SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Launches New Attacks against SEIU Leaders: "The Shame of SEIU"

A source has leaked two letters penned by SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan that describe his deepening war with SEIU leaders. (The letters are viewable below.) 

In June, Regan leaked an earlier attack memo to the press that targeted SEIU President Mary Kay Henry ("Who’s Gonna Bell the Cat?").

In his latest letters, Regan says he is "repulsed and disgusted" by SEIU’s leaders who are selfishly pursuing "control, internal power and organizational dominance."

And that's just the beginning of Regan's rant.

In an "Open Letter to Leaders in SEIU" entitled "What Has Become of Us? The Shame of SEIU," Regan accuses SEIU’s leaders of being "consumed with power and domination in the service of nothing but appetite."

In case Regan's phrasing seems a bit whacky ("in the service of nothing but appetite"), Dave's letter also includes a quote from William Shakespeare.

So, uh… what prompted Dave's latest poison pen attack against SEIU President Mary Kay Henry and SEIU officials?

 

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan

It appears that Purple Palace officials have stepped up their war against Regan following their earlier successful effort to slash SEIU-UHW’s membership by 60,000 members.

In recent weeks, SEIU officials outmaneuvered Regan by inking their own secret deal with the California Hospital Association (CHA), thereby driving another nail into the coffin of Regan's secret pact with the CHA… which, by the way, has been languishing on its deathbed for months.

How did the SEIU officials do it?

According to the terms of Regan's CHA deal, Dave is required to secure billions of dollars of new government revenues for California hospital companies in order to win the right to unionize 100,000 hospital workers. In recent weeks, however, Purple Palace officials teamed up with the California Teachers Association, California Governor Jerry Brown, and the CHA to sponsor an initiative that undercuts Regan's scheme for delivering billions of dollars to the hospital bosses.

This "chess move" has Regan spitting mad.

SEIU's Henry and Butler

In his two letters, Dave personally attacks Gov. Jerry Brown, the California Teachers Association, the Hospital Association, Laphonza Butler (President of the SEIU California State Council), Jon Youngdahl (Executive Director of the SEIU California State Council), and other SEIU leaders.

Oh, and Regan also attacks his former bunkmate, Duane Dauner (the CEO of the California Hospital Association), for inking a backroom deal with his SEIU rivals. 

Regan is so angry that he sent a letter to the CHA's membership trashing Dauner for being weak and ineffective, for selling out his members' interests, committing "monumental failures," and (more generally) for "the failure of Duane Dauner." 

Nice.

Talk about burning bridges. Regan's hate mail appears to signal that his "visionary," 21st century deal with the CHA is as dead as a doornail.

In SEIU's second attack on Regan, SEIU recently announced it’s sponsoring a statewide ballot initiative in California that competes directly with one that SEIU-UHW has been pursuing for months. Essentially, the SEIU California State Council and various SEIU local unions across the state are waging a head-to-head ballot fight against SEIU-UHW, which the Los Angeles Times describes this way in a recent article:

The fractious internal politics of one of California’s most powerful unions spilled into the movement to raise the statewide minimum wage Tuesday, as one wing of the Service Employees International Union announced a proposed ballot initiative that would compete with a measure backed by another branch of the labor group.

In his recently leaked letters, Regan attacks SEIU officials for conducting secret talks with the CHA:

SEIU's Jon Youngdahl

"These meetings with the Association representing all of UHW's hospital employers were never disclosed by either Butler or Youngdahl to UHW and clearly were intended to undermine and destabilize the hospital organizing work UHW was told to 'focus' on."

He goes on to attack SEIU's national leadership for being "insecure and weak" and also accuses them of "sabotage," "threats," "retaliation," and "impunity."

Here's more from Dave:

What are the implications for SEIU as a whole when the elected leader of the State Council takes it upon herself to secretly communicate with another local's employers and the employer Association for the sole purpose of sabotaging both the organizing and political work of that local?

What are the implications for the health and future of SEIU when UHW is forced to pay $2.5 million per year -- or be threatened with all manner of retaliation -- to a State Council that has license from the national leadership of SEIU to sabotage with impunity the legitimate work of UHW?

