Dave Regan's Ballot Initiatives Push SEIU-UHW into the Red

Like a snake-oil salesman, Dave Regan continues to hawk his ballot initiatives to SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board despite their ineffectiveness and colossal cost.

How costly are Dave's ballot initiatives?

Last year, SEIU-UHW's spending on lobbying and political activities tripled to $37.5 million from the prior year.

Regan's ballot initiatives were so expensive they caused SEIU-UHW to experience a $17.5 million loss for the year, according to the union's annual financial report to the US Department of Labor. (The union took in revenues of $114.7 but spent $132.2 million.)

Excerpt from SEIU-UHW's DOL Form LM-2 for 2018

This may help explain why SEIU-UHW is now charging its members a maximum dues rate of $168 per month.

Regan's spending also helped SEIU-UHW surpass a disturbing threshold: the union spent more money on “political activities and lobbying” ($37.5 million) than it did on “representational activities” ($36.3 million).

How does this spending compare to other unions?

Tasty took a look at the spending patterns of similar unions during the same year and using the same data set (DOL Forms LM-2). Check out the table below. As you can see, SEIU-UHW’s spending is ass-backwards.

	Representational Activities	Political Activities and Lobbying	Ratio of Spending on Representation to Pol/Lobbying
SEIU 2015 (CA Longterm Care Wkrs)	$16.5 million	$5.1 million	3.2 to 1
SEIU Local 1021 (Northern Cal)	$11.5 million	$2.0 million	5.8 to 1
SEIU 1199NY	$57.0 million	$14.5 million	3.9 to 1
SEIU Local 49 (Oregon)	$3.4 million	$0.5 million	6.8 to 1
NUHW	$6.0 million	$0.7 million	8.6 to 1
SEIU-UHW	$36.3 million	$37.5 million	0.97 to 1

Here’s another interesting comparison.

Last year, SEIU-UHW spent almost three times more money on lobbying and political activities than did SEIU 1199NY… even though 1199NY had far more members (273,599) than SEIU-UHW (99,268).

In fact, if you tally up the political spending of the five other unions in the table above, it doesn’t even come close to what SEIU-UHW spent.

Hmmm, what do you call a union that spends more money on lobbying and political activities than representing its own members on the job? Good question.

A political consulting firm?

Apparently, that's Regan’s innovative strategy for “rebuilding the US labor movement.”

Lawsuit Alleges Another Sexual Scandal inside SEIU

SEIU continues to face allegations of sexual misconduct nearly two years after it grabbed headlines for scandals surrounding SEIU EVP Scott Courtney, several Fight for $15 staffers, a top official at 1199SEIU in Boston, and SEIU-UHW.

In one of the most recent episodes, SEIU’s second-largest local union was hit with a civil lawsuit by a former female organizer alleging that three male co-workers sexually assaulted her during an offsite work event. 

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names SEIU Local 2015 and three of its male staffers as defendants.

The suit alleges that the three male staffers committed assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation in an episode that’s reminiscent of the infamous one allegedly carried out by conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during a high school party.

Here’s what happened at a “work function” in Chicago, according to the lawsuit by the female SEIU organizer:

“Despite Plaintiff’s repeated statements that she was not interested in sex with him, Defendant #1 grabbed Plaintiff by the arm, took his penis out of his pants, and attempted to penetrate Plaintiff with it. Defended #2 restrained Plaintiff and prevented her from escaping while Defendant #1 attempted to rape her. Defendant #3, a supervisor for Defendant SEIU, watched the entire incident, verbally encouraging Defendants #1 and #2.”

A source inside Local 2015 tells Tasty that despite the lawsuit’s allegations, the union returned two of the defendants to work. And the local hired Glenn Rothner -- a lawyer whom SEIU often hires to fight decertification campaigns -- to defend itself against the suit.

Rothner recently filed a motion seeking to remove Local 2015 as a defendant. He argues that the union should not be held liable “because sexual assault is not within the course and scope of employment of the employees of unions.” Nice argument.

The lawsuit comes two years after #MeToo scandals forced SEIU President Mary Kay Henry to appoint an external advisory group to determine what practices SEIU could enact to stop sexual abuse within the union.

