Dave Regan Axes Top Staffer at SEIU-UHW

Myriam Escamilla

Dave Regan has axed one of SEIU-UHW’s top staff directors, according to staffers. Tasty confirmed that Myriam Escamilla, who served as the Director of SEIU-UHW’s Hospital Division, is no longer employed at the union.

Escamilla was so close to Regan that he placed her on the Executive Committee of SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board. Last year, she pocketed $162,415 in pay, according to records filed with the US Department of Labor.

She also has a long relationship with Greg Pullman, Regan’s Chief of Staff. The pair formerly worked together at SEIU Local 521 before teaming up at SEIU-UHW.

Not anymore.

Escamilla was well known for her tantrums, tirades, bullying, and Machiavellian scheming, according to staffers. 

One staffer told Tasty: “Myriam's reputation for abusing staff -- including public humiliation -- is well-deserved.” A former staffer at Local 521 calls her a “primo backstabber.”

After Regan parachuted into California, Escamilla joined with Regan like two peas in a pod.

Bullying? Check.

Arrogant? Check.

Tirades? Check.

Backroom deals with bosses? Check.

Perhaps that’s why staffers reportedly tagged her with nicknames like “Attila the Hun” and “El Diablo.”

In one memorable incident, an SEIU-UHW staffer described how Escamilla fired him during his first week on the job after he expressed reluctance at “donating” part of his paycheck to Regan’s election fund.

Another staffer wrote: “She has caused such divisions in UHW staff by terminating and harassing staff. Many staff are out on stress or in line for termination.”

Oh, and don’t forget Myriam’s other stand-out qualities: dishonesty and incompetence.

In 2012, Escamilla famously negotiated a backroom deal that allowed California’s largest nursing home company to slash SEIU-UHW members’ wages and benefits. After inking the deal, she carefully hid it from workers. And when workers questioned her, she blatantly lied to them. Which explains why workers decided to decertify SEIU-UHW and join NUHW.

In another memorable incident, Escamilla forgot to file a ULP charge in advance of a strike by 160 workers, allowing the boss to lock out 38 workers for months and months.

Escamilla’s reganesque style and her willingness to forfeit workers and principles in order to elevate her position explains her lengthy tenure alongside Regan.

So what caused Regan to axe her?

At this point, it’s not clear. 

Tipsters should drop Tasty a line at tastysternburger@gmail.com

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

900 California Workers Vote to Leave SEIU, Join Independent Union

Last week, approximately 900 corrections officers in Fresno County (Calif.) voted to leave SEIU Local 521 and join an independent union, according to media reports.

The corrections officers, who’ve been members of Local 521 for many years, are employed at the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and Probation Office. Here are the vote totals from last week’s vote:

Fresno County Public Safety Association:  315
SEIU Local 521:   234
No Union:   18

Local 521 represents approximately 31,000 public-sector workers in the central part of California.

Almost a year ago, the same group of corrections officers also voted to leave Local 521. However, the election results were subsequently tossed out after Local 521 filed legal challenges because election officials inadvertently sent the mail-in ballots to voters some four days early.

In a separate development, more than 300 members of Local 521 near San Jose are planning to decertify SEIU, according to the Morgan Hill Times. The effort involves 314 classified school employees at the Morgan Hill Unified School District.

The effort is being led by the chapter president for Local 521, who said she resigned her position at SEIU in order to lead the decertification effort. She and her co-workers want to join a different union or form an independent union among themselves.

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry

According to the Morgan Hill Times, the former chapter president announced the effort at a meeting of the school district’s board of trustees, where she said:

“We pay $130,000 per year in union dues to SEIU San Jose and feel we don’t get any representation in exchange. This has been coming for a while.”

In May of 2016, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry appointed Local 521’s Chief Elected Officer (CEO) Luisa Blue to Henry's leadership team in D.C. Blue will now serve as one of SEIU International’s seven Executive Vice Presidents, the highest elected position following SEIU's President and Secretary-Treasurer.

Makes perfect sense, right? After all, it looks like CEO Blue has been doing a bang-up job in California.

Press: 880 Workers Vote to Decertify SEIU Local 521 in California

Last week, a unit of 880 government workers in Fresno County, Calif. voted to decertify SEIU Local 521 by a vote of 319-228, according to the Fresno Bee. 