What does it mean when the national leadership of our union, and the state leadership of our Council, is so insecure and weak that they could even contemplate, let alone act upon, the sort of destructive behavior have recently been subjected to?

CHA's Duane Dauner

Cry me a river, right? 

It's always quite entertaining to see Backroom Dave -- whose snake-like qualities have never been mistaken for moral righteousness -- try to portray himself as the innocent victim of unscrupulous evildoers. 

Yo Dave, what goes around comes around. Ain't karma a b*tch.

Stay tuned for the next act of Dave’s Shakespearean drama.

Meanwhile, here are Regan's two letters.

  Dave Regan's Open Letter to SEIU: "The Shame of SEIU" (Nov. 2015)

  SEIU-UHW Dave Regan's letter to Members of the California Hospital Association on Duane Dauner (Novemb...

It official: 700 Workers at Two California Hospitals Dump SEIU-UHW, Join NUHW

Last week, the NLRB officially certified the results of an election in which approximately 700 workers at Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside Hospital voted to leave SEIU-UHW and join NUHW. The two hospitals are located just south of San Francisco, California.

In March of 2014, the workers -- who’d been members of SEIU-UHW for many years -- voted to join NUHW after SEIU-UHW's Dave Reagan teamed up with hospital's bosses to eliminate workers’ defined-benefit pension plan, slash their health benefits, and implement other cuts to workers' wages, benefits and working conditions.

Regan jammed the unpopular cuts down workers’ throats by orchestrating a ramrod ratification vote that violated SEIU-UHW's own Constitution.

In March of 2014, workers voted to ditch SEIU-UHW and join NUHW. Next, SEIU-UHW filed multiple legal appeals in an attempt to overturn the workers' decision.

On November 2, 2015 -- nearly 20 months after workers voted to dump SEIU-UHW -- the NLRB's highest body tossed out all of SEIU-UHW's challenges after noting that SEIU-UHW failed to present any credible evidence in support of its claims.

Why did it take the NLRB nearly 20 months to reach a decision, especially when SEIU-UHW couldn't even back up its allegations? Observers say it's a reflection of SEIU's inappropriate influence inside the NLRB.

Congratulations to Seton workers for their persistence and determination! 

More to follow.

Unionization Election Points to 'Tale of Two Unions'

Here's an interesting "tale of two unions" story.

SEIU-UHW is failing to win unionization elections engineered through Dave Regan's backroom deal with the California Hospital Association.

For example, workers at Mission Hospital rejected SEIU-UHW in an election held earlier this year despite the fact that the hospital's executives gave every possible advantage to SEIU-UHW and basically pleaded with their workers to join the purple union.

Meanwhile, non-union workers continue to join NUHW through NLRB elections. Earlier this month, 160 workers at one of California's largest nursing homes (181-bed Novato Healthcare Center in Novato, California) voted to join NUHW. It's the latest in a string of election victories for NUHW.

What accounts for the difference?

Regan has chosen a deliberate strategy of trying to grow SEIU-UHW by making it the bosses' preferred union. Regan gives special assistance to hospital corporations by helping them slash workers' benefits, implement lengthy no-strike clauses, impose gag clauses, and freeze wages. In exchange, Regan asks these bosses to herd their workers into SEIU-UHW, the bosses’ union.

So far, workers aren't buying what Regan (and the bosses) are selling.

Why?

It ain’t rocket science. 

Most workers don't like their bosses -- typically giant corporations squeezing profits from their hard work. Workers want fair wages, health insurance for their kids, a good retirement plan, and dignified treatment. And they want a union that'll help them fight for these goals.

This month's unionization victory at Novato Healthcare Center seems to confirm this notion. The workers launched their effort to join NUHW only after learning about NUHW's recent strike at a nearby facility run by the same parent corporation.

"I want some of that action," workers seemed to say.

So... a strike and a fighting union inspired workers to stand up to their boss.

It makes sense, right? And it represents a striking counterpoint to SEIU-UHW's strategy of purple company unionism. 

SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan Trashes SEIU International at Annual Membership Meeting

SEIU-UHW's Leadership Assembly featured a "giant custom flame bob"

A union member who attended SEIU-UHW's recent "Leadership Assembly" in Fresno, California sent along the following report, including news that Dave Regan used the event as a platform to trash SEIU International and President Mary Kay Henry.

The report begins this way:

I have just finished a few days at the leadership conference, and do I feel dirty. Not because of the members, they were the saving grace, but because of the SEIU-UHW staff leadership that are also on the executive board. These people are not members, they have no concept of the struggle that working people face, they don't know us or the work of the members.

As far as Regan trashing SEIU International...

The other part that I found so completely strange was the mention of the Home-care members being put in their own union. Regan was blasting the International, and their wrong decision to create SEIU 2015. Reagan and others have said several time that the International "stole" their members. I may be naive, but aren't they still in a union? Actually, they are still with SEIU. We are fighting for the same things and the same political agenda's, but they act like these members are their property to be stole. Really, I am sure Dave is just sad about the lack of dues and Cope. I was shocked about how much crap Dave was spreading about the international. I can't imagine that the International will just sit back and take this.  I am actually more than fine with Dave and his minions get kicked out by the international.

(FYI, the term "COPE" refers to voluntary political contributions that SEIU-UHW collects from some of its members and uses to fund political campaigns.)

Tasty's source says Regan also referred to his collapsing deal with the California Hospital Association, apparently confirming details disclosed in last week's post penned by California Watchdog President Jamie Court.

Regan said that if the hospital CEO's would not support the medi-cal measure then maybe they would start going after their high pays and bonuses. … Why would hospitals NOT support this measure. This will be more money for them. It was clear that we are spending members dues to push Reagan and his buddies agenda.

Regan has already spent more than $10-$15 million of SEIU-UHW members' dues dollars to twice file and then withdraw the same ballot measures he's now considering re-filing for third time.

And here's a final excerpt. Btw, check out this union member's dead-on description of Regan and SEIU-UHW’s fatcat staff leaders: "a greedy man and a few sycophants who are more boss than working people." 

Of course, the biggest message was around Cope. Pretty much, UHW has become a lobbying group. They are pushing that all executive board members must collect ten $10 dollar COPE cards every three months. The staff are the ones pushing these goals, and if they are not met staff is disciplined. We are constantly losing good staff and member leaders. … The problem is the people making the decisions on behalf of UHW members is a greedy man and a few sycophants who are more boss than working people.  Not only was Regan's message all about cope (And man was he a boring speaker), but about the upcoming ballot initiatives that we will be pushing. 

Consumer Watchdog: ‘Death Rattle Shakes Dave Regan’s Pact with California Hospital Association’

Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog

Today, the President of Consumer Watchdog reported the following news about SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan’s deal with the California Hospital Association in a blog:

Word on the street is that union President Dave Regan's Faustian bargain with the California hospital industry -- cuddle up with hospitals' management to keep patient problems quiet and receive more than 60,000 new hospital workers -- is now teetering on the brink of collapse. Apparently Regan shut up, but the hospitals didn't put up the new workers. Good riddance.

Consumer Watchdog, founded by public interest lawyer Harvey Rosenfield, is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization with offices in California and Washington, DC. It has won legislation to reform HMOs and utility companies as well as court battles to defend consumers against banks, oil companies and insurance corporations.

Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdog's president, describes additional details about SEIU-UHW's "Pax-Lucifer" with the CHA in today’s blog on his organization's website:

Inside sources says talks between the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and the California Hospital Association (CHA), the industry's lobbying group, have stalled...

As a result... Regan reportedly is now considering re-filing the same statewide ballot initiatives that he’s already filed (and withdrawn) twice at a cost of tens of millions of dollars to SEIU-UHW's membership. According to Court:

Regan may be threatening to take those two initiatives out of the closet again as a club for the hospitals, but it's not clear he has the money or connections to actually get them to the ballot. No one with any juice wants to work with Regan anymore.  He had 70,000 of his 150,000 members recently stripped from UHW and has lost any leverage to gain more members. Can you hear the death rattle for the corporate collaborator?

