Trusteeships Strain Purple Palace

Last week was a busy one for the Purple Palace.

On Wednesday, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry removed the top two officials at 9,000-member SEIU Nevada.

On Thursday, in Detroit, SEIU officials conducted a daylong trusteeship hearing to put SEIU Healthcare Michigan under a permanent trusteeship. In February, Henry removed the local union’s president, Marge Faville Robinson.

And on Friday, Henry imposed a trusteeship on SEIU Nevada.

Thursday’s hearing in Detroit was conducted by LaPhonza Butler, who served as the “Hearing Officer.” Butler is the President of California’s SEIU Local 2015, a longtime ally of Henry, and a nemesis of SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan.

According to a memo issued by SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Gerry Hudson on April 13, 2017 (see copy below), SEIU officials have now “substantiated” the “allegations of serious financial malpractice” at SEIU Healthcare Michigan.

Hudson’s memo reports:

Specifically, a review of the Local Union’s books and records uncovered evidence that Healthcare Michigan’s loan and paid time off/earned vacation payout policies had been abused, placing Healthcare Michigan members’ rights, benefits and interests at risk.

What actually happened?

SEIU officials are mum on the details. One possibility: local union officials artificially boosted their vacation balances, and then cashed them out. The removal of Marge Faville Robinson is an obvious clue.

Henry’s multiple trusteeships appear to be leaving her a bit shorthanded at the Palace.

In February, Henry appointed Inga Skippings (her “Chief of Staff”) as a trustee in Michigan, and more recently sent Deedee Fitzpatrick (her “Deputy Chief of Staff”) to Nevada to deal with SEIU’s imploding local union in Sin City.

 

Kirk Adams

Of course, Purple Palace officials -- including Tom DeBruin, Kirk Adams, Stephen Lerner and Bill Ragen -- know tons about “imploding” local unions.

Henry has not yet posted a job opening for a new “aide de camp” or Chief of Staff. But SEIU has posted one for “Director of Organizational Leadership.” The job description includes “work[ing] with officers, senior staff and local union leaders to develop innovative and impactful organizational leadership strategies…”

Hmmmm. Innovative? Impactful? How about just trying to develop a “functional” leadership strategy? 

That would be a big improvement.

  SEIU's Notice of Trusteeship Hearing for SEIU Healthcare Michigan: 4-13-17 by tastysternburger on Scribd

Will Trustees Shed Light on Andy Stern's "Golden Handshake" with Former SEIU Official in Michigan?

With SEIU Healthcare Michigan under an emergency trusteeship due to allegations of financial malpractice, Tasty took a look at the union’s recent financial disclosure reports and discovered some interesting details.

During recent years, the union has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Paul Policicchio, the union’s former president, even though Policicchio resigned his position more than 15 years ago.

According to the union’s annual reports to the US Department Labor (Form LM-2), SEIU Healthcare Michigan has been paying Policicchio $53,400 a year for many years. 

And the payments have continued through 2015, the most recent year for which records are available, even though Policicchio died in 2013.

What are the payments for?

In some years, the union says the payments were for “Consulting Services.” In other years, it describes them as “Retiree Supplement.”

In November of 2013, when Policicchio died at age 63 following a battle with cancer, SEIU Healthcare Michigan began making the $53,400-a-year payments to his wife, according to the records.

For what alleged purpose?

In 2015, SEIU Healthcare Michigan paid her $53,400 for serving as a “Retiree Consultant,” according to the records.

What’s going on?

Tasty’s sources believe these payments are part of a “buyout” engineered by SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern.

Andy Stern

In 1988, Policicchio became the president of Detroit-based SEIU Local 79, the predecessor union of SEIU Healthcare Michigan. He also was named an SEIU International Vice President in Washington, DC.

In 1996, Stern took office as SEIU’s president and reportedly wanted to move Policicchio out of SEIU so he could fill Policicchio’s position with one of Stern’s allies. So Stern allegedly engineered a “buyout” to coax Policicchio out the door. 

In 2001, Policicchio retired from SEIU at age 51 with an SEIU pension and Stern’s fat “golden handshake” in his pocket.

Sources believe Stern’s “buyout” likely included a “gag clause” that barred Policicchio from saying anything bad about Stern, SEIU or the buyout.

So just how big was Stern’s alleged “golden handshake?”

Hard to say.

But perhaps Mary Kay Henry and her trustees -- Tom Balanoff, Inga Skippings, and Ed Burke -- can take a look at SEIU Healthcare Michigan's books and shed some light on this six-figure, purple-hued mystery. Inquiring minds want to know. 

Corruption Allegations Prompt Mary Kay Henry to Put SEIU Healthcare Michigan in Trusteeship

Notice of trusteeship posted on door of union's office

Last month, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry placed SEIU Healthcare Michigan under an “emergency trusteeship” amid allegations of financial malpractice, according to a statement from SEIU that’s posted on the local union’s website. A copy of the trusteeship order, signed by Henry, is available below.

Henry removed Marge Faville Robinson, the union’s president, who is also a member of SEIU’s International Executive Board.

