SEIU-UHW Negotiates Deep Cuts for Thousands of Sutter Health Workers

Tasty hears that Dave Regan is bringing his concessionary caravan to more than a half dozen Sutter Health hospitals that employ thousands of SEIU-UHW’s members. Sutter is the largest hospital chain in Northern California and has pocketed $1.6 billion in profits during the past two years.  

Readers may recall that in August, Regan cut a deal with Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center that allowed the hospital to subcontract more than 100 of SEIU-UHW members' jobs -- or nearly 10% of the entire bargaining unit.

So what’s the latest?

Several weeks ago, Regan negotiated a new contract for SEIU-UHW’s members at Sutter Lakeside Hospital. SEIU's new deal slashes workers’ health benefits and imposes a wage freeze during the first year of the contract -- just like the wage freeze that Regan negotiated for 14,000 workers at Dignity Health/Catholic Healthcare West.

Regan also inked new contracts for SEIU-UHW’s members at Sutter’s St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco and Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. Under these deals, workers will be forced to pay hundreds of dollars each month for a health insurance plan that’s always been free. Here’s an excerpt from the tentative agreement, signed by SEIU-UHW’s Julie Kwiek, that puts workers on the hook to pay at least 27% of the monthly health premiums by the end of the contract. (Click on image below to enlarge it.)

Oh, and that’s not all.  SEIU-UHW officials agreed to cut workers’ reporting pay in half and to implement a corporate wellness program.

Then, on Wednesday of this week, workers at Sutter Solano Medical Center reported that SEIU-UHW officials negotiated another sell-out contract deal.

Yesterday, SEIU bargained with Sutter Roseville Medical Center and, according to workers, was trying to force huge concessions down the throats of workers. Members of SEIU-UHW’s own bargaining committee began rebelling against their union as reports circulated that Regan had cut a secret back-room deal with the company’s execs to slash their benefits.

More to come!

SEIU's Dave Regan Inks Deal to Subcontract SEIU-UHW Members' Jobs

Tasty hears that the workers at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, CA have become the latest victims of Dave Regan’s concessionary caravan. Soon, 10 percent of SEIU-UHW's members at the hospital will lose their jobs as the result of a subcontracting deal penned by Regan.

Here’s what’s happening.

The hospital -- which is owned by Sutter Health, the largest hospital company in Northern California -- pocketed more than $200 million in profits over the past two years.

Last Friday, SEIU-UHW and Sutter reached a tentative deal for a new labor contract covering the hospital’s 1,100 workers. The deal was reached after Regan “fast-tracked” the negotiations even though workers’ current labor contract doesn’t expire until December 31.

What’s in the tentative contract? Regan’s biggest concession is a deal to eliminate the jobs of nearly 100 SEIU-UHW members by allowing Sutter to subcontract their work to Utah. The soon-to-be-jobless union members are currently employed in the hospital’s business office.

Workers say it’s a massive concession. Why? Because workers’ current union contract strictly prohibits the hospital from subcontracting their jobs. Section 12 of the contract reads:

No further bargaining unit work will be subcontracted, except by the parties' mutual agreement.

Crystal clear, right? In fact, NUHW’s leaders were the ones who negotiated this language in the years before SEIU’s trustreeship. Workers say that over the years, Sutter tried to subcontract workers’ jobs but was unsuccessful because workers’ old union actually enforced the agreement.

Sutter's Pat Fry and SEIU's Dave Regan

Not anymore. Last month, Regan attended the first bargaining session with Sutter executives and signaled his willingness to roll over for the Boss by stating: “We can work with employers like Sutter Health.” Observers speculate that Regan has a special relationship with Sutter’s CEO Pat Fry, who plays a top role at the California Hospital Association.

What did Regan get for his massive concession? Annual pay increases of just 2% for the still-employed workers, an even bigger “wellness” program, and additional cuts to workers’ health insurance.

