Reading List!

• New York Times article about the Kaiser election, written by Steven Greenhouse, SEIU's Chief of Staff's college roommate.
• Randy Shaw tells you what is BS about the Times article.
• In These Times weighs in.
• Steve Early reports from the field with his article "Scoundrel Time at Kaiser."
• A Kaiser worker gets in on the action.
• Democracy Now covers the election, too. This time a great video!
• Cali's Democrats are suffering because of SEIU's scandals and the distraction of the Kaiser fight. When the democrats suffer, so do SEIU's public sector members.

That should keep you busy for a bit.

A Little Late to Get a Conscience!

Brian Feist, a Tru Corps soldier from Portland, OR who likes Ayn Rand books, posts this on his Facebook page:

"Wow, her is Democracy Now's coverage of the job I was working on in Cali. Now I feel kinda bad about (it.)

A little late, slugger, but we'll take your apology. Send it to tastysternburger@gmail.com

Check Out this Flier, Made For and By Members at Kaiser Oakland

Last week the SEIU steward at Kaiser Oakland's ER decided that he was going to vote for NUHW. He didn't wear red, he didn't stop doing his job as a steward, he just had some conversations with his co-workers and decided to vote for NUHW, not SEIU.

And when SEIU found out--they had him removed as a steward. Big mistake, according to sources, Bill is well liked and well respected at work. His coworkers made this flier to share the news of SEIU's "intimidation."



________________________________________________

Sept. 17

ED’s BILL HENDRIX,

ELECTED STEWARD, REMOVED BY SEIU

It’s An Outrage!



SEIU just removed another elected shop steward, ED’s

Bill Hendrix. Bill is an LVN. He worked at Kaiser since 2002. His staff elected him as their representative. When Bill showed interest in NUHW, SEIU defied the ER voters. Call it voter intimidation.


Elected shop stewards are the backbone of union strength.

They serve us without pay. Stewards file grievances, negotiate with managers, and heal our differences. The removal of Bill is part of a campaign to dismantle the democratic structures that made our union strong. Without our consent, even without our input,

SEIU has already removed hundreds of elected stewards. A hundred rank-and-file e-board members were dumped. SEIU leaders spit on our elections, now they want our vote.


Bill put it this way: As a steward, “I felt I have had no backing from SEIU. Everytime that there was a disagreement with management over fair treatment of my members, I had to fight SEIU to gain support. SEIU runs the union as a dictatorship.”


Brothers and sisters, if Barbara Lee were removed from office by dictate, would we remain silent? How can we, in self-respect, vote for leaders who destroyed our tolerant,democratic union. It’s Bob Marley time: “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights.”

Local 221 President Eric Banks: "Did you I tend this for me?"

Check out this hilarious prank email that was forwarded to Tasty. A reader decided to try to find out how many staff SEIU 221 sent to fight Kaiser workers...The answer is 3, which is a lot for a local with less than 7000 members.

But the bigger news here is that Eric Banks fell for this email at all...

Here is the first email that was sent to Banks:

__________________

On Sep 18, 2010, at 1:19 PM, <field_uhw@hotmail.com> wrote:

Eric,

How many organizers have you sent us? We need more staff/members down up here asap! Unless you want to work as a field rep in Oklahoma I'd suggest you stop fucking around down there and get us some people.

Call me today.

Dave Regan

(xxx) xxx-8399

______________________

Hilarious, but not that convincing...unless you are Eric Banks. His response:

______________________

Subject: Re: Not OK
From: eric.banks@seiulocals.org
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:51:08 -0700
To: field_uhw@hotmail.com

Brother Regan,

Did you I tend this for me? I sent three people.

Eric Banks

Meet Your Zombie: Erika Minkowsky

Erika is a TruCorps staffer currently assigned to Kaiser San Jose, though she appears to have gotten her start in faux-unionism at the former SEIU 790.

