NLRB Exposes Another Election Fraud by SEIU’s Dave Regan

(Fyi - Tasty has added a copy of the settlement language at the bottom.)

In a decision announced several days ago, the NLRB has reportedly reversed the results of a fraudulent union-representation election after determining that Dave Regan’s SEIU-UHW illegally rigged the vote count in collusion with company executives.  

Here’s what happened.

Eight months ago, SEIU-UHW’s website triumphantly announced that a majority of the 220 workers at Chapman Medical Center -- a non-union hospital in Southern California -- had elected to join SEIU-UHW through a card-check process.

Soon afterwards, some of the hospital’s workers filed charges with the NLRB. They said that a majority of the workers hadn’t signed cards and didn’t want to be represented by Regan’s SEIU-UHW.

So who was telling the truth?

Eventually, the NLRB subpoenaed records from the vote count. And guess what? They found that a majority of the workers did not sign cards to join SEIU-UHW. Regan and the hospital bosses had simply fabricated the results and then lied to the workers.

On June 27, the NLRB issued a formal complaint against SEIU-UHW and the hospital’s executives. The complaint alleges that the SEIU and its business partner forced workers to accept an unwanted union, SEIU-UHW, as workers' bargaining representative.

On August 3, Regan and the Boss signed an out-of-court settlement with the NLRB rather than face a full-blown hearing in front of a judge. The settlement removes SEIU-UHW as the bargaining representative for the hospital's workforce. 

So why would the Boss agree to rig the results in favor of SEIU-UHW?

Well, think about it. If you’re a greedy boss, wouldn’t it be quite convenient to install a company union to do all your dirty work? That way, the company union could do things like, umm, slash the pensions for 14,000 workers at Dignity Health and then lie to workers about the cuts? Or gut the pension and health benefits for thousands of workers at the Daughters of Charity Health System and then ram the concessions down workers’ throats through an undemocratic and unconstitutional ratification vote.

With Regan’s most recent fraud (don't forget Fresno and Kaiser Permanante), Duplicitous Dave has accomplished a stunning “two-fer.”

Regan not only defrauded workers and shattered their trust into a thousand tiny pieces, but he also managed to deliver a serious blow to the efforts of the AFL-CIO and unions across the U.S. to advance "card check" or "majority sign-up" as an improved election procedure for workers. Single-handedly, Regan handed a massive P.R. coup to the right wing, who are already using the news of SEIU’s rigged card-check election to campaign against card-check efforts like the Employee Free Choice Act.

Way to go, Dave!

Here's a copy of the out-of-court settlement and "posting notice" that SEIU-UHW is required to sign by the NLRB. The hospital's executives are required to sign a similar agreement.
NLRB Settlement for SEIU-UHW regarding Rigged Election at Chapman Medical Center (California) August 2012

Top 10 SEIU Bloopers, 2009 Part I

10. SRMH election. 13 votes? Dozens of staff, truckloads of glossy mailers... and 13 votes? And Dave Regan still gets a Christmas bonus? This fiasco is not unlike the Crothall/Tarzana Med Center election where SEIU reportedly sent in 21 staff for the 54 workers, and then had to ask for SEIU's name to be taken off the ballot for fear of not getting even a single vote!

9. Ruining EFCA for the whole Labor Movement. The boss tactics, the bullshit legal challenges, firing leaders, threatening loss of benefits if workers vote for the union--a cornucopia of violations. It would merely be embarrassing if it weren't about to play a starring role in 2010's national debate on labor law reform. You think the Chamber of Commerce hasn't already cut some ads on this? Andy, Tasty hopes you are smarter than you appear and there is a super secret plan at work on this one!

8. Fresno! Vote for us or we'll call ICE. While SEIU is holding on to a slim victory for the moment, the Fresno vote was a disaster for them from start to finish. Dave Regan's threatening speech, Rebecca Malberg's ineptitude, and the Ten Million Dollar price tag pale in comparison to the lowest of all SEIU tactics: If workers were not voting for the Zombies their immigration status was threatened.

7. Agreeing to Kaiser Layoffs and Pension cuts, and then pretending that they didn't agree. Ever do something so stupid that when you are called on it you have to be like: nuh-uh? Yeah, well SEIU did that with the Kaiser layoffs. The failure would be laughable, unless you are one of the laid off or soon to retire members who got screwed by SEIU.

6. The Quality of Staff that SEIU has in California. If you run a huge union with literally thousands of smart well trained well paid staff and then you pick a huge fight with one of your largest locals and the turf becomes a war zone--what do you do? If you are Andy Stern you lay off loads of staff, fire all of the staff at the local in question (even the ones who aren't really that against you,) and then send every loser from every under performing local in the country in to run thing. Major FAIL! (Oh, yeah, and you have the least talented communications staff ever!)

...more tomorrow.

SEIU vs EFCA

A right-wing website has posted an internal SEIU language "tip-sheet" with suggestions about how to discuss EFCA. No huge revelations here, although it once again underscores the huge contradictions of SEIU's support for "free choice" even as SEIU blocks NLRB elections for tens of thousands of workers, bullies and intimidates homecare workers in Fresno, and refuses to negotiate fair election ground rules in Santa Rosa.

Tasty thinks some "tips" SEIU officials should have are the following:

• Do not threaten immigrant members of SEIU with deportation if they fail to vote for SEIU in a government-supervised union election.

• Do not instruct staff to take voters' secret-ballots from their mailboxes and mark them for SEIU against voters' clear wishes.

• Do not use violent language towards workers who are simply exercising their right to a democratic vote in government-supervised union elections. For example, do not say: "We need to drive a stake through their hearts," "We need to give them an ass-whipping they will never forget," or "We need to bury them in the ground."

• Do not use the same election-delay tactics employed by corporations, such as filing bogus charges that block workers from participating in union elections for nearly a year. If the public learns that one of the nation's largest unions is carrying out the exact same "boss" tactics that labor unions have criticized for decades, this will undermine the public's support for EFCA.

Send in any "tips" you have for SEIU...tastysternburger@gmail.com