Source: Kaiser Coalition Staffers Are “jumping ship”

Staffers at the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are “jumping ship” following the decision by eight international unions to quit the coalition and form a new alliance of “partnership” unions, say sources.

Who’s leaving?

Maureen Anderson, a “Program Coordinator” and one of the Coalition’s top staffers for more than a decade, is one of them. And 4 to 5 other staffers also quit, say Tasty’s sources.

Why are they jumping ship?

Apparently, they’re leaving for the same reason that the eight international union recently quit the Coalition:

“They want out because no one can stand Dave [Regan],” says a source.

After the exodus of the unions in March, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan became the “Chairman” of the now-smaller Coalition and has been playing a bigger role in its daily operations.

Here’s another interesting development.

Hal Ruddick, the Coalition’s Executive Director who was recently fired by Regan, has reportedly taken a job at the newly formed rival alliance of partnership unions. Tasty doesn’t yet know what role he’ll be playing there.

The new alliance of unions -- called the “Alliance of Health Care Unions” -- hired Pete diCicco as its Executive Director, according to a March 30 press release.

In other news, the Coalition confirmed Tasty’s earlier report about Ruddick’s exit and the appointment of Walter Allen as the Coalition’s interim Executive Director.

Two days after Tasty’s April 17 post about Ruddick’s firing, the Coalition publicly confirmed his departure -- calling it instead a resignation. Here’s a link to the post: “Leadership Changes in Union Coalition.” It begins:

Hal Ruddick, who has served as executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions for four years, is stepping down, and Walter Allen, OPEIU Local 30 executive director, will be serving as the coalition’s acting executive director.

With Regan at the helm, it sounds like there’ll be more rough sledding in the days ahead for the Coalition.

Stay tuned.

Kaiser's Propaganda Team Moves into Overdrive

As partnership bargaining begins, Kaiser Permanente’s “Office of Labor Management Partnership” is waging a propaganda campaign that would make George Orwell blush. 

The campaign -- aimed at convincing workers that Kaiser's execs and sellout unions are not um actually selling them out -- delivers its message via magazines, websites, videos, tweets, Facebook posts, email blasts, instagram… and even cartoons.

Check out one of the latest-and-greatest piece of partnership propaganda below. 

It's a cartoon showing Kaiser execs and partnership unions leading workers to a fantastic future filled with promise and a glistening city of gold. Pay special attention to the business-suited execs who lead the ignorant healthcare workers in scrubs to a sunny “tomorrowland” by telling them: “Idle fear is the risk. It derails progress and partnership."

And when the workers finally reach "Tomorrowland," they jump for joy and exclaim in unison: "We made it to the other side. Hip hip for us and to our guides. Planning and prep that helped our passage. But working together was our key advantage!"

 

  Kaiser Permanente's Pro-Partnership Cartoon: "SuperScrubs - Crossing to Our Future" April 20...

So who actually dreams this sh*t up?

Here's a picture of some of the Propaganda Team during last month's Bargaining Kickoff. While workers listened to speeches from Kaiser execs and SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan in a hotel ballroom, the Propaganda Team was busily working in a hotel conference room upstairs.

The team reportedly includes Lisa Hubbard, Maureen Anderson, Andrea Buffa, Anjetta McQueen, Laureen Lazarovici, and Julie Light.

Together, they’ve produced such journalistic gems as the following articles in “Hank,” a glossy pro-partnership magazine published and distributed to Kaiser workers by the Office of Labor Management Partnership. 

Here's one edition subtly titled "Partnership: The Choice of Champions." And another that pictures Kaiser's workers inside Dorothy's magical shoes as they travel down the path towards the Emerald City of Oz, which sparkles amidst a golden sunset.

  

Some sinister bullsh*t, right? Interestingly, Tasty hears that many Kaiser workers refer to "Hank" as "Yank" ...or alternatively "Wank." Sounds about right.

More to follow!

SEIU and Kaiser Permanente Plot Fake Publicity Stunts to Promote Corporate Wellness Program

Check this out. 

A source provided a copy of a secret plan hatched by SEIU-UHW and Kaiser Permanente that seeks to promote an invasive corporate wellness program that SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan accepted during last year’s negotiations with Kaiser. Tasty has posted a copy of the plan below.

