"Save Our Unions"!

If you’re interested in a good read, labor journalist Steve Early just published a new book called “Save Our Unions.” The book, available from Monthly Review Press, has chapters with titles like, "A Stewards' Army Uprising."

One chapter -- “Partnering or Picketing?” -- describes the giant strikes that 21,000 members of NUHW and CNA recently waged against Kaiser Permanente. He describes how Purple officials like SEIU-UHW Executive Board member Shawna Stewart teamed up with Kaiser’s bosses to fight the strikes.

In another chapter called "The Corporate Wellness Scam," Early profiles the newest flavor of corporate ripoffs designed by Pepsi and other giant corporations -- which is actively being pushed by SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan in partnership with the corporate fatcats. For example, Early describes this episode:

At Daughters of Charity, the new "wellness program" negotiated in April 2012 by SEIU’s United Healthcare Workers-West comes, per usual, with more familiar forms of cost shifting. Three thousand UHW members at five hospitals will now pay 25 percent of the monthly premiums for PPO coverage that was previously fully paid by their employer. Out-of-pocket costs for medical plan utilization (doctor visits, prescriptions, etc.) will double and the premiums of workers who fail to meet new standards for personal healthiness will be 20 percent higher than those for their coworkers. To get these concessions approved, UHW conducted a rushed two-day ratification vote that began less than 12 hours after a tentative agreement was reached. The SEIU Constitution requires three days' advance notice of ratification votes; workers at Daughters of Charity got only nine hours. According to workers who complained, in writing, to SEIU president Mary Kay Henry, UHW reps refused to provide them with copies of the agreement they were voting on.

And Early finds hopeful lessons from workers' recent battles:

The goal of "saving our unions" is best pursued in ecumenical fashion, from the bottom up, with no false dichotomy between "external” and "internal" organizing… Wherever the traditional route of union reform is blocked and workers remain trapped in labor-management relationships that deprive them of any meaningful, independent voice, a militant minority will soldier on. Its usual friends and allies will continue to lend a hand because they know that the magic kingdom of labor-management partnering is no laboratory for creating a more democratic, inclusive, and social justice-oriented labor movement. It's far more likely that elements of such a movement will emerge from worker resistance to company unionism, where the first glimmers of something better are already visible and inspiring at Kaiser.

Here’s more info on the book. Check it out!

Fight for $15? Whoops! SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan didn’t get the memo.

National headlines have highlighted the “Fight for $15” to win long-overdue wage increases for fast food workers. SEIU, in classic fashion, has planted its flag atop the movement with Mary Kay Henry gleefully tweeting about her undying support for a livable wage of $15 an hour.

And then there’s Dave Regan… who apparently is not too good at math.  

It turns out that Regan is paying hundreds of signature-gatherers as little as $10 an hour (with no benefits) to qualify his fake ballot propositions for California’s November ballot, according to staffers on the campaign.

It’s classic SEIU, right?

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

The signature-gatherers are required to collect between 90 and 110 signatures during a six-hour shift. If they fail to meet the quota, they're fired.

In similar campaigns, signature-gatherers are paid a flat dollar amount per signature, which would produce higher take-home pay than what Regan’s currently paying. Instead, Regan is paying a wage that’s far below what SEIU itself considers livable… and far less than Regan’s salary of $300,000 a year.

Insiders report that Regan will spend $5 million on his signature-gathering effort. Most of the money will land in the bank account of "Democracy Resources," a political consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon that’s staffed by some ex-SEIU staffers.

In 2012, Regan paid the firm $4.2 million to collect signatures for the first round of his fake ballot measure maneuver, which he promptly yanked off the ballot so he could have partnership talks with hospital CEOs.

The following year, Regan paid Democracy Resources an unknown sum to knock on Kaiser Permanente workers’ front doors during the giant NLRB election for 45,000 workers.

Ted Blaszak, Democracy Resources

This year, Regan’s BFF, Meg Niemi, also hired the firm to collect signatures for her so-called “consumer oriented” ballot measures, which she happily traded away in exchange for partnership talks with some of Oregon’s hospital bosses. (Uh, sorry consumers.)

Democracy Resources is headed by Portland resident Ted Blaszak, who apparently spends way too much time watching “Portlandia.”

James Musumeci, one of the firm's top staffers, formerly worked for SEIU and TruCorps, a consulting firm co-founded by SEIU’s Jim Philliou that has pocketed beaucoup bucks from Regan.

“The fast-food workers are fighting for all of us,” said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry about the "Fight for $15" campaign.

Hmmm… wonder who will fight for SEIU’s $10-an-hour signature gatherers?

SEIU-UHW's DOL Form LM-2, 2012

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan: "I want you back, Duane!"

Regan: "I want you back, Duane"

Dave Regan’s ballot-initiative bamboozle doesn’t appear to be going too well. 

At least, that's the impression that Tasty gets from Regan’s increasingly desperate efforts to get someone… anyone… at the California Hospital Association (CHA) to pay attention to him.