Yesterday, Regan and Co. reportedly began conducting membership votes to ratify the tentative agreement. Tasty hears that SEIU is experiencing serious opposition from workers, so Regan dispatched dozens of staffers to the hospital including Vicki Jackson, Fola Afariogun, Julie Kwiek, Vu Nguyen, Gabrielle Zwain and Leon Chow. Chow -- who suddenly has lots of free time on his hands -- apparently has been tasked with applying his special skills in voting fraud.

According to workers, as many as 15-18 SEIU staffers are stationed inside a single conference room where workers are supposed to cast their votes. Workers are already reporting a variety of SEIU’s ballot-rigging tricks, including missing ballot boxes, intimidation, and workers denied the right to vote.

Stay tuned for more reports.

SEIU Members File Charges against Mary Kay Henry and Dave Regan

Wow! Remember SEIU-UHW’s illegal contract-ratification vote for 3,000 workers at the Daughters of Charity Health System in California? That’s the one where SEIU-UHW officials gave workers only 9 hours' advance notice before starting a ratification vote at 6:00am on a Sunday morning! 

At the voting sites, SEIU-UHW staffers refused to give workers copies of SEIU-UHW’s tentative agreements, which were packed full of devastating cuts like the elimination of workers’ pension plan, cuts to their health insurance, etc.

Well… here’s the latest development.  

Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry refused to stop the illegal votes. In fact, they never even responded to the letters sent by nearly 100 SEIU-UHW members. So this week, the workers slapped Regan and Henry with formal "disciplinary charges" for violating their rights under SEIU’s constitution! 

And get this:  Workers also charged Regan with “financial malpractice” for wasting $5.5 million of members’ dues money on two statewide ballot initiatives. Way to go, Daughters workers!

Check out an article in yesterday’s “Daily Labor Report” entitled "UHW Members File Internal Charges over Ratification of Daughters of Charity Contract." Below, Tasty has also pasted the actual charges filed against Regan and Henry. Here's an excerpt from the charges about the ballot initiative (p. 5):

When Brother Regan withdrew the two ballot measures in early May, he claimed that he had taken this action due to an agreement that he had negotiated and signed, on behalf of SEIU-UHW's members, with the California Hospital Association. Brother Regan claimed that the agreement, which he described as "unprecedented" and "visionary," required SEIU-UHW to withdraw its ballot initiatives in exchange for unspecified commitments from the California Hospital Association. However, Brother Regan has failed to release a copy of this agreement to SEIU-UHW's members so they can review the commitments that he purportedly secured on their behalf. Clearly, this agreement -- which was reportedly secured through the expenditure of $5.5 million of SEIU-UHW's resources and was negotiated by its President -- should be provided to the union's members. Brother Regan's failure to release the agreement supports the conclusion that he has mismanaged millions of dollars of SEIU-UHW's resources and is simply employing the reported agreement as a face-saving device to conceal his mismanagement of union members' resources.

Here's the article from BNA's "Daily Labor Report:"

BNA: SEIU-UHW Members File Charges against SEIU's Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry 5-16-12

And here are the workers' charges against Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry:

 Disciplinary Charges against SEIU's Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry for Illegal Ratification Vote and Financi...

The Boss Loves SEIU-UHW’s 21st-Century Contract

It turns out that SEIU-UHW’s sell-out contract with the Daughters of Charity Health System is getting rave reviews… from the Boss!

Just hours after Dave Regan rammed SEIU’s contract down workers’ throats through an unconstitutional ratification vote, the billion-dollar company’s chief negotiator issued a press release where she gushed about how the company’s new contract with SEIU “moves employees to more modern, streamlined pension and medical benefit plans.” The negotiator goes on to say: “I commend SEIU-UHW for joining DCHS in this important step forward.”

“More modern, streamlined benefits?” That’s one way to put it. Actually, Regan’s new contract freezes workers’ defined-pension pension plan, forces them into a 401(k) plan, and compels employees to pay as much as $900 a month for health insurance for their families.

