Adios, Dave: Union Quits Coalition to Join Rival Alliance of Kaiser’s “Partnership” Unions

Dave Regan’s Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (“the Coalition”) just got smaller.

Last week, UNITE HERE Local 5 -- which represents 2,000 Kaiser workers in Hawaii -- announced its decision to leave the Coalition and join the Alliance of Health Care Unions (“the Alliance”).

Formed in March 2018, the Alliance is a rival group of “partnership” unions that bolted the Coalition following Regan’s attempt to seize greater control over unions’ decision-making process.

In a June 18th announcement on its website, the Alliance describes the development this way:

On Wednesday, June 13, the Alliance Steering Committee accepted UNITE HERE Local 5 as our newest member. Alliance Chair Kathleen Theobald hailed the move, saying “The union makes us strong – and the more unions in our Alliance, the stronger we are. Local 5 is a powerful, committed local union with experienced leadership, and we’re very happy to welcome them!” Local 5 represents approximately 2,000 KP workers in Hawaii.

“With our contract expiring in a few months, UNITE HERE Local 5 has joined the other Kaiser unions with 2018 expiration dates in bargaining,” said Secretary-Treasurer Eric Gill. “Together, we will achieve a contract settlement that meets our economic needs, builds greater solidarity among our allied unions and holds Kaiser management responsible to the highest degree of partnership with unionized Kaiser workers.  We appreciate the Alliance’s prompt acceptance of our union’s participation.”

In a post on its own website, UNITE HERE Local 5 told its members:

Aloha Kaiser Brothers and Sisters,

UNITE HERE! Local 5 was accepted into the Alliance of Health Care Unions yesterday… As a member of the Alliance, we will join 45,000 Kaiser workers from 21 other locals in attaining a National Agreement. That process has already begun. Local bargaining will also commence in the coming weeks. Please stay involved and committed to getting a good contract that benefits all.

Local 5’s departure represents a blow to the Coalition and SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan. Local 5’s President, Eric Gill, held the second highest position on the Coalition’s Board of Directors. Gill was the “Vice Chair” while Regan serves as the “Chair.”

The move leaves the Coalition with 11 local unions from three international unions (SEIU, the Office and Professional Employees International Union, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees).

Meanwhile, the Alliance has 22 local unions from nine international unions (Teamsters, Steelworkers, AFSCME, American Federation of Teachers, UFCW, ILWU, Operating Engineers, UNITE HERE and the KPNAA).

Will the Coalition keep on shrinking?

Definitely possible, say sources.

Tasty hears that OPEIU Local 30 is weighing a switch to the Alliance. Such a move would be especially embarrassing for Regan since Local 30’s Executive Director Walter Allen currently serves as the Coalition’s “Interim Executive Director” following the departure of Hal Ruddick.

UNITE HERE’s exit follows the departure of a number of the Coalition’s longtime staff, some of whom quit in order to join the Alliance. Tasty hears these defections are continuing.

Partnership Unions' Bargaining Survey Speaks Volumes

Here's the latest from Kaiser.

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (a.k.a. "the partnership unions") has begun circulating a bargaining survey in advance of upcoming national negotiations covering 90,000 workers at Kaiser facilities across the U.S.  The negotiations are scheduled to begin April 14, 2015.

So… Are top officials at the partnership unions planning to fight Kaiser's effort to cut workers' pensions and health benefits?

It sure doesn't look like it.

Check out the Coalition's bargaining survey (see below). It doesn't even mention the idea of preserving the defined-benefit pension plan that Kaiser is trying to replace with a 401(k) plan. And it fails to mention the health benefit cuts that Kaiser has already proposed to the Coalition.

Instead, here’s how the survey attempts to re-frame the Coalition’s dumbed-down bargaining goals:

Completely lame and dishonest, right?

Also absent from the survey? Any mention of Kaiser's record $14.5 billion in profits and its skyrocketing executive pay.

So who's responsible for the survey?

SEIU-UHW, with half of the Coalition's total membership of 90,000 workers, is by far the largest union inside the Coalition and consequently calls all the shots inside the Coalition. In fact, one of Dave Regan's staffers -- Hal Ruddick – is the Executive Director of the Coalition and will be its lead negotiator at the bargaining table.

Meanwhile, the non-partnership unions are intensifying their fight against Kaiser even as partnership union officials prepare to jam cuts down their members’ throats.

Earlier this month, the California Nurses Association’s 18,000 RNs conducted a two-day strike at Kaiser. Also this month, NUHW’s members -- who’ve waged a four-year battle against the cuts and scored a $4 million fine against the HMO -- announced the results of a membership vote to authorize another statewide strike against Kaiser. And in Hawaii, UNITE HERE Local 5 has staged multiple strikes and job actions to oppose cuts to workers' benefits.

Stay tuned.

  “National Bargaining Survey” for 2015 Negotiations, Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions

Kaiser’s Phil Marineau is Nuts about Brazilian Butts

Kaiser's Phil Marineau: "I love Brazil Butt"

Remember Phil Marineau?

