SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Suffers Smackdown in Radio Debate with NUHW over Kaiser Election

Check this out. Last Friday, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan and NUHW’s John Borsos conducted an on-air debate about the Kaiser election that was broadcast by a radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area. Below, Tasty has posted an unedited recording of the 25-minute debate.

So how’d the debate end up?

Basically, Regan got his ass handed to him... even though he refused to engage in a normal debate against Borsos. Instead of having a regular back-and-forth exchange between the two, SEIU-UHW insisted that each person be given 10 minutes to answer questions -- but only questions from the radio host.

Regan’s debate performance -- although pathetically lame -- offers a revealing snapshot of the tactics and themes that SEIU-UHW has employed throughout its Kaiser election campaign… complete with purple lies, fear tactics, bullying and a heavy dose of arrogance and evasiveness.

What’s most stunning to Tasty is how shamelessly Regan lied during the course of the debate. In just ten minutes, Regan managed to spit out multiple big-ass lies... which of course are all very easy to refute. One listener -- an SEIU-UHW member who’s a homecare worker -- put it this way in a comment posted on the radio station’s website:

Does Dave Regan realize that there's a new invention called the Internet? It's handy for fact checking everything our "leader" claims.

For instance, check out this exchange where Regan tries to tell listeners that workers will somehow lose their contract if they vote for NUHW. Regan apparently forgot that SEIU published the truth about this issue on its own website -- that workers will maintain all of the terms and conditions of their contract (their wages, pension, health insurance, benefits, shift differentials, future pay increases, etc) when they vote to switch unions. (Click image to enlarge it.)

And of course Regan forgot to mention that the 2010 Kaiser election was overturned precisely because SEIU-UHW teamed up with Kaiser Permanente to illegally threaten workers that they'd lose their contract. 

Here are two interesting exchanges between Regan and the radio interviewer:

Pathetic, right?   "I don't understand the question."  WTF is that!

Did you notice what Regan did when he got caught red-handed in a giant lie by the interviewer? Instead of acknowledging the truth, Regan simply doubled down on his lie and then tried to bully the interviewer!

Here, then, is the full, unedited interview, which aired on KPFA radio on April 5. Below, Tasty has responded to each of Regan's lies with links to documents that refute each lie. Hmm... Regan should really try out this new thing called “the internet!” 

Has SEIU-UHW negotiated “me too” clauses with hospital companies?  During the debate, Regan said “NO.”  Well, here’s a signed version of the “me too” clause that SEIU-UHW signed just four months ago with Sutter Health’s St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco. By the way, this “me too” clause was even reported in the press, which contains quotes from SEIU-UHW's press spokesperson about the "me too" clause! (Click image to enlarge it.)

Did a judge overturn the 2010 election at Kaiser because of violations committed by SEIU-UHW and Kaiser?  Yes. Here’s a link to the judge’s 34-page decision, which states:

The mail ballot election held between September 13 and October 4 was set aside because the National Labor Relations Board found that certain conduct of SEIU-UHW West in the circumstances of unfair labor practices committed by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Southern California Permanente Medical Group among three professional collective-bargaining units of Kaiser employees in Southern California interfered with the employees' exercise of a free and reasoned choice among employees in the following unit.

Did Regan try to roll back California's landmark nurse-to-patient staffing law?  Not only that, he even lobbied the California Labor Federation to help him undercut the safe-staffing law! Regan's buddy Duane Dauner, the CEO of the California Hospital Association, described Regan's efforts to the Sacramento Business Journal. Regan's back-stabbing role was even discussed by other SEIU officials like Neal Bisno, who wrote emails stating: "No idea what Dave was thinking." Meanwhile, Sue Weinstein, the Executive Director of SEIU Local 121 (which represents RNs in Southern California), issued a formal statement saying: "We are calling on UHW to declare nurse-to-patient staffing ratios 'off limits' in its ongoing work with the California Hospital Association." 

Did SEIU Local 1021 criticize Regan for weakening progressives in San Francisco by making alliances with downtown business interests and the Chamber of Commerce?  Here’s a link to the letter signed by Local 1021’s Political Director and two other top officers of Local 1021. Oh yeah, Regan deserves special kudos for dissing multiple leaders of Local 1021 in one fell swoop.

Greg Maron

Did SEIU-UHW instruct its members to cross the picket lines during the huge strikes by members of NUHW and the CNA in 2011 and 2012?  SEIU-UHW not only told its members to scab during the strike, they even teamed up with management to threaten SEIU-UHW’s members with discipline and firings if they supported the strikes. SEIU-UHW also sent emails to workers instructing them not to honor the

picket lines.

And SEIU-UHW’s Greg Maron stormed through Kaiser hospitals making threats to RNs to dissuade them from striking. Notably, members of NUHW and CNA launched the strikes to oppose Kaiser’s demand for benefit cuts... including the same retiree health cut that Regan later accepted SEIU-UHW's members during 'partnership' bargaining. 