The county employees -- who include corrections officers, child support officers, program technicians, and security guards -- voted to leave SEIU and join a new union called "Fresno County Public Safety Association." 

According to the newspaper, a second unit of approximately 500 benefit eligibility workers, social workers, and job specialists also wants to decertify SEIU. SEIU Local 521 represents public-sector employees in Central California.

Source: Leak of Dave Regan's Attack Memo Came from Inside SEIU-UHW

Here's the latest info on SEIU's transfer of California long-term care workers to SEIU Local 2015.

Remember Dave Regan's piece called "Who’s Gonna Bell the Cat? The Tyranny of the Majority: Ethics and Values in SEIU?”? That's the memo that slams Mary Kay Henry and was "leaked" to the press.

Well, here's an interesting development.

Tasty's sources have revealed the identity of the "leaker." 

Who is it?

Dave Regan!

According to Tasty's sources, Regan penned the piece with Steve Trossman (SEIU-UHW's Communications Director) and then told Trossman to leak it to the press. Trossman approached his crew of "go-to" reporters (those who reliably publish SEIU-UHW's materials), including Chris Rauber at the San Francisco Business Times and Tracy Seipel at the San Jose Mercury News. Rauber, of course, wrote this story.

Trossman: Cover-ups and Leaks

What's the significance?

Well, it's notable that Regan is now using "leaks" of internal SEIU information as a "weapon" in his self-described "war" against Mary Kay Henry and SEIU. This represents an escalation that’ll inevitably sharpen tensions.

Additionally, it means we can expect that more "leaks" will follow from Regan... and that he'll deploy similar quote-and-dagger tactics against Henry.

Secondly, Tasty has learned that Mary Kay Henry was prepared to trustee SEIU-UHW if Regan had refused to transfer UHW's 65,000 long-term care workers. In fact, the staff of multiple California SEIU local unions were on "24-hour-a-day standby" to receive orders from SEIU to carry out the seizure of SEIU-UHW’s offices.

Finally, here's the latest news about SEIU Local 2015, the new statewide union.

According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, Mary Kay Henry has named Laphonza Butler -- the current president of SEIU Local 6434 -- as the "provisional president" of SEIU Local 2015.

On June 22, Butler changed her Facebook profile picture to feature one of herself standing alongside Henry.

The Bee also reports:

“Along with Butler, the new statewide local will be led by Arnulfo De La Cruz, Kim Evon, Robert Li, and April Verrett, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry said Tuesday.”

Notably, each of the newly merged unions (Local 6434, Local 521, and SEIU-UHW) will have a representative among SEIU Local 2015’s top five staff people... except for SEIU-UHW! 

Of course, this is another sign that Henry is actively marginalizing Regan and SEIU-UHW. 

 

Butler's new FB profile picture

Here's some background on the five staffers whom Henry has appointed to run SEIU Local 2015:

Laphonza Butler (2014 pay of $165,952) is the president of SEIU Local 6434, serves on SEIU's International Executive Board, is the president of the SEIU California State Council, and is a close ally of Mary Kay Henry.

Kim Evon (2014 pay of $131,503) is currently the Secretary-Treasurer at Local 6434 and also serves on the board of the SEIU California State Council.

Robert Li (2014 pay of $94,579) is a staff member of SEIU Local 521, where his job title is "Director II," according to the US Department of Labor.

April Verrett (2014 pay of $127,931) is the Executive Vice President of “SEIU Healthcare Illinois-Indiana-Missouri-Kansas,” a union of 64,000 workers whose name grows longer with every SEIU merger. She’s been a member of SEIU’s International Executive Board since she was placed on Mary Kay Henry's slate of IEB candidates in 2012. She’s also on the board of the SEIU Illinois State Council.

As far as Arnulfo de la Cruz, this appears to refer to Arnulfo "Bobby" de la Cruz (2014 pay of $124,223), a longtime SEIU staffer who's been on the Purple Palace’s payroll as an "Assistant Area Director" in California.  De la Cruz’s son is also named “Arnulfo de la Cruz” and works for SEIU as the "National Director" for immigration reform.

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Fires Another Salvo in His Battle with Mary Kay Henry

SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan has fired another salvo in his war with SEIU President Mary Kay Henry and SEIU's International Executive Board (IEB).

In January, SEIU's IEB ordered SEIU-UHW and SEIU Local 521 to finally carry out a six-year-old order to transfer their long-term care workers to SEIU Local 6434.