Hmmm. Sounds like Mary Kay Henry was not too successful.

And the suit comes at roughly the same time that Local 2015 decided to flaunt its impeccable moral judgment by re-hiring a disgraced former staffer, Rickman Jackson, who was removed from his job in 2008 for stealing $33,500 from the union’s low-waged members while serving as the Chief of Staff to the union’s then-president, Tyrone Freeman.

Head of SEIU 1199 in Massachusetts Is Suspended over “inappropriate conduct”

Tyrék D. Lee Sr., the top official at SEIU Local 1199 in Massachusetts, has been suspended over “inappropriate conduct,” according to the Boston Globe.

The newspaper cites unnamed “people familiar with the situation” who say Lee was suspended over “accusations of sexual harassment.” The local represents approximately 56,000 healthcare workers in Massachusetts. (Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, “Head of health care union suspended over allegations of inappropriate behavior,” Boston Globe, December 12, 2017)

Lee holds the title of “Executive Vice President” at SEIU Local 1199, where last year he earned $128,902, according to records from the US Department of Labor.

       

Union officials did not detail allegations against Lee, said the Globe. Here’s what SEIU Local 1199 said in a statement to the press:

“1199SEIU strongly condemns all forms of inappropriate conduct and will not tolerate such behavior by any employee of our union. Upon being made aware of these allegations 1199SEIU has taken the action of suspending Executive Vice President Tyrék Lee while a formal investigation is conducted.”

The Globe notes that “Lee took the top job at 1199SEIU in January 2016, when he was 38.”

In November, SEIU appointed SEIU Executive Vice President Leslie Frane to lead an internal investigation due to the multiple SEIU officials accused of sexual harassment and/or misconduct, including the suspension and subsequent resignation of SEIU Executive Vice President Scott Courtney.

SEIU also announced the formation of an external advisory group including Cecilia Muñoz, former White House Domestic Policy Council director; Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center; and employment attorney Debra Katz, founding partner of law firm Katz Marshall & Banks.

It’s possible Lee’s suspension was connected to the investigation by Frane’s team.

If so, this may create some nervousness over at SEIU-UHW, where staffers and members at SEIU-UHW describe a culture of bullying and sexual misconduct, including alleged affairs by the union’s president, Dave Regan. In mid-November, Marcus Hatcher, one of the union’s top officials, was fired for allegedly having simultaneous affairs with three female members of the union’s Executive Board.

Will Frane’s crew soon be knocking on Regan’s door?

Stay tuned.

SEIU's Dennis Rivera Hires P.R. Firm in Wake of Allegations of Business-Funded Influence-Buying Scheme

SEIU's Dennis Hickey Rivera

Just one day after news surfaced about Dennis Hickey Rivera’s involvement in an alleged influence-buying scheme linking multiple deep-pocketed business executives to Puerto Rico’s scandal-plagued governor, Rivera hired a pricey New York public relations firm to do damage control, according to press reports.

Nell Callahan, Vice President of SKDKnickerbocker (also known as SKDK), said Rivera had retained the firm “to set the record straight.” Within 24 hours, SKDK reportedly circulated a memo to legislators’ offices in Washington DC defending of Rivera.

SKDK is a full service public affairs practice that offers crisis communications, branding, marketing, media training, digital/social media advice, speech writing, and message development. Its clients have included Barack Obama, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, AT&T, Facebook, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Jennifer Cunningham, SEIU 1199NY’s former political director, is a Partner and Managing Director at SKDK, where she advises politicians and provides “C-suite message and communication strategy for many Fortune 50 corporations,” according to SKDK’s website. Cunningham was formerly married to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

 

Jennifer Cunningham

Rivera was the president of SEIU 1199NY from 1989-2007. Since then, he's since served as a “Senior Advisor” to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.

In an earlier post, Tasty described Rivera’s role in founding and operating the organization that took hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, hedge funds, real estate developers, private equity funds, and other big business… and then hired the governor’s brother to fill an alleged no-show job as the organization’s only staff member. 

In 2014, SEIU-UHW, headed by President Dave Regan, was the fourth-largest contributor to the organization, “Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País” (SEAP), according to federal tax returns.

along with SEIU’s Dennis Rivera, SEAP’s Board of Directors is composed of corporate executives including the CEOs of GM Capital, Banco Popular, UBS Financial Services, Bacardi Rum, Putnam Bridge Funding, and Putney Capital Management.

