargaining Set to Begin

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan

Last night, eight of the 11 international unions in the labor-management partnership announced they’re leaving the “Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions” (CKPU) and will not take part in National Bargaining, which was scheduled to begin this morning in Oakland, Calif. 

Instead, the unions plan to form a new coalition to work in partnership with Kaiser.

What’s causing the split?

It's Dave Regan, say the unions’ leaders.

In an e-mail sent last night to their members, Denise Duncan and Bill Rouse (the President and Executive Director of AFSCME’s United Nurses Associations of California) explain it this way:

Why are we departing CKPU and forming a new Coalition?

…To ensure our members’ interests do not get derailed by a local union in California, SEIU-UHW, whose leadership has continuously demonstrated its desire is to take control of the Coalition. We will not cede control to SEIU-UHW… we cannot be derailed by the leader of a single local.

In a separate document, the unions give more details about their problems with Regan… including his efforts to “control” the CKPU, his “subverting” of agreements between the partnership unions, and Regan’s “deceptive tactics.”

Just how angry are the departing unions at SEIU-UHW? 

“Our alliance of like-minded unions will no longer be held captive by SEIU-UHW.”

Here’s an excerpt (full document below):

Over the past 30 months, we have worked diligently to try to keep the CKPU together and strong heading into 2018 national bargaining. Regrettably, SEIU-UHW’s attempts to control the Coalition have made this impossible. Almost immediately after signing the Portland Agreement in August of 2017, SEIU-UHW subverted this agreement, which outlined a framework for how the unions would work together in national bargaining. Subsequently, UHW filed, then withdrew, a ballot initiative aimed at crippling Kaiser Permanente, and signed a Code of Conduct along with other partner unions with KP, which we hoped would resolve our differences so that we could enter national bargaining as a unified coalition. However, on Monday, March 19, 2018, at a labor caucus, UHW once again engaged in deceptive tactics designed to assert UHW leadership’s control over the Coalition, making it clear to us that this behavior will never stop. Ceding control of the Coalition to UHW is not an option and so, instead, we are exercising our right to leave the CKPU.

Our alliance of like-minded unions will no longer be held captive by SEIU-UHW. The behavior of SEIU-UHW continually fractured our unity and our ability to focus on bargaining. This is why we believe we serve you, our members, best by taking strong action.

Which unions are leaving the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions?

22 local unions that represent more than 45,000 Kaiser workers:  UNAC/UHCP and HGEA (AFSCME); UFCW Locals 1167, 135, 1428, 1442, 324, 770, 555, 7, 1996, 27, 400, and 21; USW Local 7600; IBT Local 166; KPNAA; IUOE Local 501 and Local 1; OFNHP (AFT Local 5017); and ILWU Local 28.

So which unions remain in the Coalition?

Three international union’s (SEIU, OPEIU and the IFPTE) with approximately 76,000 Kaiser workers, most of whom are members of SEIU-UHW.

What are Kaiser execs saying?

Last night, Dennis Dabney (Senior VP of Labor Relations) and Jim Pruitt (VP of Labor Relations for The Permanente Federation) circulated an e-mail with the following text:

We have been notified this evening by 21 of the unions which comprise a significant portion of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, that they have decided to leave the Coalition, effective immediately, and will not take part in National Bargaining. These unions state that the reason for their action is a conflict between various member unions of the existing Coalition.

We are considering what today’s development means. In the meantime, without the participation of all the unions in the Labor Management Partnership, the scheduled kick-off meetings this week cannot proceed.

We will engage with the various unions’ leadership over the next several days to ensure we understand the implications of this announcement. We will keep all parties informed as we decide the appropriate next steps. 

Stay tuned.

   A New Coalition at Kaiser Permanente -- March 26, 2018 by tastysternburger on Scribd

   Kaiser Executives' E-mail on Split among Labor-Management Partnership Unions: 3-26-18 by tastysternburger on Scribd

Dave Regan’s Ballot Initiative Knocks SEIU-UHW out of Kaiser Partnership

Here’s some interesting news from California.