This week, California home care workers tell Tasty they’re receiving an SEIU-UHW "survey" in the mail that’s designed to build opposition to Mary Kay Henry and the IEB’s order. Here's a copy of the mailer, which says in part:

Below is a short survey about what you think nursing home, home care workers and our patients and clients need. This is our chance to shape the future of home care and healthcare in California...

How do you think your needs and your patient's/client’s needs will be better met? Choose one:

• Being united in a single, statewide healthcare union with ALL California hospital, nursing home and home care workers?

                    OR 

• Being separated from hospital workers and put into a different union of only home care and nursing home workers?

Regan also posted an electronic version of the survey on SEIU-UHW's website at http://www.seiu-uhw.org/betterfuture, where any member of the public can fill it out.

Regan’s "push poll" will undoubtedly cause SEIU officials to hit the roof. In March, the Purple Palace erupted in anger when Diamond Dave had SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board pass a resolution opposing the IEB’s order.

In addition to the survey, Tasty hears that Regan has assigned large numbers of SEIU-UHW staffers to organize home care and nursing home workers to oppose Mary Kay Henry and SEIU.

Will Regan try to use the results of the "survey" in his public battle with Mary Kay Henry? You betcha. But even if the survey had been conducted in a reliable fashion (which it wasn't), experience tells us you can't trust the results. Why? Because Diamond Dave loves to stuff the ballot box.

For example, Regan was famously apprehended while stuffing the ballot box in two unionization elections in Southern California at Chapman Medical Center and HCA’s Thousands Oaks Surgical Hospital. The NLRB documented the ballot-box-stuffing, overturned the elections, and cited SEIU-UHW for violating federal labor law.

Stay tuned.

SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan: “Mary Kay Henry is a disappointment”

Regan and Henry during a friendlier moment

Here's the complete version of the resolution that Dave Regan had SEIU-UHW's Executive Board pass at its March meeting. The resolution is one of the volleys in Regan’s self-described war against SEIU's President Mary Kay Henry and the SEIU International Executive Board (IEB).

In January, the SEIU IEB ordered SEIU-UHW and SEIU Local 521 to finally carry out a six-year-old order to consolidate SEIU's California long-term care workers into a single local union, SEIU Local 6434. At the January meeting, the presidents of the three affected local unions pledged to refrain from talking publicly about the IEB's order.

That's why SEIU officials erupted in anger when Regan had SEIU-UHW's Executive Board pass the following resolution just weeks later.

Here are a few excerpts from the resolution, with full text below. (Fyi, SEIU Local 6434 is also known as “ULTCW” or "United Long Term Care Workers Union.")

In January 2015, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry announced that she had decided to re-visit the question of local union structure for healthcare workers in California. SEIU-UHW invited President Henry to come and talk to our elected leadership about this decision and she declined to do so.

Therefore be it resolved that in the spirit of our union’s slogan, “Stronger Together,” the SEIU-UHW Executive Board calls for the creation of one statewide healthcare union in California that unites home care, nursing home and hospital workers…

Be it further resolved that SEIU-UHW strongly opposes efforts to divide healthcare workers in California because it would weaken all healthcare workers and make the previously referenced goals unachievable.

Be it further resolved that SEIU-UHW expresses its disappointment that the International President of SEIU declined our invitation to come and talk to our elected leadership about this decision that will have a profound impact on healthcare workers and patients in California.

Be it further resolved that this resolution, expressing the strongly held convictions of the leadership of SEIU-UHW’s home care, hospital, Kaiser and nursing home members, be distributed to the leadership of the International Union and to others within SEIU who care about the future of healthcare workers.  

  SEIU-UHW Executive Board's Resolution against SEIU IEB Order on California Long-term Care Workers Marc...

Dave Regan Is Taken to Task for Violating SEIU's Order... even as Regan Plots More Violations

Diamond Dave and Mary Kay during an earlier time

Here's the latest on Diamond Dave's battle with the Purple Palace.

Sources say the Purple Palace erupted in anger when, earlier this month, Dave Regan had SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board pass a resolution opposing the January order issued by SEIU's International Executive Board (IEB). The IEB’s order directs SEIU-UHW and SEIU Local 521 to transfer their home care and nursing home workers to SEIU Local 6434, which is headed by Laphonza Butler.