SEIU-UHW Gave $25,000 to Group Linked to Alleged Influence-Buying Scheme and Scandal-Plagued Puerto Rican Governor

Banco Popular in San Juan

California-based SEIU-UHW contributed $25,000 to a group at the center of an alleged influence-buying scheme linked to Puerto Rican governor Alejandro García Padilla, according to records obtained from two federal agencies.

Why did SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan give $25,000 of his members’ money to a Puerto Rican organization that’s co-financed by a massive hedge fund and the island’s largest bank… and which allegedly funneled money to the Governor’s brother for a no-show job?

The answer apparently lies with Dennis Hickey Rivera.

Rivera -- who was the president of SEIU 1199NY and is now a “Senior Advisor” to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry -- is closely associated with the Puerto Rican governor and his political party, the Popular Democratic Party.

Rivera reportedly set up the organization that’s at the center of the alleged influence-buying scandal -- the “Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País” (SEAP) -- by using the shell of a nonprofit corporation he previously established in New York.

 

SEIU's Dennis Rivera

What does SEAP do? And who funds it?

Here’s where the story gets interesting.

According to its website, SEAP seeks “to support economic development in the Commonwealth” by “bringing investment and creating jobs in Puerto Rico.”

However, critics allege that the organization is a tool for corporations to buy influence with the governor. They point to the organization’s funding sources and its payouts to the governor’s brother to back their claims.

In 2014, a majority of SEAP’s funding -- $200,000 of its total $275,000 -- came from just three corporations: Banco Popular (Puerto Rico’s largest bank), St. James Security, Inc. (a security firm that holds contracts with the Puerto Rican government), and Putnam Bridge Funding (a hedge fund operated by its billionaire CEO, Nicholas Prouty, which has made huge bets on Puerto Rican real estate).

Excerpt from SEAP's federal tax return for 2014 indicating some of its sources of funds.

Banco Popular’s CEO Richard Carrion serves as the Chairman of the SEAP’s Board of Directors while SEIU’s Dennis Hickey Rivera is the Vice Chairman, according to the organization’s website and federal tax returns.

Another member of the organization’s board is Miguel Ferrer, former Chairman of UBS Financial Services Inc., which in 2012 paid a $26.6 million penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle allegations that it misled customers and engaged in fraud, according to Reuters.

What about the governor’s brother?

 

The Puerto Rican governor and his brother, right.

Curiously, SEAP has only one staff member -- the governor’s brother, Antonio García Padilla. 

He’s a full-time professor at the University of Puerto Rico… but he nonetheless was paid $70,000 over 11 months by Rivera’s nonprofit organization to serve as the organization's full-time Executive Director, according to SEAP’s 2014 tax returns. 

What role has SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan played in the scandal?

In 2014, SEIU-UHW was SEAP’s fourth-largest contributor, according to SEAP’s federal tax returns. 

SEIU-UHW’s annual filing with the US Department of Labor confirms the union’s $25,000 contribution to the group (see excerpt immediately below).

Excerpt from SEIU-UHW's US DOL Form LM-2 for 2014

Now… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why corporations would want to buy influence with the governor. But why did SEIU-UHW contribute to SEAP, which is located some 4,000 miles away?

Tasty’s sources say it was part of an effort by SEIU-UHW’s Regan to buy influence inside SEIU’s DC headquarters during his battle against SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.

Regan delivered the $25,000 to Rivera in July of 2014 as Regan was sharpening his attack against Henry. Only five months later, Henry and SEIU’s International Executive Board approved a resolution ordering the transfer of 65,000 members of SEIU-UHW’s members to a separate SEIU local union controlled by one of Henry’s allies, Laphonza Butler.

According to Tasty’s sources, Regan’s donation of $25K to Rivera’s organization was intended to curry favor with Rivera, who works inside SEIU's headquarters and also has great influence with leaders of 1199NY, the largest and most powerful local union inside SEIU.

Interestingly, the scandal surrounding SEAP comes just months after another influence-buying scandal involving another brother of the Governor. 