Later this month, an SEIU-appointed “Hearing Officer” is scheduled to conduct a hearing where evidence will be presented about alleged corruption and improprieties.

Here’s how SEIU described the rationale behind the trusteeship in a post on SEIU Healthcare Michigan’s website. Apparently, an unknown whistleblower reported the alleged corruption. (“SEIU Healthcare Michigan Placed into Emergency Trusteeship”)

After someone with knowledge of the local reported potential financial malpractice at Healthcare Michigan, representatives of the International Union conducted a review of the local union’s books and records and found information indicating abuse of the local union’s loan and paid time off/earned vacation policy. Following this review, President Henry concluded that it was necessary to place the local into an emergency trusteeship to protect the interests of members and to allow for a full investigation to determine all the facts.

“An SEIU spokeswoman declined to comment on whether police were involved in the investigation,” according to an article published by MLive, an online news site operated by Booth Newspapers, which publishes eight newspapers in the state of Michigan. (Stephen Kloosterman, “'Financial malpractice' alleged at Michigan healthcare union,” MLive, February 22, 2017)

In comments to a Detroit TV station, Inga Skippings (Mary Kay Henry’s Chief of Staff) stated that President Marge Faville Robinson and Secretary-Treasurer Shalaya Bryant were removed from their positions while SEIU officials investigate.

"The union took steps to bring in trustees at the local and launch a pretty expansive investigation into what could have been going on here," Skippings said.

The union says a whistleblower came forward telling representatives to look at the books leading to claims of abuse of finances specifically in the union's loan and vacation policy.

"There was initial work done to suss out the credibility before we took the action we did," Skippings said.

The union won't give a dollar amount, but clearly it was enough evidence to warrant both Robinson and Bryant being removed from their position while the union looks at how long and how deep this potential fraud goes.

Henry appointed three SEIU officials to serve as trustees: Tom Balanoff (President of SEIU Local 1), Inga Skippings (Henry’s Chief of Staff) and Ed Burke (a consultant who formerly was an SEIU staff member).

Regular readers of this blog know that Faville Robinson is no stranger to controversy. In fact, allegations of nepotism and corruption have swirled about her like detritus in a toilet bowl.

For example, Faville Robinson collects an unusually fat salary from SEIU Healthcare Michigan despite the fact that the union’s membership has nose-dived from 57,239 members in 2009 to only 10,715 members in 2015. In 2015, the union paid Faville Robinson $209,889, according to the union’s annual report filed with the US Department of Labor.

The union also happens to employ Marge’s daughter and niece. In 2015, the union paid her daughter, Norma Kersting, $108,336 for being its “Director of Representation.” Meanwhile, Marge’s niece (Brenda Robinson) was paid $110,679 to be the union’s “Legal Director.” It used to employ her son, Josh, too.

In 2011, the union provided Marge with a union-paid Buick SUV. According to the union’s most recent annual report, it appears the union has continued to give her a swank car. Here’s what a note to the report states: “A vehicle provided to an Officer is used part of the time for personal transportation.”

Several years ago, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) -- an advocate of rank-and-file democracy and union transparency -- reported that SEIU Healthcare Michigan was renting a luxury apartment for Marge’s use when she traveled to Detroit.

In 2015, SEIU Healthcare Michigan received a flood of cash when it sold four buildings and properties for $2.3 million, according to reports filed with the Department of Labor.

Faville Robinson has served as the union’s president since 2008.

Andy Stern and Mary Kay Henry

In October 2008, SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern appointed her to the union’s presidency after her predecessor, Rickman Jackson, was removed from office when the Los Angeles Times revealed he’d stolen more than $33,000 from low-wage homecare workers as part of the Tyrone Freeman corruption scandal.

Stern appointed Jackson and Freeman to their positions atop SEIU locals, where they served as his loyal allies while stealing from SEIU’s members. Jackson, despite his corruption, continues on the payroll of SEIU International, where he collected $138,000 as a “Campaign Organizing Director” during 2015.

In addition to her roles at the local union and SEIU’s International Executive Board, Faville Robinson also served as the President of the “Cassie Stern Healthcare Workers Education and Training Center.” Rickman Jackson named the center for Andy Stern’s deceased daughter.

In 2010, the Cassie Stern Training Center was dissolved by state officials while Faville Robinson served as its president, according to IRS records.

SEIU Healthcare Michigan is the third SEIU local union to be placed in trusteeship or under "monitorship" in recent months. 

In August of 2016, SEIU imposed an emergency trusteeship on SEIU Local 73 in Chicago. In December of 2016, Mary Kay Henry remove the president of Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 99 and placed the union under the control of an SEIU-appointed monitor, Eliseo Medina. In October of 2016, SEIU's International Executive Board held two days of hearings in Las Vegas, Nevada to investigate charges filed against the top officials of SEIU Healthcare Nevada.

More news to follow.

  SEIU's order imposing an emergency trusteeship on SEIU Healthcare Michigan: February 14, 2017 by tastysternburger on Scribd