Press: 1,100 members planning to quit SEIU local union in California

One-fifth of the members of SEIU Local 221 are attempting to decertify the San Diego-based union, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune (“More than 1,000 members planning to quit county's largest union,” September 1, 2017).

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Three groups with at least 1,100 employees among them are attempting to decertify from Service Employees International 221, a formal process of leaving the union.

They initiated the move after becoming frustrated with how SEIU has managed ongoing negotiations with the county, while their colleagues in other unions have managed to ink new agreements with raises.

“It’s been a farce from the get-go,” Bob Grable, a former member of SEIU’s bargaining team who sat through negotiations for three earlier contracts. He’s trying to leave that union and form a new group for some of the county’s employees.

“We started negotiations with nothing, no proposals, no negotiation, nothing. This ship sunk at the dock at day-one” said Grable, a vehicle fleet support specialist.

According to the Union-Tribune, three separate groups of San Diego County employees are attempting to leave SEIU Local 221 so they can join other unions: (1) 1,000 urban planners, psychiatrists and epidemiologists; (2) 116 dispatchers in the Sheriff’s Department; and (2) an unknown number of paralegals who work for the district attorney, public defender and the Office of Child Support.

In total, SEIU Local 221 has roughly 5,600 dues-paying members.

Soon after the news hit the press, leaders of SEIU Local 221 rushed to finish contract negotiations with San Diego County officials in order to close the window on workers’ decertification efforts.

The three groups of workers are just the latest among a long list who’ve bolted SEIU Local 221. For example, in May, nearly 400 employees of the City of Chula Vista voted to leave Local 221 and form an independent union after citing frustrations with the quality of SEIU’s support of its members.

In June of 2016, a group of 479 school employees voted to decertify SEIU Local 221 and join an independent union called the Poway School Employees Association (PSEA).

Altogether, in recent years more than eight other bargaining units have decertified the union.

Workers: "Why We Left SEIU"

More details are emerging about why 400 city workers in San Diego last month voted to leave SEIU Local 221 and form an independent union called the Association of Chula Vista Employees.

The details are captured in an article published this week in San Diego’s largest daily newspaper (San Diego Union-Tribune, “Split by Chula Vista employees is the latest rift in local labor unions,” June 5, 2017). Here’s an excerpt from the article:

A group of the city’s employees — librarians, planners, forensic investigators and others — voted last month to leave Service Employees International Union, Local 221, and to represent themselves in a new organization…

Many Chula Vista employees had been long-frustrated with the quality of advocacy SEIU had provided on their behalf, said Nicole Hobson, the president of the newly formed Association of Chula Vista Employees.

“This decision was kind of a long time coming,” she said “Lack of services, high dues, they have high employee turnaround, they give us inexperienced representatives,” she said…

The loss of employees at the county’s second-largest city from the largest public-sector union is the most recent turbulence in the organized labor in the county, as well as for SEIU. Last year nearly 500 Poway Unified School District Employees left SEIU in order to represent themselves, as did at least seven other employee groups in the last decade, including employees at the San Diego Community College District, City of La Mesa, as well as some county workers…

Kim Vander Bie, another officer in the new Chula Vista union, said that SEIU wasn’t good at communicating with its members, and they didn’t learn about plans to leave the Labor Council until a decision had already been made.

“I personally didn’t give it a lot of thought because it wasn’t presented to us,” she said. “They didn’t communicate with us very well. We’d find out after the fact, or too late.”

Employees dues have been cut in half since leaving SEIU, and the new city employee union is about to begin contract negotiations with city management. With more independence, they’re planning to get more involved in local elections as they build their treasury, Vander Bie said.

“I hope that future employees will be very cautious before getting into that type of relationship,” she said. “I’m not against unions, which is why I am very active with our new union, but some unions are better than others. Some have better leadership with others. We just had a bad experience.”

San Diego Workers Vote to Decertify SEIU

Last week, 386 municipal workers in the City of Chula Vista (the 2nd largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area) voted by more than a two-to-one margin to leave SEIU Local 221 and instead join an independent union.

The final tally on the vote, which was conducted by California’s Public Employment Relations Board, was:

Association of Chula Vista Employees (ACE):  163
SEIU Local 221:  81
No Union:  4

Why did workers vote to decertify SEIU?