According to the secret plan, Kaiser and SEIU plan will soon stage a series of publicity stunts to try to get positive media coverage of their intrusive wellness program.

Which wellness program are SEIU-UHW and Kaiser trying to promote?

During last year’s partnership negotiations, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan agreed to allow Kaiser to annually collect “biometric data” from each of SEIU-UHW’s 45,000 members so that Kaiser can monitor workers’ weight (“body mass index”), their smoking rates, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. Kaiser will then store this “biometric data” and use it to calculate workers’ future bonuses. 

Corporate Big Brother, anyone?

In addition, SEIU-UHW is deploying “Wellness Cops” (what SEIU calls “Wellness Ambassadors”) to 

pressure workers into losing weight, etc. ­

According to the leaked plan, staffers from Kaiser and SEIU-UHW and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions held a secret powwow on July 18 to prepare the upcoming publicity events, which will involve Kaiser’s new CEO Bernard Tyson and Dave Regan.

Interestingly, the staffers -- including SEIU-UHW Communications Director Steve Trossman -- gave specific instructions to deliberately withhold information from labor reporters across the U.S.!

So WTF is a “wellness recess”?

Good question. Apparently, it’s an event where workers are instructed to stop their normal work and instead do exercises for 10 minutes while music blasts in the background.

Of course, most healthcare workers are on their feet all day as they run from patient to patient, clean patients’ rooms, cook and deliver food, staff busy surgical suites and emergency rooms, sterilize equipment, push bins full of laundry through hospital corridors, etc.

The secret publicity plan from Kaiser/SEIU makes for interesting reading.

Tasty especially loves the part where Kaiser's and SEIU's staffers describe how they will "pre-write" fake posts for FaceBook and Twitter in order to give the public the false impression that people are spontaneously expressing support Kaiser/SEIU’s corporate wellness program. By the way, the wellness plan will officially be called “Total Health Incentive Plan.”

Here are some excerpts from the secret plan, which is posted below:

We won’t pitch to labor reporters. We will utilize social media; KP, UHW and LMP facebook pages and handles; we will use social media to build buy-in and create interactivity; we will pre-write some tweets and FB posts…

Once finalized, we need to move FAST and keep this mum to not get scooped. UHW and other Coalition Unions to turn out workers. KP to assist with management support… BUT keep it confidential! Will probably have to be done at last minute to avoid chatter.

The secret plan also identifies “commenters” who will be lined up to offer favorable quotes to reporters... including Oprah’s fitness guru (Bob Green), Kristi Yamaguchi and Tavis Smiley!

Interestingly, at the same time that Kaiser and SEIU are staging fake publicity events to show how workers totally love having their biometric data monitored by their Boss, the people over at WhenWellnessSucks.com have a very different opinion.

Check out their short video below. Tasty hears the fitness guru in the gym suit is actually Steve Trossman!

   Wellness Program Media Plan for Kaiser Permanente, SEIU-UHW and Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, July...

SEIU's Toto Tries to Jump through Flaming Hoop

On the eve of SEIU's wellness walk, Tasty hears that lots of interesting images are flying about. And as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

So check out this political cartoon drawn by a Kaiser worker who's a GSO Driver in Northern California. It speaks volumes about boss unionism at Kaiser Permanente. (Tasty loves the purple pedometer hanging around SEIU's neck!)

Meanwhile... SEIU officials have decided that workers will somehow connect with a SpongeBob-like image of a purple pedometer that miraculously has already completed 5,000,000 steps. Hey, if Mr. SpongeBob-O-Meter can walk five million steps, then we can, too!! It reminds Tasty of SEIU's instinctive inclination to treat front-line health workers like children... like this time at California Pacific Medical Center or this time at St. Louise Regional Hospital.

So... as Kaiser managers give SEIU organizers free rein to spread their SpongeBob stickers all over Kaiser's hospitals, Tasty thought he'd make a few tasteful edits to the famous cover art from "Hank" magazine -- the partnership propaganda rag produced by "communications experts" like Maureen Anderson and Andrea Buffa. (BTW, Tasty hears that lots of workers refer to the magazine as "Wank.")

So here, my friends, are Kaiser's phony foursome in their red walking shoes!