Kaiser Permanente has blocked SEIU-UHW from participating in upcoming bargaining with its “partnership” unions after SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan filed a statewide ballot initiative targeting Kaiser, according to an internal memo issued by Kaiser executives last week. A copy of the memo along with the ballot initiative is below.

What’s going on?

Here’s what Tasty has learned so far.

Apparently, Regan has become increasingly marginalized by Kaiser’s execs and by the other “partnership” unions in the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (the “Coalition”). The Coalition, which is made up of 28 unions representing 100,000 Kaiser workers across the US, bargains a national contract with Kaiser once every three years.

In late 2015, Regan sued Greg Adams, a top Kaiser exec, who served on the board of the California Hospital Association (CHA) and was caught up in Regan’s failed ballot initiative targeting the CHA.

Then, in August of 2017, Regan reportedly pissed off the other partnership unions when he tried to change the Coalition’s bylaws in order to give SEIU-UHW virtually all of the power to call the shots during the next round of national bargaining, which begins early next year. Other unions, including AFSCME, rejected Regan’s proposal, which sparked a shouting match during a three-day meeting of the partnership unions in Portland, Oregon.

Apparently, Regan has burnt turf not only with AFSCME but with SEIU locals in both Oregon and Colorado, including his erstwhile buddy Meg Niemi.

And another source reports that Regan no longer has the support of Hal Ruddick, the Executive Director of the Coalition. Ruddick is a former hack staffer at SEIU-UHW whom Regan got appointed to his position at the Coalition. Later, Regan reportedly attempted to have Ruddick fired, but was unsuccessful -- which hasn’t made Regan super popular at the Coalition’s offices.

After failing to convince the partnership unions to give him more power, Regan asked Kaiser’s execs for their help. In an internal memo issued last week, Kaiser's Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Chuck Columbus wrote:

…for months now, SEIU-UHW’s leadership has insisted in private meetings that Kaiser Permanente management negotiate with SEIU-UHW as the sole representative of the Coalition in upcoming National Bargaining. In these meetings, SEIU-UHW’s leadership has threatened that if we refused their demands, they would put an initiative on the California ballot that would adversely affect Kaiser Permanente… We said no to SEIU-UHW leadership’s demand.

Meanwhile, Kaiser reportedly has told Regan it plans to propose cuts to SEIU-UHW members’ wage structure in Northern California.

Currently, SEIU-UHW’s members from San Francisco to Sacramento to Fresno are covered by a single pay scale.

Regan and Kaiser Senior VP Chuck Columbus

Kaiser’s execs told Regan they will propose cuts such that future SEIU-UHW hires in Sacramento would earn 10% less than those in the San Francisco Bay Area, while new hires in Fresno would earn 20% less than the Bay Area.

Regan, seeing takeaways on the table and little power inside the CKPU or with Kaiser’s execs, decided to turn to his old stand-by tactic of a statewide ballot initiative. On November 16, he filed an initiative with the California Attorney General (“Accountability in Managed Health Insurance Act”) which would prohibit Kaiser from raising its monthly insurance rates until Kaiser’s capital reserves drop below a certain level.

Kaiser’s response?

Kaiser removed SEIU-UHW from next year’s partnership bargaining, saying Regan’s ballot initiative violates the terms of its partnership deal with SEIU-UHW. Kaiser’s memo says:

In sponsoring this destructive initiative, SEIU-UHW leadership has violated both the spirit and the actual terms of the agreements that set up our valued Labor Management Partnership. Accordingly, we today have informed the leadership of SEIU-UHW that we are withdrawing certain privileges of Partnership from SEIU-UHW due to the union’s outrageous conduct. Among the privileges we have withdrawn is participation of SEIU-UHW in 2018 National Bargaining. 