Not so "modern," right? Although John August would say it’s positively “21^st Century.” Looks like Dave Regan, John August and the Bosses are singing from the same sheet of music!

More Info on SEIU-UHW's Cuts at Daughters of Charity

A source gave Tasty more details about two of the cuts that SEIU-UHW officials accepted at the Daughters of Charity Health System. Of course, these are the same cuts that SEIU then tried to ram down workers' throats through an unconstitutional 'ramrod' ratification vote.

First, SEIU-UHW allowed the company to implement a "Wellness Program" for the SEIU's 3,000 members. Under this program, workers will be forced to pay penalties of more than $5,000 a year if they don't comply with the company's "wellness assessments."

Check out the following chart, prepared by SEIU-UHW officials, that describes the "Wellness penalties" now facing workers at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, CA. Note that "Fam" refers to "family health coverage," "EE" refers to "employee-only health coverage," etc.

In addition, Regan and Co. let company officials freeze workers' defined-benefit pension plan and replace it with a cheap 401(k) plan. Pasted below is the exact contract language that SEIU's Julie Kwiek approved. Note that the "RPA Plan" is the new 401(k) plan. The "Daughters of Charity Retirement Plan" and the "RPHE" are the defined-benefit pension plans that have covered employees at the various hospitals for many years.

And that's not all. Tasty has learned that Dave Regan and Co. also approved a two-tiered system of retirement benefits under the new 401(k) plan. Basically, employees hired after January 1, 2013 will receive even lower 401(k) benefits than those hired before that date.

What's even more disgusting? These massive pension and health insurance cuts are the reductions that Dave Regan handed over to the company in order to impose a scheme to prevent workers from leaving SEIU-UHW.

SEIU's Dirty, Backroom Deal at Daughters of Charity Health Systerm

Here’s the latest news from the SEIU’s exercise in “union democracy” at the Daughters of Charity Health System in California.

As Tasty reported last night, dozens of workers sent letters to Dave Regan and Mary Kay Henry to protest SEIU’s unconstitutional contract-ratification vote.

Regan and Henry basically ignored the letters. Late last night, they announced that “the membership” had enthusiastically ratified an SEIU contract that will eliminate workers’ pension plan and slash their health benefits.

And today, SEIU-UHW officials announced their “victory” to workers while company officials handed out slices of cake to workers to celebrate “your new contract.” (Tasty is not kidding).

Of course, workers are still scratching their heads and wondering what’s actually IN the contract. You see, Regan and Co. are STILL refusing to give workers copies of the actual agreement.  

Fortunately, an inside source sent Tasty a block-buster excerpt that reveals the dirty deal behind SEIU’s sell-out contract. It turns out that SEIU-UHW officials -- including Chief Negotiator Julie Kwiek -- traded away workers’ hard-earned pensions and health benefits for a new arrangement that’s designed to lock workers inside SEIU.

Perhaps you’ve heard of a “Golden Parachute.” Well this is a “Purple Ball-and-Chain.”  

Here’s how it works. For decades, each of the five Daughters of Charity hospitals has been a separate “bargaining unit,” which means that workers at each hospital have the right to vote separately on whether to leave SEIU-UHW if they want to. For example, several months ago, 750 workers at Seton Medical Center requested an NLRB election to leave SEIU-UHW and join NUHW.

But under SEIU’s new deal, workers would no longer have this option. Instead, SEIU’s deal merges all five hospitals into a single, statewide “bargaining unit” of 3,000 workers. In order for any of the hospitals to leave SEIU-UHW, a majority of this entire statewide “bargaining unit” of 3,000 workers would have to vote to leave.

This purple ball-and-chain was Regan’s top priority during negotiations. And in order to get it, he gave away workers’ pension plan and health benefits. And guess what? The entire, disgusting deal is captured in the following side letter. 

SEIU-UHW's Dirty Side Letter with Daughters of Charity Health System 2012