Hmm... if Dave Regan is willing to tell so many blatant lies over the radio, can we really trust anything he says?

News: "NUHW Restores Concessions Agreed to by SEIU-UHW"

Check out this article in the BNA’s “Daily Labor Report.” 

It gives more details about the contract that NUHW recently negotiated at California’s second largest hospital, California Pacific Medical Center… and how NUHW’s contract is far superior to the one that SEIU-UHW negotiated with the same exact hospital chain.

It’s an interesting tale of two unions.

• NUHW successfully reversed the cutbacks that SEIU officials accepted soon after the trusteeship in 2009, including SEIU’s agreement to weaken seniority and shrink the opportunity for per diem workers to get benefitted positions.

• SEIU-UHW’s contract forces workers to pay 21 percent of their monthly health insurance premiums -- totaling hundreds of dollars per month for each worker. NUHW’s members don’t have to pay a cent for their health coverage.

• SEIU-UHW has acknowledged that NUHW is more effective at winning for its members at the bargaining table. SEIU inserted a “me too” clause in its contract with Sutter Health that allows SEIU-UHW members to enjoy the better wages and benefits that NUHW wins for its members. The news article actually quotes the language from SEIU’s “me too” clause.

Here are some excerpts from the article (the full text of the article is below):

NUHW’s contract restores concessions the former union representative [SEIU-UHW] agreed to accept. These concessions weakened seniority and made it more difficult for per diem workers to convert to positions with benefits…

Under the NUHW agreement, employees will continue to receive fully employer-paid health insurance, Borsos said. He said [SEIU-UHW’s] contract at St. Luke’s called for employees to pay 21 percent in premium contributions…

The contract SEIU-UHW negotiated with St. Luke’s [Hospital] late last year included a ‘‘me too’’ provision stating that if CPMC agreed ‘‘with another union at any of the locations of CPMC to an economic term more favorable to the employees than that contained within this agreement, the employer shall immediately notify the union and extend that more favorable economic term to the members of this bargaining unit.’’

The contract language listed examples of economic terms that included: raises; bonuses; terms of paid time off and extended sick leave usage and accrual; health insurance premium shares, copays, and deductibles; differentials; and premium pay. Borsos said the NUHW contract is more favorable in a number of areas including health care premiums, time off, and reporting pay, which will benefit the St. Luke’s employees.

The NUHW agreement provides employees who report to work but are sent home through no fault of their own 8 hours of reporting pay. UHW had agreed to cut reporting pay to 4 hours in the St. Luke’s contract.

NUHW also did not agree to any changes in paid time off and extended leave, which SEIU-UHW did. While both the NUHW and the SEIU-UHW contracts lowered the cap on the number of PTO hours that could be cashed out from 400 to 320, employees would stop accruing hours after 320 under the SEIU-UHW contract, which NUHW did not agree to, he said.

Also, SEIU-UHW agreed to cap the accrual of extended sick leave to 720 hours, while NUHW did not agree to any cap, he said.

   BNA Daily Labor Report: "NUHW Members Ratify CPMC Contract, Restoring Concessions Agreed to by SEIU-UH...

SEIU-UHW Negotiates Deep Cuts for Thousands of Sutter Health Workers

Tasty hears that Dave Regan is bringing his concessionary caravan to more than a half dozen Sutter Health hospitals that employ thousands of SEIU-UHW’s members. Sutter is the largest hospital chain in Northern California and has pocketed $1.6 billion in profits during the past two years.  

Readers may recall that in August, Regan cut a deal with Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center that allowed the hospital to subcontract more than 100 of SEIU-UHW members' jobs -- or nearly 10% of the entire bargaining unit.

So what’s the latest?

Several weeks ago, Regan negotiated a new contract for SEIU-UHW’s members at Sutter Lakeside Hospital. SEIU's new deal slashes workers’ health benefits and imposes a wage freeze during the first year of the contract -- just like the wage freeze that Regan negotiated for 14,000 workers at Dignity Health/Catholic Healthcare West.

Regan also inked new contracts for SEIU-UHW’s members at Sutter’s St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco and Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. Under these deals, workers will be forced to pay hundreds of dollars each month for a health insurance plan that’s always been free. Here’s an excerpt from the tentative agreement, signed by SEIU-UHW’s Julie Kwiek, that puts workers on the hook to pay at least 27% of the monthly health premiums by the end of the contract. (Click on image below to enlarge it.)

Oh, and that’s not all.  SEIU-UHW officials agreed to cut workers’ reporting pay in half and to implement a corporate wellness program.

Then, on Wednesday of this week, workers at Sutter Solano Medical Center reported that SEIU-UHW officials negotiated another sell-out contract deal.

Yesterday, SEIU bargained with Sutter Roseville Medical Center and, according to workers, was trying to force huge concessions down the throats of workers. Members of SEIU-UHW’s own bargaining committee began rebelling against their union as reports circulated that Regan had cut a secret back-room deal with the company’s execs to slash their benefits.

More to come!