Kaiser’s memo then takes a shot at Regan and his ballot initiatives:

Over the past few years, SEIU-UHW leadership has used the initiative process to force concessions from various employers. All these efforts have failed. If SEIU-UHW goes ahead with spending the millions of dollars it will take to get this initiative on the ballot, we are confident that once California voters understand the impact on Kaiser Permanente, they will join us to defeat this measure in November.

These developments are quite a turnaround for Regan, who has prided himself on being Kaiser execs’ lapdog.

For example, in 2012 Regan convinced the partnership unions to adopt an invasive corporate wellness program that allows Kaiser to peer inside workers’ bodies and collect blood samples and other “biometric data” so Kaiser can monitor workers’ weight, blood pressure, smoking rate, cholesterol levels and personal lives.

In another episode, Regan directed SEIU-UHW staffers (including Greg Maron and Jared Mayhugh) to work as strikebreakers alongside Kaiser managers to stop SEIU-UHW members from joining strikes by NUHW and the California Nurses Association (CNA) at Kaiser.

And then there are Regan’s famous “wellness walks.” Instead of picket signs and picket lines, Regan gave purple pedometers to SEIU-UHW members and told them to lose weight so as to reduce Kaiser’s health insurance costs.

Regan quickly became known as Kaiser’s Richard Simmons.

If Regan has been such a loyal lapdog to Kaiser’s execs, why is Kaiser now seeking takeaways from Regan?

One observer put it this way: “Because they can.” This observer points to Regan’s failure to build a rank-and-file organization inside Kaiser facilities that can fight takeaways.

A similar explanation comes from RoseAnn DeMoro, the Executive Director of the CNA. At a rally several years ago when Regan was in the throes of his lovefest with California hospital execs, DeMoro predicted that the execs would eventually kick Regan to the curb. “These corporations will treat Regan like they do every class traitor. They’ll toss him aside once he’s no longer useful to them.” (Tasty is paraphrasing DeMoro here.)

The fact that Kaiser is coming after Regan for wage cuts in Northern California is quite a stunning historical reversal.

In the late 1980s, Kaiser unilaterally imposed a similar multi-tiered wage structure across Northern California, which Kaiser workers tried to overturn by waging a seven-week strike. Afterwards, Sal Rosselli was elected president of the union and, during the next 15 years, he and his team dramatically expanded and strengthened the union and successfully eliminated Kaiser’s multi-tiered wage structure in 2005. In fact, Rosselli went even further, negotiating improvements to Southern California Kaiser workers’ wage structures to help close the wage gap with their Northern California co-workers. (Kaiser’s Southern California workers earn substantially less than those in Northern California.)

Since parachuting into California in 2009, Regan has taken no steps whatsoever to address the lower wage rates paid to SEIU-UHW members at Kaiser’s Southern California facilities. And he’s now facing a push by Kaiser execs to re-impose the multi-tiered wage structure that Rosselli successfully eliminated back in 2005.

                                                     

In other words, Regan is poised to possibly deliver a massive failure to tens of thousands of Kaiser workers.

What’s next?

 

Hal Ruddick, the Coalition's Executive Director

The Coalition unions have been conducting surveys and electing bargaining committees to participate in national bargaining, which begins early next year. SEIU-UHW, of course, will be on the sidelines. It won’t bargain with Kaiser until 2019, when its “local union agreement” with Kaiser expires on September 30, 2019.

As far as Regan’s ballot initiative, once it’s cleared by the California Attorney General, SEIU-UHW will need to spend millions of dollars to collect enough voter signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot.

By the way, Regan also has filed at least nine other ballot initiatives for the November 2018 ballot, which target Stanford Health Care, DaVita Inc., Watsonville Community Hospital, and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. Regan’s increasing reliance on ballot initiatives raises an interesting question about whether his corporate targets will band together to try to block his use of ballot initiatives as bargaining leverage, as an earlier piece of California legislation appeared to do.

What do Kaiser workers say about Regan’s ballot initiative?

