 |
| SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan |
Dave Regan’s
proposed
sweetheart deal with the
California Hospital Association would permanently
ban workers from striking and would eliminate large numbers of job classifications
from hospitals, according to Tasty’s sources.
Under the proposed deal, hospital CEOs would designate
SEIU-UHW as their preferred union and then allow SEIU-UHW to unionize 100,000
California hospital workers without any resistance. In exchange, SEIU-UHW would
force the newly organized workers into cheap “template” contracts that permanently
ban workers from striking.
It’s the ultimate sell-out deal: the CEOs get their own company union, SEIU-UHW
pockets millions of dollars of union dues, and workers get screwed.
In an
article published yesterday, the
Wall Street Journal analyzes
Regan’s ballot initiative scheme from a business perspective but fails to look
at how the deal would screw workers.
The California
Hospital Association has told its members the SEIU filed the initiatives
because it failed to get an agreement to organize workers in that state. On
Nov. 12, Duane Dauner, head of the association, emailed its board, which
includes CEOs of large and small hospital systems in the state, a proposal from
the SEIU. It listed a total of 30,293 workers at 33 hospitals who would be
organized in the first year, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal.
“There’s no question
that these measures have been put on the table to drive a conversation about
organizing,” said Andy Davidson, CEO of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and
Health Systems.
Steve Trossman, an
SEIU spokesman, said that the union had made the organizing proposal to
California hospitals, and that it was intended “to show that if we were to
reach a strategic partnership, that the numbers [of new union members] would be
spread around.”
In the article, Regan is shown to be totally dishonest… especially
when his chief spokesperson,
Steve
Trossman, directly contradicts him, along with multiple industry officials. In the beginning of the article, Regan denies he’s
trying to win a secret unionization deal with the Boss. Here’s what the WSJ
reports:
Mr. Regan denied the
union filed the initiative proposals this month only as a lever to boost union
membership.
A few paragraphs later, Trossman openly discusses the 30,293
workers at 33 hospitals that SEIU-UHW would acquire in the first year of the
deal, which Trossman says is intended “to show that if we were to reach a
strategic partnership, that the numbers [of new union members] would be spread
around.”
As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh!"
Wall Street Journal
Union Targets Hospitals in
California, Oregon
SEIU Threatens to Mount Ballot
Initiatives That Industry Says Mask Organizing Drive
The SEIU is
threatening to mount ballot initiatives in California and Oregon it says would
lower health-care costs, but industry officials say the real goal is to
pressure hospitals into making it easier for the union to organize.
By Kris Maher
December 1, 2013
The nation’s largest health-care union is threatening to
mount ballot initiatives in California and Oregon that it says would lower
health-care costs, but industry officials say the real goal is to pressure
hospitals into making it easier for the union to organize thousands of workers.
Proposed measures in both states would cap executive pay and
limit how much hospitals can charge consumers. Both sides say they are prepared
to spend millions on opposing campaigns if the measures get on the ballots in
November 2014.
But before it gets to that point, the Service Employees
International Union said it could back off if the industry agrees to work with
the union. Hospitals can join with the SEIU, or “get into some very high-stakes
policy and political engagements,” said Dave Regan, who heads the SEIU’s
biggest local in California. He said he is prepared to spend $4 million
starting next year to get the signatures needed and then $10 million to $20
million on the campaign in California.
It isn’t uncommon for unions to wage negative public
campaigns to win agreements from employers, including organizing accords. But
experts say the SEIU appears to be ramping up the tactic by setting the stage
for a direct appeal to voters.
The SEIU now represents about 90,000 of California’s 400,000
hospital workers, in about a quarter of the state’s 430 hospitals, according to
the SEIU. In Oregon, the union represents about 6,000 of 60,000 hospital
workers, in seven of the state’s 59 hospitals, according to the hospital
industry.