An article in a local newspaper (The Star News, “Muni union members consider a break,” April 1, 2017) offers some insight:

Esteban Barajas, a Chula Vista public works employee and a full dues paying member with SEIU, said he wants to see his union break away from SEIU because he said they do not properly represent Chula Vista Employees when they are needed, and are only around every three years during contract negotiations and he said SEIU does not give CVEA a fair share of money.  He said SEIU receives about $250,000 annually as part of CVEA’s union dues.

“We’re supposed to be on the top of the food chain so why are they getting $250,000 and we are over here living off of top ramen soups?”

Workers at the City of Chula Vista are just the latest group to decertify SEIU Local 221. In recent years, at least eight other bargaining units have bolted Loco 221 including…

1) San Diego Community College District

2) City of San Marcos

3) City of La Mesa

4) San Diego County’s Probation Officers Unit

5) San Diego County’s Crafts Unit

6) San Diego Regional Center

7) San Diego County’s Construction, Maintenance, Operations and Repair Unit

8) Poway Unified School District’s Operations Support Service Unit

500 California Workers Vote to Leave SEIU, Join Independent Union

A group of 479 school employees in San Diego, California has voted to decertify SEIU Local 221 and join an independent union called the Poway School Employees Association (PSEA).

On June 10, the California Public Employment Relations Board tallied workers’ ballots and announced the following results:

PSEA:  295 votes
SEIU Local 221: 10 votes
No Union: 1 vote

The 479 workers include cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, groundskeepers, warehouse workers, skilled trades workers, and others at the Poway Unified School District, which is the third-largest school district in the county. Poway USD, located in northern San Diego County, operates 38 schools serving 35,500 students, according to its website.

What was behind the landslide vote, in which 96% voted to dump SEIU?  

In a press release, the PSEA offers a hint about why the president of SEIU’s former chapter at the district joined other rank-and-file leaders to remove SEIU.

The PSEA describes the election results as…

a resounding rebuke of SEIU, which has represented these 479 employees since 1988. In March of this year, the former leadership of the SEIU chapter at PUSD led the effort to unite their blue-collar members with PSEA, an independent union which has represented the 1,500 white-collar classified employees at PUSD since 2010. The former SEIU chapter leaders complained of unresponsive SEIU representatives, high SEIU dues, and a lack of resources, training and assistance.

Last week’s decertification election is just the latest in a string of losses for SEIU Local 221. In recent years, at least eight bargaining units have bolted Local 221 including…

1) San Diego Community College District
2) City of San Marcos
3) City of La Mesa
4) San Diego County’s Probation Officers Unit
5) San Diego County’s Crafts Unit
6) San Diego Regional Center
7) San Diego County’s Construction, Maintenance, Operations and Repair Unit8) Poway Unified School District’s Operations Support Service Unit

Here’s the PSEAS’s press release about last week’s election at Poway USD:

  San Diego (Calif.) School Employees Decertify SEIU Local 221 and Join Independent Union June 10, 2016

SEIU Local 221 Is Forced into Do-Over after Workers Protest "Starbucks" Election

This week, SEIU Local 221 in San Diego is conducting another 'do-over' of an internal officer election after union members filed protests with the Purple Palace and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.

In the first election, which took place last December, only 41 of the 5,000 members of the County of San Diego Chapter actually filled out a ballot. (That's less than one percent.)

Why?

SEIU refused to send mail-in ballots to its members. Instead, SEIU set up voting booths at “5 weird Starbucks locations" during just one day of voting for 5,000 workers employed at 200 county worksites, according to union members.

Super fair, right?

For the do-over election, which began April 22nd, SEIU is continuing to refuse to send out mail-in ballots to its members. This time, there'll be voting booths at 22 County worksites during five days of voting.

However, workers report that SEIU has pulled another last-minute trick from its purple hat in an effort to get its hand-picked candidates elected to office.

SEIU has censored the online statements of candidates who are critical of SEIU's leaders. These statements are posted on the union's website so voters can understand who/what they're voting for. Here's the phrase that SEIU deleted from candidates' statements:

"A reform movement has started in SEIU (see SMART at reformseiu.com)."

So... workers quickly filed another round of protests. Meanwhile, SEIU is conducting balloting at the county worksites.

Looks like the United Nations should run SEIU's elections from here on out.

Here's a link to "Reform 221," a group of rank-and-file union members that filed the original protest against SEIU's "Starbucks" election.