According to Tasty’s contacts, workers had no idea their union’s president had even filed a ballot initiative until Kaiser officials sent them the memo below.

It’s another symptom of Regan’s so-called “innovative 21^st century unionism,” which relies on hiring lawyers to file ballot initiatives rather than organizing workers to build workplace power.

   Kaiser Permanente's memo to employees on SEIU-UHW's Ballot Initiative:12.12.2017 by tastysternburger on Scribd

   SEIU-UHW's Ballot Initiative against Kaiser Permanente in California by tastysternburger on Scribd

SEIU Announces 30% Budget Cuts in 2017 with AFSCME Merger on the Way

According to multiple press outlets, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry issued an internal memo on December 14 announcing plans for a 30% cut to SEIU International’s budget in 2017. Tasty’s sources say the plan calls for cuts of 10% in January 2017 and another 20% in July 2017.

News of the memo was first publicly reported by Josh Eidelson at Bloomberg Businessweek (Eidelson, “Fear of Trump Triggers Deep Spending Cuts by Nation's Second-Largest Union,” Bloomberg Businessweek, December 27, 2016).

In the memo, Henry says the cuts are necessary due to the Republican Party’s imminent control of all three branches of the federal government. Here’s an excerpt from her December 14 memo, according to Bloomberg:

Because the far right will control all three branches of the federal government, we will face serious threats to the ability of working people to join together in unions. These threats require us to make tough decisions that allow us to resist these attacks and to fight forward despite dramatically reduced resources.

Tasty believes the story behind the cuts is more complex than what SEIU describes in its memo.

Why?

There’s another reason for the cuts that so far hasn’t been mentioned – namely, SEIU’s planned merger with AFSCME.

More than 18 months ago, SEIU and AFSCME began merger talks spurred by concerns about Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, the U.S. Supreme Court case that could weaken public-sector unions by challenging their right to collect fair share fees from nonmembers to cover the costs of representation, such as negotiating contracts. In February 2016, the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia left the court deadlocked on the Friedrichs case and apparently slowed the two unions’ merger plans.

In May 2016, SEIU approved a resolution leaving open the possibility of a full-blown merger while immediately calling for joint planning, organizing, bargaining, and political work between the two unions. In July 2016, AFSCME approved a nearly identical resolution.

With the election of Trump in November, both unions are likely speeding up their merger plans -- which undoubtedly will require the elimination of duplicate functions, departments, etc at the two unions. Tasty guesses this helps explain SEIU’s announcement of rapid budget cuts.

It also helps explain why other unions with large public-sector memberships haven’t also announced deep budget cuts.

SEIU's Mary Kay Henry

So why doesn’t Henry’s budget-cut memo mention the AFSCME merger? It’s easier to win the staff’s support for layoffs based on Trump.

If Tasty’s theory is correct, we’ll likely see evidence of expedited merger activity in the months ahead… and perhaps budget cuts at AFSCME as well.

As far as eliminating waste, SEIU should start by axing some of its highly paid officials inhabiting the top floors of the Purple Palace. For example, over a number of years, SEIU has almost doubled the number of its full-time “Executive Vice Presidents” (from four to seven EVPs). 

The latest increase came in May of 2016 when SEIU boosted the number of EVPs from six to seven-- at the same time that it passed the AFSCME merger resolution to prepare for SEIU's declining membership. Makes total sense, right?

Each EVP earns more than $200,000 a year, according to financial records. If you eliminate four of them, that’s more than $1 million in savings a year when you factor in benefits, etc.

Stay tuned.

AFSCME Approves Resolution for Possible Merger with SEIU

SEIU's Mary Kay Henry and AFSCME's Lee Saunders

Delegates to AFSCME’s international convention in Las Vegas (July 18-22) approved a resolution to form “unity partnerships” with SEIU and to explore a full-blown merger with the purple union, according to a newsletter distributed to convention delegates. 

In May, delegates to SEIU’s international convention approved an identical resolution.

