SpongeBob is back! It’s time for SEIU-UHW’s contract negotiations with Kaiser Permanente

With just days to go before the “kick-off” of fake contract negotiations between the “partnership unions” and Kaiser Permanente, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan appears to have confirmed the rumors about his backroom deal with Kaiser’s bosses by once again deploying a cartoon character -- SpongeBob -- to "rally" tens of thousands of Kaiser workers to “fight” the nation's largest HMO by participating in "wellness walks."

While workers at NUHW, UNITE-HERE, CNA and the Operating Engineers have waged multiple strikes against Kaiser, Regan is apparently relying on SpongeBob to win a good contract.

On Tuesday, Regan deployed human-sized images of SpongeBob in a failed effort to get his union's members to participate in lunchtime “wellness walks" and “walk-a-thons” at Kaiser hospitals across California.

According to workers, SEIU-UHW staffers told them they had to participate in wellness walks to

show Kaiser that workers are "united" and fully supportive of SEIU-UHW. They even tried to bribe workers by offering purple medallions and photo ops with life-sized images of SpongeBob.

No dice, said workers.

At Kaiser Walnut Creek Medical Center in Northern California, a total of 5 of SEIU-UHW’s 1,500 members actually participated in the wellness walk, according to observers. Below is a picture of the participants at the height of the wellness walk.

In 2012, Regan and his half-witted quarter-witted aide, Joe Simoes, famously told workers that SEIU-UHW’s lunchtime "wellness walks" were akin to the launch of a massive social movement like the Montgomery bus boycott. (WTF.)

The truth is that wellness programs are a new corporate HR strategy designed to shift healthcare costs onto employees and undermine workers' privacy. The programs have been sharply criticized by legal experts, advocacy organizations, and unions.

In other words, a "wellness walk" ain't no "fightback strategy." It's the equivalent of waving the white flag of unconditional surrender. Regan might as well gather workers in a rally in front of Kaiser's corporate headquarters and have them chant, "Cut our benefits!"

As far as wellness programs, earlier this month professors from the University of Michigan Law School and Georgetown University published this critique of wellness programs: "Beware: 'Wellness' May Be Hazardous to Your Health.”

Could promotion of "wellness" be hazardous to your health? Sadly, the answer is yes… Some employers ask workers to complete a Health Risk Assessment or HRA… Often accompanied by physical exams or blood tests, HRAs typically include questions about a wide range of personal matters… Not surprisingly, people don't always feel comfortable about answering such questions from their bosses… Once disclosed, sensitive health information too often has been used to discriminate against workers who have diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, and other conditions despite their ability to perform their job.

In 2012, Regan famously teamed up with Kaiser's bosses to impose a corporate wellness program on SEIU-UHW’s members -- including invasive questionnaires and blood tests that allow their multi-billion-dollar employer to gather mountains of data on their private lives and bodies.

What's next?

Look for a SpongeBob at a Kaiser hospital near you as Diamond Dave boldly leads the labor movement into the 21st century. More pics below.

Source: SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Signed "Unpublished Side Letter" to Force Cuts on Kaiser Workers

It's been widely reported that SEIU-UHW and the other "partnership unions" have already signed a deal that allows Kaiser Permanente to slash their members' defined-benefit pensions and health benefits.

Now, for the first time, sources are providing details about the secret deal. Here's what they say.

Sources say the deal was inked during the final hours of the partnership negotiations in 2012. At that point, Regan and John August (Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions) signed an "unpublished side letter" that requires SEIU-UHW and the other partnership unions to eliminate their members' pensions and slash their health benefits.

Because the deal is memorialized as an "unpublished side letter" attached to workers’ contract, Regan and Co. believe they can hide it from the membership.

And that's not the only detail to emerge from Tasty’s sources.

They also describe the precise moment when Regan and his pals inked the dirty deal.

