Ten Years Later...

This month marks the tenth anniversary of some of the headline-grabbing events that led up to SEIU's disastrous trusteeship of SEIU-UHW.

Ten years ago, SEIU-UHW -- then led by president Sal Rosselli -- was one of the most successful healthcare unions in the nation. Labor journalist Steve Early called SEIU’s takeover of SEIU-UHW “the mother of all trusteeships.” Unfortunately, it gave birth to a Frankenstein-like child headed by Dave Regan, who quickly drove the once-powerful union into the ground.

So what happened ten years ago?

During August 2008, a reporter named Paul Pringle published eight articles in the Los Angeles Times detailing a massive corruption scandal perpetrated by Tyrone Freeman, one of Andy Stern’s closest allies.

Freeman’s corruption was stunning. It ranged from union-funded jaunts to Hawaii with his personal assistant, $175 glasses of cognac and cigars at an exclusive cigar club frequented by Los Angeles movie stars, no-show jobs for relatives, and kickbacks from corporations in exchange for deals that sold out low-wage healthcare workers.

During the months leading up to August 2008, Freeman had served as Andy Stern’s attack dog in Stern’s campaign to “implode” SEIU-UHW. A boatload of Stern’s staffers also worked on the campaign, such as Stephen Lerner, Dave Regan, Bill Ragen, Tom DeBruin, Josie Mooney, Debbie Schneider, Steve Trossman and Denise Poloyac.

Andy Stern

Earlier in the summer of 2008, Freeman was riding high after Stern initiated a maneuver to transfer 65,000 union members out of Rosselli’s SEIU-UHW and put them in Freeman’s union… without a democratic vote by the workers. 

Following the transfer, Freeman would have led one of SEIU’s largest local unions… and he then would have delivered all of his union’s votes to Stern at SEIU’s conventions where Stern sought reelection as the international union’s president.

But in August 2008, the curtains were finally pulled back on Freeman’s years-long corruption scandal and he plummeted to earth like a flaming meteor.

Stern, angry at the loss of his loyal ally, announced on August 25, 2008 that SEIU was launching trusteeship hearings against Rosselli’s union. During the preceding years, SEIU-UHW’s members had caught Stern and his DC-based staffers making backroom deals with healthcare corporations that sold out workers and patients, and violated democratic principles.

In 2010, Stern resigned as the President of SEIU after launching yet another disastrous attack, this time against UNITE HERE. Freeman, in turn, ended up in federal prison. "May God have mercy on me," said Freeman at the time of his sentencing. "I am accountable for these bad decisions."

Meanwhile, Rosselli and his crew of rank-and-file leaders launched the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) as a militant, member-led, democratic alternative to SEIU.

Ten years later, this history stands sharper in our collective memory.

Here’s a link to the series of articles in the Los Angeles Times from August 2008.

Very Slow Lerner

Tasty hears that SEIU's Stephen Lerner has finally realized that his purple pals are not too keen on him. Sources tell Tasty that, several weeks ago, SEIU officials fired Lerner from his position as a top SEIU staffer and a member of SEIU's International Executive Board.

It's been a long, slow learning curve for Lerner.  In 2008, Andy Stern and Mike Fishman (President of SEIU Local 32BJ) ousted Lerner from his position as the head of SEIU's Property Services Division and demoted Lerner.

Next, Stern assigned Lerner to lead a slimy attack campaign against Sal Rosselli and California's healthcare workers after they introduced proposals to democratize SEIU during the union's 2008 convention. Lerner's nefarious role in the thuggish campaign was revealed when insiders leaked an infamous email describing the Purple Palace's efforts to either "implode" SEIU-UHW or wage an Irak-like invasion against it. The email -- from June of 2008 -- has lines like this: "Trusteeship would be difficult -- it's like Iraq, easy to get in and then a slog. Implosion would be a better outcome, but what will it take?" The leaked email snagged a whole posse of plotting SEIU staffers, including Bill Ragen, Stephen Lerner, Tom DeBruin, Kirk Adams, Denise Poloyac and attorney Edgar James.

In 2010, a demoted Lerner became the punching bag for SEIU's Scott Courtney, who'd been elevated to a top job inside the Purple Palace. Later that year, Courtney put Lerner on a month-long administrative leave for "insubordination" after Lerner refused to follow Courtney's orders.

At this point, many observers expected Lerner to catch a clue and bolt the Purple Palace with a few tattered shreds of remaining dignity. Tasty hears that Lerner planned to deliver a courageous ultimatum to SEIU's Mary Kay Henry, but as he prepared to enter Henry’s office, a pair of testicles dropped to the floor.

So… Lerner completed his month-long "time-out," and then slinked back to the Purple Palace where he worked on SEIU’s effort to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street movement.

And this brings us to the latest chapter in this pitiful saga:  Lerner's termination. Tasty hears Lerner was offed by his arch-nemesis, Scott Courtney, who seized control of Lerner's project and budget dollars.

So what's next for Lerner? Looks like he's taken a page from Stern's playbook of self-promotion. Just today, Lerner set up a Facebook page where he describes himself as "a leading critic of Wall Street bankers" and "a frequent contributor on national television and radio programs..." Sounds like Lerner will soon be competing with Andy Stern to hustle speaker fees at conferences near you!

LOTS More Problems for SEIU in California

Looks like yet another SEIU local union in California is in deep trouble. This time it’s Local 1000, which represents about 90,000 state government workers and is one of SEIU’s largest locals in California.

Check out this CBS TV news story called "SEIU Under Attack from Inside Out." CBS reports that, last year, 28,000 members filed forms to withhold their dues from Local 1000. Meanwhile, members are signing petitions to decertify SEIU so they can join an independent union. (To see the TV news story, you gotta wait a bit for the little TV to load on your screen after you click the hyperlink above).

At the end of the news story, the anchorman sums it up this way: "The SEIU is in big, big trouble..."

B/t/w, are there any large SEIU locals in Cali where members are NOT rebelling? Hmm… This makes Tasty think back to 2008, when SEIU’s Bill “Mr. Implosion” Ragen famously warned SEIU’s DC officials about the dangers of invading California: “It’s like Iraq. Easy to get in, and then…”