On July 20, delegates to AFSCME's convention followed suit by approving Resolution 53: “AFSCME and SEIU: Unstoppable Unions that Never Quit.” 

A full copy of the AFSCME resolution is available below.

The AFSCME resolution generated some controversy among convention delegates.

For example, AFSCME Local 2507 (New York) reports it was “not happy” with the language in line 63 of the resolution (on third page), which directs AFSCME to explore “an institutional merger” with SEIU. Local 2507 tried to remove this language at the committee level, “but did not have enough support to remove said language.”

The now-approved resolution paves the way for a full-blown merger while immediately calling for the establishment of “unity partnerships” between the two unions at local, state, and national levels to carry out joint planning, organizing, bargaining, and political work.

According to the resolution, the “unity partnerships” are supposed to carry out the following kinds of activities:

joint goal setting and planning; joint bargaining and representational activities where we have a common employer and coordinated bargaining where we represent workers in the same industry and labor market; joint setting of priorities and strategies where we deal with the same legislative and/or administrative bodies; joint political activity where we share an interest in electoral outcomes; and joint communication, legal, mobilization and research strategies and activities to support our work

A full-blown merger “must be recommended by both International Executive Boards and shall be submitted to a vote in accordance with each union’s constitution and bylaws” …although it’s unclear who would participate in such a vote.

Stay tuned.

  AFSCME's Resolution to Integrate with SEIU: 7-20-2016

Merger between SEIU and AFSCME?

SEIU's Mary Kay Henry and AFSCME's Lee Saunders

Here’s another item from the recently concluded SEIU Convention in Detroit:  the resolution calling for SEIU and AFSCME to work collaboratively and to explore a full-blown merger. A full copy of the resolution is below.

The proposal reportedly has been under discussion for a year by a committee formed by the two unions.

According to Tasty’s sources, the two unions’ merger discussions are driven by concerns about Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, the U.S. Supreme Court case that could weaken public-sector unions by challenging their right to collect fair share fees from nonmembers to cover the costs of representation, such as negotiating contracts.

Together, SEIU and AFSCME represent approximately 3 million public-sector workers.

In December of 2015, the two unions held a first-ever meeting between their lawyers “to share ideas and best practices to deal with issues confronting all public employees, such as Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association…” 

The three-day event began with a panel discussion by SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, Steve Fantauzzo (Chief of Staff to AFSCME President Lee Saunders), and each union’s general counsel.

In February, the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia left the court deadlocked on the Friedrichs case, with Senate Republicans subsequently refusing to consider Obama’s nominee to fill the vacant seat.

Scalia’s death appears to have slowed the two unions’ plan for a full merger. The resolution approved at SEIU’s convention holds open the possibility of a full-blown merger while immediately calling for the establishment of “unity partnerships” between the two unions at the local, state, and national levels in order to carry out joint planning, organizing, bargaining, and political work.

These “unity partnerships” sound a lot like the “unity councils” established by former SEIU President Andy Stern, which were intended to coordinate activities between SEIU locals. 

However, Stern’s manipulation of the “unity councils” -- including the Purple Palace’s blunt rigging of their votes -- was one of the actions that pushed California healthcare workers to rebel against SEIU’s top officials in 2008.

The following are excerpts from the resolution recently passed at SEIU’s convention, entitled “AFSCME and SEIU: Unstoppable Unions that Never Quit.” 

In a stunning display of their newfound coordination, the resolution’s title manages to include both SEIU’s and AFSCME’s 2016 convention themes: “Unstoppable” and “Never Quit.” Tasty can only imagine the multiple planning meetings needed to devise convention themes that could be wrapped together into a single resolution title!