Mr. Regan denied the union filed the initiative proposals
this month only as a lever to boost union membership. He said it wants a broad
“strategic partnership” to lower costs, raise the quality of care—and have a
path to organize workers. Hospital officials respond that the initiatives would
cut revenue and affect care without addressing the drivers of health-care
costs.
The potential showdown comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is
weighing the legality of pacts in which employers agree not to oppose union
organizing, known as neutrality agreements. Some business groups say they
violate labor laws that prohibit employers from giving a “thing of value” to a
union. In many such agreements, including the case now before the high court
involving another union and a gambling company, employers allow access to
employees and stand aside during organizing. In turn, unions halt negative
public campaigns or back political issues favored by employers.
Several justices have said they were troubled that an
employer could offer neutrality in exchange for something of value from a
union, such as a promise to fund a political campaign benefiting the employer.
In the SEIU’s case, hospitals could be spared the cost of
fighting the ballot initiatives if they agree to a partnership that includes
neutrality, said Michael Lotito, a San Francisco lawyer who has represented
hospitals against SEIU. “The real ‘thing of value’ that the union offers is,
‘I’m going to stop attacking you,’ ” he said.
Unions argue the court challenge misapplies an
anticorruption provision in the law and the agreements promote stability in
labor-management relations.
The court’s decision could have far-ranging implications. In
recent years, the 1.9 million-member SEIU has bucked the nationwide trend in
membership declines, in part by organizing thousands of health-care workers,
security guards and janitors after negotiating neutrality agreements with
companies.
The current tactic has been tried previously but not on such
a large scale. The SEIU backed a ballot initiative last year that would have
capped hospital executive pay in Mountain View, Calif., while it was in
negotiations with a hospital there. But after the SEIU reached an agreement
with the hospital, it pulled its support for the initiative; a spokesman for
the union said it decided to focus on two statewide issues instead.
The Mountain View initiative passed anyway, but a judge
threw the measure out, saying it couldn’t be applied to local health-care
districts.
A nurses union in Massachusetts pushing for better patient
ratios now is gathering signatures for ballot initiatives in that state,
including one that would fine any hospital receiving taxpayer funds if its CEO
compensation exceeds 100 times that of the lowest-paid employee.
The California Hospital Association has told its members the
SEIU filed the initiatives because it failed to get an agreement to organize
workers in that state. On Nov. 12, Duane Dauner, head of the association,
emailed its board, which includes CEOs of large and small hospital systems in
the state, a proposal from the SEIU. It listed a total of 30,293 workers at 33
hospitals who would be organized in the first year, according to documents
reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
“There’s no question that these measures have been put on
the table to drive a conversation about organizing,” said Andy Davidson, CEO of
the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
Steve Trossman, an SEIU spokesman, said that the union had
made the organizing proposal to California hospitals, and that it was intended
“to show that if we were to reach a strategic partnership, that the numbers [of
new union members] would be spread around.”
The SEIU threatened several California statewide ballot
initiatives in 2012 but backed off when the California Hospital Association
agreed to collaborate on several issues, according to a joint statement at the
time. Since then, the groups have worked together on a bill to restore Medicare
reimbursement rates for hospitals. The hospital association arranged meetings
between the SEIU and hospital executives to discuss organizing issues, said Jan
Emerson-Shea, a spokeswoman for the association.
“It became clear that the one thing they wanted we cannot do
for them,” she said. “We cannot force hospitals to allow SEIU to come in and
hold elections and remain neutral.”
Mr. Davidson, of the Oregon hospital association, said he
has met once with SEIU officials since the initiatives were filed in late
October, but he is also preparing to try to defeat the measures. He said the
union has discussed organizing only broadly.
Meg Niemi, president of the Oregon SEIU local backing the
initiatives in that state, said it hasn’t otherwise been able to improve the
affordability and quality of health care through cooperation with the industry.
She said the union isn’t seeking a neutrality agreement, but is interested in
organizing members. “The best way to be able to address these issues [of
affordability and quality] is making sure that the folks that provide the care
in the hospitals have a voice.”