In December, the FBI arrested 10 businessmen and Puerto Rico officials in the first scandal.

Press coverage of scandal with Gov's first brother

Anaudi Hernández Pérez -- a businessman, political fund-raiser, and the head of campaign finances for the governor’s party -- allegedly used his relationship with the governor’s second brother (Luis Gerardo García Padilla) to steer government contracts to corporations that, in turn, lined Hernández Pérez’s pockets. 

The government then paid the corporations for contract work they never actually performed, thereby lining the businessmen’s pockets with cash, according to a 25-count indictment handed down by the US Attorney’s Office.

On June 24, Hernández Pérez faces sentencing of up to six years after pleading guilty to 14 corruption charges. He also agreed to forfeit his $4 million home in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, the governor has announced he will not run for another term of office.

Smart move.

SEIU and Dennis Hickey Rivera have a long and dirty relationship with the governor’s party, the Partido Popular Democratico or "Popular Democratic Party."

In 2008, SEIU used its cozy relationship with the party and then-Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila to try to eliminate one of Puerto Rico’s largest and most militant unions, the Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR), and replace it with SEIU as a “company union” that would do the governor’s bidding, according to reporting by Juan Gonzalez at the New York Daily News.

 

Puerto Rican teachers confronting SEIU's 2008 convention

The current SEAP scandal underscores SEIU will officials' cozy relationships with the captains of big business, including the hedge funds, banks, and real estate corporations that have played an outsize role in the economic crisis affecting Puerto Rico and the United States.

More news to follow in the days ahead. 

Here's a full copy of SEAP's federal tax return for 2014, which includes disclosure of Regan's $25,000 contribution to SEAP on page 22.

  Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País's federal tax return for 2014

Sources: Mary Kay Henry Delivers Body Blow to Regan and SEIU-UHW in Detroit

For months, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan reportedly has been sharpening his knives in an effort to challenge Mary Kay Henry during SEIU’s officer elections at its International Convention, which concluded today in Detroit.

So what happened?

In the end, Mary Kay Henry appears to have delivered another damaging blow to Regan and SEIU-UHW... who reportedly left the convention even more marginalized than when they landed in Detroit just a handful of days earlier.

Here’s what Tasty’s sources say.

On the convention floor, Mary Kay Henry campaigned to win delegates' support to elect her “leadership team,” which was called “Henry Team 2016,” to a four-year term of office. Henry nominated a full slate of candidates for all of SEIU’s officer positions, including the president, secretary-treasurer, 7 executive vice presidents, and every seat on the International Executive Board.

In the run-up to the voting process, Henry circulated promo materials demonstrating that she’d already locked up the support of virtually every member of SEIU’s International Executive Board as well as dozens and dozens of SEIU local unions across the country.

Noticeably absent from the list of her supporters, of course, were any representatives of SEIU-UHW.

Immediately below is a pro-Henry piece that reads in part as follows:

Brothers and Sisters,

For more than six years, Mary Kay Henry has provided the vision, courage, and leadership our union needs to overcome the greatest challenges we have ever faced.

Mary Kay has demonstrated the willingness to make smart, tough decisions and the courage to act on them. She inspires us to focus not on what is, but what could be. She has steered our union on a course that has brought higher wages to millions of workers and new hope to millions of current and future members…

We are proud to support the re-election of Mary Kay Henry as our SEIU president, and to fight alongside her and her leadership team on behalf of our 2 million members and all working families in 2016 and the years ahead.

In Solidarity,

In a surprising twist, "Henry Team 2016" was prominently backed by Regan’s erstwhile allies at 1199NY -- including its president George Gresham, SEIU Executive Vice President Gerry Hudson, and multiple other 1199NY officials.

In fact, Henry nominated Hudson to serve as her Secretary-Treasurer.

Henry's leadership team also was backed by another of Regan's erstwhile allies, Meg "I Love the Boss" Niemi.

Sources say Regan was so marginalized and outmaneuvered that when the time came for delegates to nominate and vote for candidates from the convention floor, Regan and SEIU-UHW’s entire delegation stood up and walked out of the convention hall.

Here’s a photo taken by one source soon after the SEIU-UHW delegation walked out of the convention. 