AFSCME will presumably consider a similar resolution at its upcoming International Convention in Las Vegas on July 18-22. Here are the excerpts:

Our vision requires the creation of “unity partnerships” at the national, state and local levels. Unity partnerships may include some or all of the following activities: joint goal setting and planning; joint bargaining and representational activities where we have a common employer and coordinated bargaining where we represent workers in the same industry and labor market; joint setting of priorities and strategies where we deal with the same legislative and/or administrative bodies; joint political activity where we share an interest in electoral outcomes; and joint communication, legal, mobilization and research strategies and activities to support our work…

Based on the durability and effectiveness of the partnerships that are developed at the national, state and local levels, we will explore ways to deepen and expand our collaborative efforts, including consideration of an institutional merger that would formally unite the strengths of both our unions to create a new entity…

Our unions will convene a joint committee to foster the collaboration that we envision and to review and modify our process as needed. The International Executive Boards of SEIU and AFSCME shall be empowered to modify or end the collaboration between our unions described in this resolution. Any proposed structural changes must be recommended by both international Executive Boards and shall be submitted to a vote in accordance with each union’s constitution and bylaws.

While the last sentence references “a vote,” it doesn’t indicate who would be allowed to participate in the votes.

  SEIU Resolution on Cooperation and Possible Merger with AFSCME: May 2016

Last Session of Kaiser's Partnership Bargaining Begins amidst Whispers of Cuts

Today, the partnership unions began their fourth and final bargaining session with Kaiser Permanente (June 3 to 5). 

On Friday June 5th, Kaiser and its partnering unions will announce a tentative agreement and will promptly begin issuing gobs of pre-prepared press releases, e-mails, website posts, videos, etc. detailed in a secret internal plan written last December by Kaiser's Office of Labor Management Partnership.

Then, ten days later (June 16-17), the partnership unions will complete their highly choreographed charade of bargaining by holding a "contract ratification conference" at the Sheraton Gateway LAX Hotel, where the rooms were reserved and paid for months ago.

Earlier this week, "Labor Notes" published the following article about the negotiations: "Will Kaiser's Labor Partnership Crack?"  The article's title may be a bit exaggerated, but the article accurately describes the basic situation:  Kaiser -- which has pocketed $15.5 billion in profits since 2009 -- is now seeking even more cuts from the partnership unions, and the partnership unions aren’t lifting a finger to fight their rich HMO boss.

SEIU-UHW -- the largest union in the partnership -- didn’t even conduct a bare-bones “contract campaign” among its membership.  An SEIU-UHW member who's quoted in the "Labor Notes" article says most union members don't even know that contract negotiations are taking place this year:

“If you were to walk into any Kaiser right now and say, ‘Are you guys bargaining?’” she says, “the majority would say ‘I don’t even know what you’re taking about’ or ‘I don’t know.’ That’s the truth.”

And SEIU-UHW's president, Dave Regan, and the partnership unions' Chief Negotiator, Hal Ruddick, apparently don't even believe in bargaining. Here's what Regan told members of the partnership unions' bargaining committee... and what Ruddick proudly re-tweeted:

Regan: "Negotiations are not a debate."

Meanwhile, several hints about Kaiser's proposed cuts are finally emerging from the tight-lipped partnership unions.

AFSCME’s United Nurses Associations of California (UNAC) -- which represents thousands of RNs in California -- recently posted an announcement on its website calling on nurses to attend a rally today in order "to protect our wages and benefits." (See below.) The website offers no details about the threatened cuts besides saying, “We need to create a sea of blue on June 3 and send a message to management that we are united to protect our wages, and active and retiree medical benefits!”

A day late and a dollar short.

UNAC’s rally appears to be a cynical ass-covering exercise orchestrated by union leaders. Later on, when workers complain about benefit cuts, the union leaders will say: “We asked you to attend a rally to fight the cuts. But not enough people showed up… so we had to accept them.”

Of course, history points us to the truth:  that the partnership union leaders secretly accepted the cuts months ago in backroom talks with Kaiser's execs, then deliberately kept workers in the dark until the 11th hour and 59th minute, and did absolutely nothing -- aside from a purple "walkathon," photo-ops with Contract Buddy, and yesterday’s lobbying fieldtrip for the California Hospital Association -- to engage workers in any sort of fight against their greedy, multi-billion-dollar boss. 