In January, the IEB apparently placed a gag order on the three affected local unions. Each of the leaders of the three affected local unions (SEIU-UHW, Local 521 and Local 6434) pledged to abide by the gag rule, which bars them from speaking publicly about the matter.

So… when Regan passed his own resolution opposing the IEB’s order, Local 6434's Laphonza Butler and Local 521’s CEO Luisa Blue reportedly “flipped out" in anger and called for the immediate transfer of the long-term care workers rather than waiting until June, say Tasty's sources.

In recent days, Butler, Blue and Regan met with retired SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina. SEIU President Mary Kay Henry brought Medina out of retirement to serve as a hearing officer to iron out the details of transferring the long-term care workers. Henry tasked Medina with producing a recommendation by June 2.

During Medina’s recent meeting with Butler, Blue and Regan, tensions between the three local union leaders were reportedly sky high. Sources say Medina ultimately convinced Blue to withdraw her demand that the workers be transferred immediately due to Regan’s violation of the gag order. Meanwhile, speaking of the gag order, Medina reportedly told Regan to "keep his mouth shut."

Despite Medina's warning, sources report that Regan is already planning more violations of the gag rule -- basically thumbing his nose at Mary Kay Henry, the IEB and Medina.

Here's what the sources say:

First, Regan has convinced George Gresham (the president to SEIU 1199 New York) to send a letter to Mary Kay Henry backing Regan's position on the long-term care workers. As described in an earlier post, Regan and Gresham are reportedly working together to try to unseat Mary Kay Henry in SEIU’s internal officer elections in 2016. These political ambitions are the underlying dynamics driving the SEIU infighting… the deep subterranean plates that are producing earthquakes on the earth’s surface.

In addition, Regan reportedly announced to SEIU-UHW staffers that he’s approaching the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions ("the partnership unions") to get their support in battling Mary Kay Henry. This promises to spread SEIU's infighting to the broader U.S. labor movement. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions is made up of 28 local unions across the US, including the Teamsters, Steelworkers and UFCW.

Regan's outreach to other Kaiser unions also points to his real motivations for delaying the transfer of the long-term care workers until June. At its January meeting, the IEB initially ordered Regan to transfer the workers on a rapid timeframe. Regan successfully argued for a delay until June, claiming that the transfer of the long-term care workers would somehow weaken SEIU-UHW’s ability to negotiate a contract with Kaiser Permanente.

 

Eliseo Medina

At the end of March, Regan and the partnership unions begin their “negotiations” with Kaiser -- which will undoubtedly follow Regan's recipe of backdoor deals with the boss and a pathetically choreographed “show” to try to get worker buy-in.

So... with Regan now poised to commit more violations of the IEB's gag order, how will the Purple Palace respond?

Stay tuned...

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Fires Salvo in Escalating War with Mary Kay Henry

Here's the latest on the escalating war between SEIU President Mary Kay Henry and SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan.

Last weekend, Regan had SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board approve a resolution that directly opposes the recent decision by SEIU’s International Executive Board to finally carry out its 2009 order to transfer SEIU-UHW’s 65,000 long-term care workers to SEIU Local 6434.

Instead... Regan's resolution calls for transferring more than 200,000 members out of Local 6434 and SEIU Local 521 and into Regan's union!

Here's an excerpt from Regan’s resolution (a full copy is below):

Therefore be it resolved that in the spirit of our union’s slogan “Stronger Together” the SEIU-UHW Executive Board calls for the creation of one statewide healthcare union in California that unites home care, nursing home and hospital workers…

Be it further resolved that SEIU-UHW strongly opposes efforts to divide healthcare workers in California because it would weaken all healthcare workers…

Be it further resolved that this resolution, expressing the strongly held convictions of the leadership of SEIU-UHW’s home care, hospital, Kaiser and nursing home members be distributed to the leadership of the International Union and to others within SEIU who care about the future of healthcare workers.

Regan’s resolution -- which has more contradictions than Oxford's Unabridged Compendium of Oxymorons -- is the latest salvo in his war with Henry and the SEIU International Executive Board. 

More info soon about Diamond Dave's copious contradictions.

Here’s Regan's resolution in its original and text-only format.

Resolution in Support of Unifying

Healthcare Workers in California

Resolution 15-15

Whereas, Harris vs. Quinn has created a “right to work” environment for IHSS workers.  Historically, wherever local unions have been predominantly open shop, their membership has declined steeply over time and the employment standards of their members have suffered.

