SEIU Staffers: “SEIU Nevada’s Deputy Trustee is a professional bully”

Tasty got some interesting news about one of the trustees appointed recently to run SEIU Nevada.

In April, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry imposed an “emergency trusteeship” on the 9,000-member union and appointed two “trustees” to run the union after removing the elected board and officers.

Luisa Blue, one of SEIU International’s Executive Vice Presidents, serves as the “Trustee” of SEIU Nevada.

“Deputy Trustee” Martin Manteca -- who normally works as the Organizing Director of SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles -- is “a professional bully,” say his co-workers at Local 721. They say he’s “harassed” and retaliated against staffers at Local 721.

In 2016, staffers were so upset by Manteca's bullying that 55 of them signed a letter delivered to SEIU Local 721 President Bob Schoonover. A copy of the petition is below.

An “update” circulated to Local 721 staff accuses Manteca of “a pattern of persistent, repeated mistreatment, and a culture of intimidation, harassment, retaliation, and nepotism.”

After staffers complained about Manteca, a number of the whistleblowers reportedly were targeted with retaliation and fired. In the process, Manteca and other Local 721 managers “destroyed the department,” according to staffers.

Sounds like the perfect person to fix SEIU Nevada, which is riven by internal divisions and conflicts, according to Mary Kay Henry.

One staffer from Local 721 writes:

I feel bad for the folks in Nevada. Martin is a professional bully, and has harassed and pushed out so many great organizers here. There'll be few of them left in Nevada once he's done there.

SEIU's Mary Kay Henry Imposes "Emergency Trusteeship" on SEIU Nevada

Here’s the latest.

Last Friday (April 28), SEIU President Mary Kay Henry implemented an “emergency trusteeship” on 9,000-member SEIU Nevada, according to an announcement on the union’s website and a formal order pasted below. The action removes the local union’s Executive Board and suspends its constitution.

Friday’s action came two days after Henry removed SEIU Nevada’s President Cherie Mancini and Executive Vice President Sharon Kisling and asked the local union’s Executive Board to meet hours later with two of her representatives, Neal Bisno and Deedee Fitzpatrick. 

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, here’s what happened during that private meeting on Wednesday night (Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Nevada SEIU asks parent union to take control of operations,” April 27, 2017):

SEIU Local 1107’s executive board voted Wednesday night to request an emergency trusteeship be imposed, SEIU International spokeswoman Janet Veum said. A source with direct knowledge of the vote said it was 17-to-7, with five executive board members abstaining…

Typically, the international union would conduct a hearing and have a vote of its international executive board before imposing trusteeship, Veum said. But because SEIU 1107 made an emergency request, international president Mary Kay Henry could expedite the process by imposing the trusteeship before the hearing is held.

Who’s running SEIU Nevada now?

Henry appointed Lisa Blue and Martin Manteca to serve as “Trustee” and “Deputy Trustee,” respectively. Blue was the “Chief Elected Officer” (CEO) at SEIU Local 521 in California until May of 2016, when Henry appointed her as one of SEIU International’s seven Executive Vice Presidents. Manteca is the Director of External Organizing for SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles.

Here’s Henry’s trusteeship order:

  SEIU's Emergency Trusteeship Order over SEIU Nevada: 4-28-2017 by tastysternburger on Scribd