One source called SEIU-UHW “the stepchild of the Union” who “were reduced to nothing.” “What a shame, they weren’t mentioned once,” says the source.

Here are more photos of propaganda that Mary Kay Henry’s supporters circulated at the convention.

What’s next for Regan in his even more marginalized position?

Stay tuned!

The following are members of the SEIU International Executive Board who backed "Henry Team 2016."

SEIU Prepares Confetti Canons for International Convention

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry at SEIU's 2016 Convention 

On Sunday, SEIU will begin a three-day convention in Detroit, Michigan where union leaders will select SEIU’s officers and vote on a union-wide “program” for the next four years.

As usual, the convention will feature heavy doses of purple swagger and hoaky gimmicks like exploding confetti cannons.

Take, for example, the title for SEIU’s union-wide program for the next four years: the “Unstoppable Program to Win for Working People” (UPWWP). 

No joke.

Among other giant steps forward for the working class, the UPWWP will boldly establish an “SEIU Innovation Center” and a “21^st Century Blueprint Committee.”

In case you’re wondering, it’s apparently no longer necessary for workers to focus on things like building rank-and-file organization, solidarity, and industry-wide power to take on ever-more-powerful corporations.

Instead, “21^st century innovation” is the key to workers’ power.

SEIU’s “Innovation Center” -- which sounds a lot like “The Workers Lab,” the Silicon Valley-styled “business incubator” recently set up by David Rolf and other SEIU officials -- will “develop, manage and drive experiments to create the next form of organization for working people,” according to a conference resolution to be presented next week.

SEIU officials are actively scouring the business practices of Apple, Google, and the tech sector...

An image from the SEIU Convention floor

where Rolf believes SEIU will find “the next form of organization for working people.”

On Sunday, SEIU officials will distribute conference materials describing their efforts to harness the power of smartphones and new technologies… and to “reverse engineer all campaigns across the union to ensure that we get the best strategic thinking possible.”

Along with 21^st century innovation, convention-goers may be treated to some old-school infighting among SEIU’s top officials. 

Tasty hears that an anti-Mary Kay Henry faction headed by Gerry Hudson and Dave Regan has been sharpening its knives in the run-up to the convention.

Prior to SEIU’s convention in 2012, sources said Hudson contemplated an effort to unseat Henry after she reportedly stripped him of many responsibilities and also considered removing Hudson from her slate of candidates. Hudson serves as one of six “Executive Vice Presidents,” the union’s highest officers after its president and secretary-treasurer.

SEIU signage with "SEIU Unstoppable" logos

Hudson is a former top official at SEIU 1199 New York, where he retains the support of 1199NY President George Gresham. In recent months, Gresham also has lent support to Regan in his battles with Mary Kay Henry.

Could Hudson and Regan mount a successful challenge to Henry?

Unlikely. 

Henry enjoys support from a majority of SEIU locals. Furthermore, her transfer of 60,000 long-term care workers out of Regan’s local and into SEIU Local 2015, which is run by Henry’s ally Laphonza Butler, has strengthened Henry’s hand on the convention floor.

Stay tuned for more news about confetti cannons and other 21^st century innovations from the SEIU convention.

Inside the Detroit Convention Center

Top SEIU Official Jumps Ship

Kirk Adams

Here's some Purple Palace intrigue.

One of SEIU's top elected officials is jumping ship… apparently the result of tensions inside Mary Kay Henry’s leadership team.

Earlier this month, Kirk Adams -- one of SEIU’s five "Executive Vice Presidents" and the Director of SEIU's Healthcare Division -- announced he’s leaving SEIU to take a job with the "Healthcare Education Project," an organization jointly run by New York's hospital bosses and 1199 New York.

By making the move, Adams is leaving Mary Kay Henry’s team and joining up with leaders of 1199NY (including George Gresham and Gerry Hudson), who’ve reportedly been plotting to unseat Mary Kay Henry from her position atop the Purple Palace.

Adams is a longtime SEIU insider. He served as the "Chief of Staff" for both Andy Stern and Mary Kay Henry. Most recently, he’s been the Director of SEIU’s Healthcare Division, which has been failing in its efforts to organize hospital workers to join SEIU.