Recently, Regan launched his most dramatic attention-grabbing effort to date. He ordered SEIU-UHW’s staffers to collect signatures for his fake ballot initiatives right in front of the CHA’s office in Sacramento! And to make sure the CHA didn't miss it, he held a press conference on the sidewalk at the same time.

It was quite a scene.

There was Regan, perched on the CHA’s doorstep as he played the role of the jilted lover who’d like nothing more than to climb between the sheets with his ex-lovers at the CHA. 

Regan nervously craned his neck in hopes of catching a glimpse of Duane Dauner through the CHA’s tinted windows. Dave was like the quintessential spurned lover who stands outside his ex’s apartment and screams crazy sh*t like, “I swear I'm gonna kill myself unless you get back together with me….”  “PLEASE,” Regan sobbed. “I just wanna us to be like we were before…”

So why isn’t Duane Dauner inviting Regan to do the Big Nasty under the CHA’s silk sheets?

It may have something to do with the following facts recited by the Los Angeles Times in a recent article:

She said the hospital association had calculated that [Regan’s] pricing measure would pull $12 billion in annual revenue from the state's hospitals, causing the facilities to cut back on the services they offer. (The labor union has a lower estimate of the measure's effect on hospitals: a $3.4-billion decline in revenue).

Did you catch that? If Regan’s fake initiatives actually appear on the ballot and are approved by voters, they’ll drain billions of dollars from California's hospitals. Under that scenario, imagine Regan as he attempts to negotiate pay increases for SEIU-UHW's members... from the same hospital CEOs who’ve been stripped of billions of dollars thanks to Dave’s initiatives.

So… it may be that the CHA has finally discovered the fatal flaw in Regan’s fake ballot scheme… and is now calling Dave’s bluff. Stay tuned!

Former-SEIU-president-turned-hedge-fund-insider Andy Stern: “Don’t criticize my pals!”

Stern with Honeywell CEO David Cote

In case you're wondering what SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern is up to these days, he’s super busy defending all his plutocratic pals at hedge funds and corporate penthouses -- like billionaire Ron Perelman, Honeywell CEO David Cote, and pension-slashing-venture-capitalist Gina Raimondo.

Here's the latest.

Stern, in yet another eloquent performance, recently told the Washington Post that he ain’t concerned at all that the United States now has the worst income inequality since 1928… and even trails countries like Poland, Hungary, South Korea and Estonia in terms of income distribution… as U.S. CEOs pocket billions while slashing workers’ pay, health insurance and pensions.

Check out this “Quote of the Month” featured in the latest edition of Labor Notes:

Quote of the Month: The Washington Post asked former-SEIU-president-turned-hedge-fund-insider Andy Stern his advice for the Democratic Party. Stern spoke out: "I think it's really not helpful for the Democrats to turn this into an attack on the 1 percent. I don't think it's the American spirit, or at least the Democratic Party's future spirit. As Republicans attack immigration, we attack rich people? If you've learned anything from the president, selling hope is better than selling hate."

As NUHW Exposes Scandal, Top Kaiser Permanente Exec Resigns under Fire

 

Dr. Christine Cassel

Last week, NUHW scored an exciting victory when a top official at Kaiser Permanente resigned after the union exposed six-figure corruption inside the giant HMO.

NUHW’s action made headlines in the Los Angeles Times, Modern Healthcare, ProPublica and elsewhere.

Here's what happened.

Despite Kaiser's bogus claims of hard financial times, it turns out the HMO is awash with so much cash that it lubricates its Board of Directors with $1,400-an-hour salaries! 

According to tax returns posted on NUHW's website, Kaiser pays each of its 15 board members more than $200,000 a year for attending only six board meetings!

Hmm... last time Tasty checked, Kaiser was supposed to be a nonprofit!

And in the case of one board member, Kaiser’s gold-plated payouts triggered fears that the HMO is using its six-figure generosity to purchase the loyalty of a top industry insider.

NUHW revealed that the board member -- Dr. Christine Cassel -- also happens to serve as the CEO of the National Quality Forum, a DC-based organization whose decisions affect Kaiser’s revenues under the Medicare program.

Furthermore, NUHW revealed that last year, Cassel accepted a position on the board of directors of Premier, Inc., one of the largest group-purchasing organizations in the U.S. healthcare industry. For this third gig, Cassel took home $235,000 in cash and stock.

That's in addition to her salary at her ‘day job,’ where NQF pays her $561,000 a year!

After NUHW gave the info to ProPublica, the award-winning group of investigative journalists penned an article about Cassel’s conflicts of interest. Top ethics experts who are cited in ProPublica's article said her payouts are "egregious" and called on her to resign. A U.S. senator weighed in, instructing Cassel to cough up internal documents. NUHW called for Cassel's resignation.

Soon thereafter, Cassel quit her positions at both Kaiser and Premier, Inc., making headlines across the nation.

It's similar to an earlier episode, when NUHW ousted a fatcat CEO for pocketing eight pension plans while trying to eliminate workers' only pension. Once again, NUHW has scored an important victory by exposing the corruption among the well-heeled executives atop the U.S. healthcare industry.