He's the guy on Kaiser Permanente’s board of directors who recently said "I gotta go to the head” when workers asked him about Kaiser's repeated patient-care violations and its demands for benefit cuts from workers even though Kaiser is making billions in profits.

Why does Marineau spend so much time in “the head?” It turns out he’s developed a keen interest in butts… and, er, Brazilian butts in particular.

Marineau is the former CEO of Pepsi. After making billions of dollars by selling sugar-packed sodas to the public, he's now making a buck from the public’s rapidly expanding waist lines… by hawking weight-loss schemes!

And that's not all. Like many fancy-pants capitalists, Marineau is apparently just a two-bit huckster in a three-piece suit.

The folks over at UNITE HERE, who represent Kaiser’s workers in Hawaii, recently launched a website that outs the nefarious business scam perpetrated by Marineau and his buddies at a New York private equity firm.

The scam works like this.

Marineau’s latest business venture -- Beach Body, LLC -- is a fitness-product company that sells exercise DVDs, nutritional supplements and work-out equipment including P90X, Insanity, and Brazil Butt Lift.

Brazil Butt Lift’s website features tons of photos of women’s butts along with classy appeals to readers like these:

“Booty Makeover Guide”

"Holy Hottie! Get me that booty!”

“Want to get a supermodel sexy booty in just 60 days?"

“My butt lifted an inch and I ended up losing 20 pounds." (WTF??)

The centerpiece of Beach Body’s scam is a “Multi-Level Marketing” scheme. Basically, Beach Body signs up regular people to serve as so-called "Coaches" who sell the company’s products for a commission. These “Coaches,” who are considered “independent contractors,” sign a 14-page contract filled with tons of hidden charges, fees, taxes, etc that drain money out of each unsuspecting Coach’s pocket as quickly as s/he can sell product.

from Brazil Butt Lift's website. Phil is one classy dude.

According to UNITE HERE’s website, more than half of the “Coaches” don’t make a penny from selling the company’s products! But Beach Body makes wads of cash, of course.

It's a perfect business model for Marineau and his money-grubbing pals over at LNK Partners, a New York private equity firm where Marineau is a partner.

That is… until UNITE HERE outed all of the details behind Marineau’s Brazil Butt scam!

Here's a link to UNITE HERE’s website:  http://www.beachbodybummer.org/

Hawaii: A 'Partnership Union' Beds Down with Boss While Workers Fight Kaiser Permanente's Cuts

A reader in Hawaii sent more news about the ‘partnership union’ that inked a secret deal with Kaiser Permanente to lay off nearly one-quarter of the Registered Nurses at Kaiser’s clinics in Hawaii. As Tasty reported earlier, the deal is strikingly similar to SEIU-UHW’s secret deal to axe 1,000 jobs across California.

In the latest development in Hawaii, UNITE HERE Local 5 -- a non-partnership union that represents CNAs, clerical workers, housekeepers and other staffers at Kaiser facilities -- is fighting the RN layoffs because the RN’s ‘partnership union’ is simply too far in bed with Kaiser to actually do anything for its RN membership.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser captured the news in this revealing headline: “RN Layoffs Fought by Other Kaiser Staff.” Here’s an excerpt (full article is below):

Cade Watanabe, spokesman for UNITE HERE Local 5, said, “We don’t trust Kaiser. What we’re hearing from our members every day is quite alarming. Patients should know that these layoffs, even though they may only affect a very specific number of registered nurses, will have huge impacts on the quality of care that they’re going to be receiving at Kaiser.”

So what’s the ‘partnership union’ – the Hawaii Nurses Association (HNA) – doing? Joan Craft, the HNA’s president, told the newspaper she’s is having “high-level discussions” with Kaiser management. Wow… that inspires a truckload of confidence!

And check out this other development. Kaiser -- which pocketed $2.6 billion in profits last year -- has announced plans to shut down its Honolulu Urgent Care Clinic later this month. Why? Here’s what a Kaiser spokesperson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

Kaiser said its plan to end urgent-care services at the Honolulu Clinic is part of a larger effort to improve overall care… “The innovative changes now in process at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii will enhance the member experience and patient care, make the highest and best use of our skilled staff, and allow for sustainable growth,” said Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott in an email.

“We’re working together with our physicians, staff and unions to continue to be the best place to receive care and the best place to work.”

Hmmm… sounds like Laura attended the same partnership training seminar where John August and Dave Regan hatched the idea to use terms like “innovative” and “21^st century” during this previous episode.

Fortunately, UNITE HERE Local 5 ain’t no partnership union. Tomorrow (March 6), the union is holding a protest with the community members in front of the urgent care clinic to oppose the closure. 

And the union’s 100-member bargaining committee has “authorized their union to move forward with preparations, including a strike” in order to protest the clinic’s closure and layoffs that will affect 13 of the union’s members, according to an article titled "Kaiser Workers Approve Protest by Union."

Quite a difference between regular unions and 'partnership unions.'

Tasty sends his congrats to all the Kaiser workers and patients at tomorrow’s rally in Honolulu! Here are the news stories cited above.

   Honolulu Star-Advertiser: "RN Layoffs Fought by Other Kaiser Staff" (1-30-13) and "Kaiser Wo... by