During the final moments of the negotiations, a handful of the partnership union’s fatcat officials met privately with Kaiser's execs. Rank-and-file workers were specifically excluded from the room. And when Regan and August emerged from behind closed doors, they announced that the contract negotiations were done.

This insider’s account matches up perfectly with workers' previously published descriptions of the final hours of the negotiations. Check out an excerpt from a 2012 video-taped interview with Sophia Sims, a rank-and-file member of SEIU-UHW’s bargaining committee who was at the negotiations when Regan, August and other officials stepped behind closed doors to ink the secret deal.

Since that day, Kaiser has attempted to force these same cuts on the members of NUHW and UNITE HERE, who’ve waged multiple strikes against Kaiser with the support of the California Nurses Association. According to sources, Kaiser will soon try to push SEIU-UHW’s cuts on the CNA when 18,000 nurses begin negotiations with Kaiser later this year.

Here’s the video.

Hey SEIU-UHW members… it's time to tell Dave Regan: “Show us the unpublished side letter!”

Sources: Turmoil Grips SEIU-UHW as $1.5M Goes Missing

Sources describe a chaotic scene inside SEIU UHW’s education and training fund amid reports that “$1.5 million has gone missing.”   

According to Tasty's sources, recent weeks have seen the firing of staffers, the freezing of various accounts, and an influx of outsiders who are busily reviewing the organization's books. Last week, the fund’s Director of Finance, Victor Madamba, was suddenly removed from his job.

The SEIU-UHW Education and Training Fund is a nonprofit organization with an annual budget of more than $10 million. Its revenues come from government agencies and healthcare corporations like Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health and Sutter Health.

The fund is supposed to train workers to take jobs in the healthcare industry. But since taking control of the fund, SEIU’s Dave Regan has tried to use the fund to advance his personal interests.

In recent years, Regan and SEIU-UHW staffer Triana Silton directed the fund's staff to campaign on behalf of SEIU-UHW during the giant NLRB elections at Kaiser Permanente, which is a blatant violation of the nonprofit organization's independent status and federal law.

Two of Kaiser's execs sit on the fund's Board of Directors: Arlene Peasnall (VP of Human Resources) and Jim Simpson (Senior VP of Business Units outside of California). SEIU-UHW’s Triana Silton also sits on the board, where she's been joined by a “who’s who” of Regan’s best buddies, including Joe Simoes, Hal Ruddick and Myriam Escamilla.

The missing $1.5 million is just the latest scandal to mark Regan’s tenure at SEIU-UHW. Stay tuned for more news!

Report from Day 1 at Kaiser Ballot Count

Here’s a report from the first day of the Kaiser ballot count at the federal building in downtown Oakland, California.

First, the NLRB ballot count is far from over and likely won’t be finished until the end of the day tomorrow (May 2). So far, there are no interim results.

Secondly, workers who attended the ballot count say there's a massive “enthusiasm differential” between the two unions. Apparently, the day started off with a bang when red-shirted Kaiser workers began arriving at the federal building at 7:30am. Some workers had driven overnight for 7 hours in packed cars from Southern California.

By 8:00am, nearly 300 NUHW supporters were in long lines that snaked through the building’s lobby. As additional groups of NUHW supporters arrived from Fresno, Ventura County, Los Angeles and points south, the crowd erupted in cheers.

What about SEIU-UHW?

The purple supporters were as scarce as ice cubes in the Mojave. Only 4-6 Kaiser workers were reportedly in SEIU-UHW’s contingent, which was largely comprised of union staffers like Latasha Winslow-Beavers, Flannery Hauck, Joe "Wellness Walk" Simoes and Greg Pullman.

As the crowd of red-shirted supporters continued to grow, SEIU-UHW’s staffers became increasingly nervous. Soon, Homeland Security was called to the scene... apparently at the request of SEIU-UHW, according to an article in the Sacramento Business Journal. It turns out that a large crowd of red-shirted workers on May Day produces a certain reaction in the reptilian brains of SEIU fat-cats and federal officials.