So what’s the "Healthcare Education Project?"

It's part of a partnership between the New York hospital industry’s Chamber of Commerce (called the "Greater New York Hospital Association" (GNYHA)) and 1199NY, a local union of SEIU. Both organizations funnel millions of dollars into the "Healthcare Education Project," which then finances political campaigns to get more taxpayer funds for the hospital industry.

A recent article in the Daily Beast describes the "Healthcare Education Project" this way:

[Former 1199NY President Dennis] Rivera and the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA)… began working together almost as soon as he became president. The partnership took concrete form with the creation of the joint Healthcare Education Project, which now forms the cornerstone of New York’s “medical industrial complex”…

The article goes on to describe how Rivera built an "alliance with the state Republican Party" to pursue political deals for more money for the hospital industry.

Adams, in a recent article (Modern Healthcare: "Kirk Adams Leaving Longtime SEIU Post," September 3, 2015), describes the ‘love of partnership’ that prevails among SEIU officials:

“We actually think a partnership is the best approach in healthcare, because we think healthcare is a team concept,” Adams said.

The article notes:

During Adams' tenure at SEIU, the organization has embraced partnerships like the Healthcare Education Project and the Labor Management Partnership between Kaiser Permanente and 28 union locals. This collaborative approach has garnered SEIU a less adversarial profile than peers such as National Nurses United and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Of course, in California, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan has literally given away the store through his secret partnership deal with the California Hospital Association, in which Regan agreed to gag union members from reporting patient care violations to government oversight agencies.

Stay tuned for more palace intrigue...

UFCW Local 400's lawsuit against Kaiser... and two news articles

Three quick items:

1. Here's a copy of the lawsuit filed by UFCW Local 400 against Kaiser Permanente in federal court for refusing to follow their collective bargaining agreement, negotiated under the labor-management partnership. Tasty mentioned the lawsuit in this post.

2. Check out an article by labor journalist Steve Early entitled “AFL-CIO Delays CA Hospital Vote: What Happened to Employee Free Choice?” The article describes how SEIU recently enlisted the AFL-CIO’s Rich Trumka to delay an NLRB election requested by 700 California hospital workers who, on March 30th, requested an election to dump SEIU-UHW and join NUHW.

Early takes Trumka/SEIU to task for turning their backs on "employee free choice,” the labor movement's top legislative priority for years.

So why are workers at the hospital in Chico, Calif. bolting Dave Regan’s SEIU-UHW? Here's what one worker tells Early:

“In our last contract, SEIU bargained away important language and put up absolutely no fight for livable wage increases. Then they rushed a contract ratification vote, giving us little notice and no copies of the contract they had bargained…Only 100 out of 700 employees voted. This is not how a union should behave.”

Yo Diamond Dave: Is that what SEIU calls "free choice" and worker democracy?

FYI, journalist Cal Winslow has also published an article on the campaign by hospital workers in Chico: "California Healthcare Workers Fight for a Union that Will Fight for Them."

3. Lastly, see another article in “New York Capital” describing SEIU 1199 New York’s tight relationship with the hospital industry -- the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) -- and 1199NY’s split from the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the state's largest nurses' union with 37,000 members. 

The two unions' opposing philosophies reflect a similar split among California’s healthcare unions, where SEIU-UHW has climbed deep inside the pocket of the state's hospital bosses and joined the bosses in attacking California's patient safety laws.

“Pretty much everything he says is completely wrong”

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan

SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan suffered an interesting smackdown in a March 30 article featured in “Capital,” a New York publication (Dan Goldberg, "Health Union Split Complicates Nurses' Jobs Push,” Capital New York, March 30, 2015).

Remember how Regan partnered with the California Hospital Association in a failed effort in 2012 to roll back California's nurse-to-patient staffing ratio law?

At the time, RoseAnn DeMoro (Executive Director of the California Nurses Association) said the following about Diamond Dave:

“It would be hard to imagine a more immoral and corrupt scenario than for a labor leader to be lobbying other unions to endanger patients on behalf of corporate hospital executives whose only concern is increasing profits.”

Well, this week’s article focuses on a similar split between the New York State Nurses Association and SEIU 1199 New York… but also includes a fiery exchange between the CNA and Regan.