Whereas, SEIU-UHW members have worked successfully to defend our union from mass decertification attempts because we have united to support each other. Home care and nursing home members came to defend Kaiser members in two elections. Hospital members signed up home care members after Harris vs. Quinn, resulting in an 80% membership rate, and Kaiser, home care, nursing home and hospital members all worked together to enroll some 20,000 Californians into healthcare coverage.

Whereas, SEIU has always stood for uniting workers within their industries, and healthcare workers have been united in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and elsewhere. In the few examples where healthcare worker have not been united in SEIU, such as California, it has been because of internal political, not strategic, considerations.

Therefore be it resolved that in the spirit of our union’s slogan “Stronger Together” the SEIU-UHW Executive Board calls for the creation of one statewide healthcare union in California that unites home care, nursing home and hospital workers to allow healthcare workers to:

·         Become stronger together in a movement that will fight to ensure that no member of the healthcare team makes less than $15 an hour and that all healthcare workers enjoy a rising standard of living, utilizing ballot measures, contract campaigns and unified political action to achieve that goal.

·         Speak with one healthcare worker voice to dramatically raise Medi-Cal rates to end the two tier healthcare system that disproportionately underserves women, immigrants and people of color, resulting in immoral racial, gender and economic disparities in health outcomes, and to maximize job security for those providing healthcare to low-income Californians.

·         Unite the resources of healthcare workers to organize hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers in all segments of the industry, including private home care, nursing homes, assisted living, medical groups, acute care and outpatient care, while maintaining a super-majority membership rate to ensure a continued strong voice for IHSS workers.

Be it further resolved that SEIU-UHW strongly opposes efforts to divide healthcare workers in California because it would weaken all healthcare workers and make the previously referenced goals unachievable.

Be it further resolved that all SEIU California healthcare members and the SEIU Healthcare Division should be given the opportunity to discuss, debate and provide input into the decisions that impact their future.

Be it further resolved that this resolution, expressing the strongly held convictions of the leadership of SEIU-UHW’s home care, hospital, Kaiser and nursing home members be distributed to the leadership of the International Union and to others within SEIU who care about the future of healthcare workers.

Presented:        March 2015      

Adopted:                                 

                        Amended:                                

SEIU UHW Executive Board Meeting

Source: SEIU's Mary Kay Henry Moves to Transfer Homecare Workers Out of SEIU-UHW

What happened at last month’s meeting of SEIU’s International Executive Board (IEB) in Puerto Rico?

According to Tasty's sources, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry backed the transfer of SEIU-UHW’s homecare workers to SEIU Local 6434, which currently represents homecare and nursing home workers in California.

Tasty hears that when the news first reached him, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan lost control of his bowels.

Why?

First of all, it's well known that Regan is plotting to seize Mary Kay Henry’s position at the Purple Palace. A transfer of homecare workers means Regan will lose the "delegated votes" of these 60,000 homecare members during future elections inside SEIU. (In SEIU, rank-and-file union members don't get to vote for SEIU’s president and International Executive Board -- instead, members' votes are assigned or "delegated" to local SEIU officials, who then cast the votes of tens of thousands of rank-and-file workers.)

Secondly, a transfer of the homecare workers means less dues money for "Wall Street" Dave.

Thirdly, it changes the political equation inside SEIU-UHW. Regan has relied on the votes of homecare workers to win SEIU-UHW’s internal elections. Without their votes, he’ll become more vulnerable to challengers.

So what’s Dave gonna do?

His first move appears to be to stall Mary Kay Henry’s plan. He reportedly requested that Henry put the transfer on hold for six months because, says Regan, the loss of the public-sector homecare workers will somehow diminish the "bargaining strength" of SEIU-UHW’s Kaiser workers, who are set to begin negotiations for a new contract in April.

Not exactly a persuasive argument, right? It's especially lame because SEIU-UHW’s upcoming contract negotiations with Kaiser Permanente are so tightly rigged that SEIU officials have already calendared the precise day in June when they will stand arm-in-arm with Kaiser execs and announce an "historic contract settlement." In fact, Regan and Kaiser’s executives have already scheduled the exact dates for SEIU-UHW workers' contract ratification votes. (More on this in a future post.)

What will happen if Regan resists the transfer of the homecare workers?