 

Officials from Homeland Security quickly shut down the metal-detector-equipped entrances to the federal building and pronounced, “There are too many of you.” Negotiations ensued, with the NLRB even threatening to impound the ballots unless a small crew of Kaiser workers sitting patiently in the fifth-floor cafeteria agreed to exit the building. 

In a picture taken just before exiting the cafeteria, here are the workers... who'd been properly admitted into the building and simply awaited their turn to serve as official observers in their ballot count.

Workers say they were particularly surprised by the Feds’ aggressive response because during the 2010 ballot count, workers were permitted to wait in the cafeteria for their turn to help safeguard the integrity of the ballot count.

Here’s a shot of some of the workers who were locked out of the federal building.

Fortunately, the locked-out workers found creative ways to pass the time, including attempting to visit the union office that’s funded by their monthly dues. SEIU’s Dave Regan (who didn’t show his face at the ballot count) reportedly called a Code Red from his Purple Couch... and barred the dues-paying members from entering their union hall.

According to readers, the ballot counting process is revealing important differences between the two unions. The NLRB set up 15 tables where representatives of each union reviews every mailed-in envelope to determine whether they are properly completed and submitted by eligible voters. SEIU-UHW officials assigned union staffers to carry out this role. Meanwhile, NUHW deployed successive groups of Kaiser workers who’d used vacation days and self-funded trips to attend the vote count.  

So what happens tomorrow? 

Tasty hears that the envelope-by-envelope review of ballots will likely be finished by the late morning. In the meantime, the already-approved envelopes will be cut open and the ballots will begin to be counted as representatives from side look on. It's possible that the count will be finished by the end of the day.

Stay tuned!

SEIU Enlists Mickey and Goofy in its Kaiser Campaign

As U.S. workers struggle to rebuild the power of their labor unions, SEIU has launched a bold new strategy to rally workers' support in the fight against the giant corporations that dominate our economy. 

"What kind of strategy?," you may be asking.

…Flash mobs?

…Dance offs?

…Zumba?

…Team Salad Days?

Nope. Something even more powerful.

That’s right! “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Contract Buddy.”

SEIU has once again marshaled the astonishing power of SpongeBob. Last summer, SEIU deployed him to cheer on the handfuls of Kaiser workers who participated in SEIU-UHW’s lame-ass “Wellness Walk,” which SEIU’s Joe Simoes famously compared to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Then, just days ago, SpongeBob returned to the lives of Kaiser workers as “Contract Buddy” ...and he'll soon be featured in SEIU’s propaganda campaign for the upcoming NLRB election at Kaiser Permanente. Check out “Contract Buddy” in action on SEIU-UHW’s Facebook page. 

Wow!

So... is Contract Buddy winning the hearts and minds of Kaiser’s workers? Check out the comments posted by workers at the bottom of SEIU-UHW’s Facebook page (see above - click to enlarge). Here's what one worker wrote in response to Contract Buddy’s question: “What do you love about your contract?”

Contract Buddy is good friends with the employer.... He's their buddy(the employer) not yours...

Ouch! A second worker says:

I like how SEIU claims the entire 60+yrs of the contract as their earned own, after firing and accusing those who got it to where it is today. Oh, let's not leave out how they are no where in sight for representation except when it is election time, the electon they rigged last time.

So what’s next for SEIU’s “Disney-fication” of the labor movement and its desire to treat workers like little children? Hmmm... 

Will Dave Regan employ the charms of Goofy to convince SEIU members to give up their defined-benefit pension plan? 

Will unsuspecting Kaiser workers stumble across SEIU's “Contract Buddy” in a hospital parking lot as he satisfies the sexual urges of Kaiser’s corporate mascots, including “Marina the Water Otter” and this strange-looking green dude?

Well, Tasty wouldn’t be half-surprised if SEIU rolls out a video like this one to urge its members to hand over all of their benefits to Kaiser’s millionaire executives! Stay tuned!