SEIU-UHW’s Private Equity Partnership Produces Rebellion from Workers

Dave Regan’s partnership with Blue Wolf Capital Partners isn’t quite producing "dividends," according to observers.

SEIU-UHW officials famously backed the New York private equity fund in its attempt to take over a chain of six California hospitals called the Daughters of Charity Health System. But even as SEIU-UHW staffers parade around in blue shirts bearing the private equity firm’s name, workers are running the other way.   

Here's what's happening.

SEIU-UHW’s 1,600 members at the six hospitals have reportedly responded with outrage that Regan signed a secret deal with Blue Wolf to cut their pay by 15% and is putting their jobs at risk by pushing the hospital chain towards a possible bankruptcy.

At O'Connor Hospital, a majority of SEIU-UHW members signed petitions opposing SEIU-UHW’s stance on the hospital sale.

And nearly half of SEIU-UHW’s shop stewards at O'Connor Hospital have resigned their positions to protest Regan's actions. Other workers have decided to stop paying dues to SEIU-UHW.

SEIU-UHW responded by dispatching Val Tagawa and other purple staffers to the hospital. One worker writes:

Since the [Attorney General's] hearing at OCH, we have had a concerted effort from SEIU (Val Tagawa and others) to harass folks about the issue. They have been generally met with "Don't bother me" type responses from workers, and on one occasion security was called and ended up escorting the SEIU stooges from the Cafeteria after employees complained to security.

Tagawa has reportedly been busy scouting for the best local bar and is well known around the hospital for the not-so-fragrant bouquet of her breath.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle have editorialized against SEIU-UHW’s position. The California Attorney General, who's responsible for approving or rejecting the proposed sale of the six hospitals, is supposed to make a decision by February 20.

One more note: Tasty earlier mentioned that SEIU-UHW officials have connections to Blue Wolf Capital. It turns out that the connections are multiple.

 

Mike Musuraca, Blue Wolf Man

First, Mike Musuraca (the Managing Director of Blue Wolf Capital) reportedly has connections to Gerry Hudson and Tom Woodruff (Vice Presidents of SEIU International) as well as other top SEIU officials. Musuraca has worked as an advisor for SEIU’s Change to Win. He formerly served as an Assistant Director in the Department of Research and Negotiations at AFSCME District Council 37 in New York City and was a trustee of the New York City Employees Retirement System.

In addition, it appears that David Miller, a staffer at SEIU-UHW, played a role in SEIU-UHW’s nefarious backdoor deal with Blue Wolf. Miller also comes from New York, where he formerly served as the Research Director at SEIU’s 1199 New York. After parachuting into California, he has assumed the over-inflated job title of “Assistant to the President for Strategic Campaigns” at SEIU-UHW ...presumably with an over-inflated salary. 

More Workers Seek to Dump SEIU-UHW

Workers at a Southern California hospital have formally requested an NLRB election so they can dump SEIU-UHW and join NUHW, according to workers and NLRB records.

The request -- reportedly signed by 80% of the workers at 140-bed Garden Grove Hospital & Medical Center -- comes after SEIU-UHW has been completely “MIA” at the hospital, according to workers.

Workers say SEIU-UHW provides zero support to its members… and fails to enforce even basic workplace standards. And under Dave Regan's regime, workers have had a wage freeze for more than 4 years.

Soon after workers submitted their recent request for an NLRB election, Regan instructed the union's attorneys to stall the vote by filing bogus charges with the NLRB. 

Regan's stalling strategy comes after two earlier, but unsuccessful, attempts to prevent the workers from even filing their request with the NLRB... which Tasty will describe in another post.

Readers may recall Garden Grove Hospital as the site where SEIU-UHW staffer Liz Castillo became a YouTube star (more than 85,000 views and counting) after she was captured on film in the hospital's cafeteria while insulting workers and then physically attacking one person.

