On
Wednesday, the Coalition of Kaiser
Permanente Unions announced it reached a tentative agreement for a new
contract with Kaiser. Details on the deal are still sketchy at this point.
Meanwhile, anger
is brewing among SEIU-UHW members over
Dave Regan’s effort to jam a 25-cent-per-hour
tax down workers’ throats.
Why?
According to SEIU-UHW members, Regan is trying to fold the tax into the
contract ratification vote rather than letting workers vote on the tax as a separate item. See this earlier
post for more details.
During a
recent negotiating session with Kaiser, Regan reportedly attacked a member of SEIU-UHW’s
Bargaining Committee, according to a retired Kaiser worker who formerly served
on SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board. In a leaflet circulated among SEIU-UHW members, John Duff writes:
“At the last bargaining session, Dave Regan ended up screaming at Vallejo member, and long-time leader, Ollie Allen. What was Ollie’s crime? He had the nerve to ask for a separate vote on the 25 cent tax.”
Regan reportedly opposes a separate vote on the tax because he knows that workers would vote it down. The tax would cost each full-time SEIU-UHW member an estimated $1,020 per year.
Duff’s
leaflet -- along with three others (see below) -- were circulated among Kaiser
workers before SEIU-UHW reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser earlier this
week.
The leaflets
refer to Regan as “Takeaway Dave Regan” and “the Donald Trump of union leaders”
-- apparently due to Regan’s reported bullying of union members for requesting a separate
vote on the tax. Duff says the tax will generate millions of dollars a year
that will be steered into a “slush fund” controlled by Regan.
Here are the
leaflets:
Leaflets Opposing SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan's Partnership Tax: Sep. 2019 by tastysternburger on Scribd