Tasty hopes that Mary Kay Henry and the IEB are busily preparing the legal papers to impose an emergency trusteeship on Regan. Of course, once the trusteeship is implemented, Mary Kay Henry can simply ignore the order to transfer the homecare workers for, uhh, at least a decade.

Remember, this is SEIU… where workers are pawns on a purple Monopoly board that’s shamelessly used by SEIU officials to pursue their personal quests for power, fame and money.

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Funnels Millions to Lobbyists

Here’s an interesting item.

The "Capitol Weekly," a newspaper that covers the political scene in California’s state capitol, offers yet another glimpse at the ass-backwards changes brought by Dave Regan to SEIU-UHW.

Earlier, Tasty posted internal documents that show how Regan is systematically slashing the union's day-to-day representation of its own members while SEIU-UHW pockets multi-million dollar profits.

At the same time, Regan has been busy funneling millions of dollars to business-suited lobbyists in the state capitol, according to the "Capitol Weekly."

In fact, during 2013 SEIU-UHW became one of the top ten biggest lobbyists in California... along with Chevron, the California Chamber of Commerce, ATT, Southern California Edison and the California Hospital Association.

Regan funneled $1.88 million to a variety of lobbying firms in 2013, causing SEIU-UHW to join the top-ten list for presumably the first time ever.

What kinds of policies did Regan lobby for/against during 2013?

Regan assigned an estimated ten lobbyists to fight a bill backed by UNITE HERE, the UFCW, the Teamsters, Teachers, Longshore Workers… and even SEIU Locals 521, 721 and 1021! The bill would've required Kaiser Permanente to share more information with unions and other purchasers when Kaiser demands premium hikes for its health insurance policies.

The bill's demands were milk-toast modest, basically saying: "Hey Kaiser, show us the numbers before you jack up our premiums."

But instead of supporting workers' demands for more transparency, Regan pimped for Kaiser and the California Hospital Association by hiring lobbyists to kill the worker-backed bill.

Regan also teamed up with the California Hospital Association to lobby against Assembly Bill 975, which would’ve required nonprofit hospitals to spend more money on "charity care" for low-income, uninsured patients.

It's no wonder “Wall Street” Dave is on the short-list for the Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Employee of the Year' award.

Here's the full article from the Capitol Weekly entitled "Top 10 Lobbying Firms Bill More than $40 Million.”

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Joins Chamber of Commerce and Kaiser Permanente in Opposing Labor-Backed Bill

Ever wonder why SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan is expected to win the “Employee of the Year Award” from Kaiser Permanente and the Chamber of Commerce?

Here’s a clue.

Earlier this year, unions across California backed a bill in the state legislature that seeks to beat back the skyrocketing cost of health insurance. Senate Bill 746 would require large insurance companies like Kaiser Permanente to cough up more information about their profits and operations so that unions and large employers can figure out whether the insurance companies’ rate hikes are fair.

As supporters say, “All we want is transparency -- basic information from the big insurance companies.”

The bill’s backers include all of the state’s major unions: UNITE HERE, the Teamsters, UFCW, AFSCME, Transit Workers, Teachers, Machinists, Longshore Workers, Engineers, Utility Workers, Nurses, the California Public Interest Research Group, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, etc.

In fact, even SEIU’s public-sector unions back the bill -- SEIU Locals 521, 721 and 1021. Check out their letter of support below.

So who’s opposed to the bill?

You guessed it. All of the Bosses… and Dave Regan’s SEIU-UHW!

Here’s the list of opponents: the California Chamber of Commerce, Kaiser Permanente, Health Net, Aetna, California Association of Health Plans, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies... and SEIU-UHW. Below, see SEIU-UHW’s letter of opposition.

And here’s a fact that speaks volumes:  SEIU-UHW is the only union that opposes this bill.

Interestingly, legislators in both houses ended up approving the bill by wide margins despite the fact that Regan assigned as many as 10 staffers to lobby against the bill, including Dave Kieffer of Tyrone Freeman fame.

Tasty hears that Regan's efforts to defeat the bill have intensified SEIU-UHW’s isolation from the rest of the labor movement… and have boosted Regan’s well-earned reputation as bought-and-paid-for by the Chamber of Commerce and Kaiser Permanente!

   SEIU-UHW's  Letter Opposing California Senate Bill 746: June 18, 2013

   Letter from SEIU Locals 1021, 721 and 521 endorsing California Senate Bill 746: August 29, 2013.