Press: Andy Stern’s Venture Capitalist GF Faces Possible Punishment at Polls

Remember when SEIU’s Andy Stern rushed to the defense of Gina Raimondo, a former venture capitalist who slashed the pensions of Rhode Island workers and then funneled a billion dollars of workers’ retirement money to her buddies at Wall Street hedge funds?

Well, Raimondo is now trying to become the Governor of Rhode Island… but is facing blowback from voters due to her pension-slashing extravaganza, according to the New York Times.

Raimondo, a Democrat, should have an easy time getting elected in Rhode Island, where Dems outnumber Republicans by 4 to 1.

But here's what the New York Times reported in an article over the weekend (“In Rhode Island Governor’s Race, Pension Issue Could Hurt Raimondo,” Nov. 1, 2014):

In this Democratic state, Ms. Raimondo could be expected to be doing well, but a Brown University poll released on Tuesday showed her and Mr. Fung running neck and neck. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report now calls the race a tossup. One big reason is the pension issue, which alienated the public-sector unions, an important ally in any traditional Democratic coalition.

If Raimondo loses tomorrow's election, let’s hope she’s consigned to the political dustbin for, uh, maybe an eon or two. 

Raimondo -- who critics describe as "a tool of Wall Street” who “trumped up the pension problem to enrich her Wall Street friends, in part through increased state payments in hedge fund fees” -- seems to symbolize everything that's wrong in a society where billionaires and hedge-fund fatcats enjoy unprecedented wealth at the expense of the rest of us. 

And Andy Stern, of course, represents everything that's wrong with corrupt union leaders who rush to the side of the Perelmans, Raimondos, and David Cotes instead of workers.

SEIU's David Holway Prepares for Democracy Fest at the Golden Nugget Hotel

SEIU-style democracy will be on stunning display at the upcoming convention of SEIU’s National Association of Government Employees (SEIU-NAGE).

In September, NAGE -- a union of 31,000 mainly government employees headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts -- will be holding a three-day convention at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas where delegates will elect NAGE’s president and Executive Board.

This democracy-fest will be guided by the steady hand of David Holway, who’ll serve as the master of ceremonies. Holway is a notoriously corrupt member of SEIU’s International Executive Board and is also the president of NAGE.

Tyrone Freeman and David Holway

When Holway opens the convention with a ceremonious blow of his gavel, will democracy break out like a horribly infectious case of poison ivy?

Not exactly.

Check out the list of candidates who are standing for the 47 positions that make up NAGE’s top officers and Executive Board. Below, Tasty has posted the list of candidates, which comes directly from NAGE’s website.

As you'll see, virtually every single candidate is part of the "Holway Slate," meaning that David

Holway personally selected them to run.

Holway loves his golden nuggets

Unfortunately for NAGE’s members, this means the next Executive Board won’t be doing any performance reviews of Holway or re-thinking his ridiculously bloated salary. Last year, Holway pocketed $265,909 for being the president of NAGE’s 31,000 members.

That's not all.

Holway is infamous for finding “innovative” ways to supplement his SEIU paycheck. 

In addition to holding a full-time job as the president of NAGE and serving on SEIU’s International Executive Board, Holway somehow managed to simultaneously hold down another high-paying job as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Breeders Association… where he worked tirelessly to encourage more horse racing in Massachusetts!

For this horse-racing gig, Holway pulled down an additional $100,000 per year and also pocketed 7.5% of the revenues from a racetrack called Suffolk Downs, according to the Boston Globe.

It's no wonder that workers have fled SEIU-NAGE so they can join other unions. During the past five years, NAGE has lost roughly one-third of its membership, according to records from the U.S. Department of Labor. Just 20 months ago, 2,300 ambulance workers decertified NAGE and joined AFSCME.

Go figure. 

  SEIU-NAGE's List of Candidates for its 2014 Officer Elections