Not only is Erika a Zombie, she is a blogger! You know how TASTY loves staff blogs and videos! Erika was blogging here--in a contest to win trips around the world. (Erika-Tasty knows what a pain in the ass spell check and grammar can be--but when entering a contest you should re-read your work! And use capital letters and shit.) Anywho, there are some real gems in this blog. For example this profound statement: .

"I am a positive face of the united states because i represent peace and what it really means to share and respect all that i see and experience."

Hmmm...That's not how Kaiser workers see Erika. Here are some of the things Tasty has heard about Erika:

• "Sometimes Erika breaks the law by intimidating workers, telling them they'll lose their contract if they support NUHW".
  
• At other times she uses what she thinks are her physical charms to entice the support of male members. Recently, the elevator door on the 4th Floor opened to reveal PT mobility worker and Erika. Erika scrambled out blushing. "When she was gone, the PT mobility worker, who was terrified and white-as-a-sheet, mind you, said, 'Damn, and I though Doug Jones (SEIU Rep) was pushy.'"
• On Thursday, Erika colluded with EVS management to target NUHW supporter John Gott for discipline. " John had been proudly wearing his NUHW t-shirt. That was just too much for Erika to tolerate on the day Kaiser members began casting their votes here in San Jose. Erika ratted John out to his boss, telling the boss that John was in violation of the EVS department's dress-code."

In one fell-swoop, Erika "Kapo" Minkowsky managed to:
1) get Kaiser to help her campaign for SEIU by trying and failing to hide the Red-Tide that's surging in EVS, and
2) violate the Union's legal obligations under Duty of Fair Representation (DFR).!

All in a day's work for a Zombie!

And some members note that Erika likes to brag about the time she's spent in Latin America. They report that her Spanish is fairly on point grammatically--but her accent is painful to listen to. Might Tasty suggest more Spanish lessons and less GETTING MEMBERS DISCIPLINED?

109!!!

Check out this letter from Kaiser Richmond (former SEIU-UHW) Shop Steward Fred Manuel!

______________________________________


ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

When does a union stop being a union?

I was elected by my co-workers to be a steward in the
Richmond Lab in May of this year. Since that time, it has
become clear that the priority of SEIU-UHW is not the well
being of its Kaiser members. Time after time, they have made
it abundantly clear that their focus is not where it should be:

• SEIU –UHW staff who schedule trainings for stewards and
then fail to show up;

• SEIU – UHW staff who promise to provide copies of our contract for the members and
then fail month after month to deliver those contracts; and

• SEIU – UHW staff who tell the stewards that it is their job to get members to wear pro
SEIU-UHW stickers, but who fail to provide the support necessary to handle everyday
grievances and work-site issues.

They have not allowed me to do the job my co-workers elected me to do – making sure that
we enforce the contract and insure that no harm comes to our co-workers.

A union stops being a union when those who run the union put their personal interests
before those of the members – those who pay their salaries. SEIU-UHW is no longer my
union – that is why I have chosen to resign my position as shop steward.

Please join me in voting for NUHW – a union of the members, a union by the members,
and a union for the members.

In Unity,

Fred Manuel,
former Shop Steward, PM Shift
Richmond Lab

Jake Decker, The i-Phone Stalker

Kaiser South San Francisco has an "organizer" named Jake Decker. Jake is a failed regional coordinator for "Change that Works" the SEIU front group that was supposed to organize in swing states for EFCA and Public Option Healthcare Legislation. (Great work on that, btw.) Tasty hears from some past Change that Works staff that Jake was a particular failure in his role...

And what do they do with failures at SEIU? They send 'em to clean up Stern's mess in California!

Sadly for SEIU Jake has no skillz...but he does have an i-phone! In fact, when he runs into a Kaiser workers he demands their emplyee ID, calls up their info on his phone and calculates what their raises would be under the SEIU contract (or not for those who are laid off...). Beyond that he pulls up the home address and personal information of each member!

Additionaly, Tasty hears that he stares at female Kaiser leaders, taking pictures, staring at them in the break room, following them through the hallways...Intimidation much? Tasty guesses that is easier than actually dealing with the issues and organizing workers!

...it doesn't sound like someone you want having your home address.