Here's an excerpt from the article. (FYI, the “Greater New York Hospital Association” is the hospital industry's Chamber of Commerce in New York -- equivalent to the California Hospital Association.)

The same tensions that are now developing in New York are present in California where SEIU United Healthworkers West strongly opposes the staffing ratios that [NYSNA Executive Director Jill] Furillo helped put in place, and uses much the same rhetoric as GNYHA [the Greater New York Hospital Association].

“Sadly, California's mandated inflexible nurse staffing ratios have not improved patient care,” Dave Regan, president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, said in an email. “…This short-sighted approach is completely at odds with recent innovations in healthcare, which have seen significantly better patient outcomes – at lower costs -- by utilizing a team-based approach."

Charles Idleson, communications director for the California Nurses Association said Regan's statement was “laughable, dishonest and misrepresented life in California."

"Pretty much everything he says is completely wrong,” Idleson said. “He hates nurses. He hates our organization. He has a partnership with the hospital association in California.”

Idleson said Regan's close working relationship with the California Hospital Association blinded him from doing what's right for nurses and patients.

“He has given up trying to engage in typical, traditional labor activity,” Idleson said. “His entire approach is to cut massive deals with employers that benefit the top tier of his union even at the expense of his own members.”

That same charge could be leveled at [SEIU 1199 George] Gresham and [GNYHA President Ken] Raske, who both believe cooperation serves their memberships better than knock-down, drag-out fights.

SEIU-UHW’s Private Equity Partnership Produces Rebellion from Workers

Dave Regan’s partnership with Blue Wolf Capital Partners isn’t quite producing "dividends," according to observers.

SEIU-UHW officials famously backed the New York private equity fund in its attempt to take over a chain of six California hospitals called the Daughters of Charity Health System. But even as SEIU-UHW staffers parade around in blue shirts bearing the private equity firm’s name, workers are running the other way.   

Here's what's happening.

SEIU-UHW’s 1,600 members at the six hospitals have reportedly responded with outrage that Regan signed a secret deal with Blue Wolf to cut their pay by 15% and is putting their jobs at risk by pushing the hospital chain towards a possible bankruptcy.

At O'Connor Hospital, a majority of SEIU-UHW members signed petitions opposing SEIU-UHW’s stance on the hospital sale.

And nearly half of SEIU-UHW’s shop stewards at O'Connor Hospital have resigned their positions to protest Regan's actions. Other workers have decided to stop paying dues to SEIU-UHW.

SEIU-UHW responded by dispatching Val Tagawa and other purple staffers to the hospital. One worker writes:

Since the [Attorney General's] hearing at OCH, we have had a concerted effort from SEIU (Val Tagawa and others) to harass folks about the issue. They have been generally met with "Don't bother me" type responses from workers, and on one occasion security was called and ended up escorting the SEIU stooges from the Cafeteria after employees complained to security.

Tagawa has reportedly been busy scouting for the best local bar and is well known around the hospital for the not-so-fragrant bouquet of her breath.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle have editorialized against SEIU-UHW’s position. The California Attorney General, who's responsible for approving or rejecting the proposed sale of the six hospitals, is supposed to make a decision by February 20.

One more note: Tasty earlier mentioned that SEIU-UHW officials have connections to Blue Wolf Capital. It turns out that the connections are multiple.

 

Mike Musuraca, Blue Wolf Man

First, Mike Musuraca (the Managing Director of Blue Wolf Capital) reportedly has connections to Gerry Hudson and Tom Woodruff (Vice Presidents of SEIU International) as well as other top SEIU officials. Musuraca has worked as an advisor for SEIU’s Change to Win. He formerly served as an Assistant Director in the Department of Research and Negotiations at AFSCME District Council 37 in New York City and was a trustee of the New York City Employees Retirement System.

In addition, it appears that David Miller, a staffer at SEIU-UHW, played a role in SEIU-UHW’s nefarious backdoor deal with Blue Wolf. Miller also comes from New York, where he formerly served as the Research Director at SEIU’s 1199 New York. After parachuting into California, he has assumed the over-inflated job title of “Assistant to the President for Strategic Campaigns” at SEIU-UHW ...presumably with an over-inflated salary.