Court describes how SEIU-UHW threw patients and consumers under the bus in exchange for Regan’s backroom deal to add more workers to the union's membership rolls:

[SEIU-UHW’s] labor-management deal with the hospital industry is a business model to stop the public and regulators from knowing about quality of care problems at hospitals -- one pioneered by SEIU-UHW at Kaiser Permanente for years...

The most pernicious part of the Pax-Lucifer was that Regan agreed the union would never oppose any hospital industry political position or have a public difference of opinion in the policy world.  That's led his union's name to be affiliated with many anti-patient positions, including opposition to health insurance rate regulation, patient safety protections and good consumer bills. His slap down by SEIU leaders was well deserved. Now he's getting the other side of the hand from the hospital industry.  It's a cautionary tale. But Regan doesn't strike me as guy who knows his Faust.

As Regan thinks about re-filing his ballot initiatives, he might wanna take a glance at a new law approved last year by California’s governor that turns Regan's ballot-initiative bamboozle into a crime punishable by up to three years in jail. 

Then again, Dave might look good in pinstripes...

Here's a link to Jamie Court’s full blog.

SEIU Official Makes Bail after Surrendering to Authorities on Corruption Charges

Check out this two-minute TV news clip with the latest details on the corruption scandal involving SEIU's Dana Cope. 

Cope is the latest member of SEIU’s International Executive Board to face criminal corruption charges.

In recent weeks, Cope surrendered to authorities and posted bail after being charged with two felony counts that could land him in jail for 15 years, according to WNCN TV in Raleigh, N.C.

Cope was nabbed by union members who blew the whistle after uncovering records that he spent $570,000 of workers' dues dollars on personal flying lessons, clothing, jewelry, massages, plastic surgery, landscaping for his home, a trip for his family to China, etc.

COPE is a member of SEIU's International Executive Board and also is the highest official at the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC), an SEIU local that represents 55,000

Mug shot of SEIU's Cope

state employees.

On the news clip, Michael Weisel, an attorney who represents the whistleblowers, says the following about SEIU: 

"There was a complete failure within the organization itself. They didn't follow their own rules. They didn't follow the written bylaws. They didn't follow the written procedures..."

After union members blew the whistle on Cope's corruption, SEIU officials "vilified" them... until journalists and criminal investigators proved they were completely correct.

Cope is the latest SEIU official to face charges, an indictment, an/or jail time for corruption. Others include Tyrone Freeman, Alejandro Stephens, Annelle Grajeda, Janett Humpries, Byron Hobbs, Rickman Jackson and Paul Varacalli.

Click the following hyperlinked text to see the WNCN news story: “Dana Cope Makes Bond after Surrendering to Authorities.” 

NLRB: Workers at Two More California Facilities Are Dumping SEIU-UHW

The workers at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center aren’t the only ones who are leaving SEIU-UHW, according to the NLRB.

Apparently, workers have become so disgusted with SEIU-UHW's backdoor deals with corporate execs that some would prefer to have no union rather than be stuck in SEIU-UHW. 

Earlier this summer, hundreds of SEIU-UHW members at San Jose Medical Group, which operates a half dozen outpatient clinics in San Jose, California requested an NLRB election so they can leave SEIU-UHW and work without the support of any union, according to NLRB records.

Since the election request was filed, SEIU-UHW’s attorneys have been working overtime to block and stall the election.

At a second Northern California facility, SEIU-UHW’s members have already voted to become non-union.

According an official "Tally of Ballots" issued by the NLRB (see below), workers at 99-bed Bay Area Healthcare Center in Oakland voted by a margin of 61% (No Union) to 39% (SEIU-UHW) to dump SEIU-UHW, which is headed by "Wall Street" Dave Regan. 

Why?

Since 2009, Regan has worked hand-in-glove with giant healthcare corporations to slash SEIU-UHW members' wages and benefits. He's allowed hospital corporations to eliminate pensions for more than 30,000 SEIU-UHW members while also accepting wage freezes and health insurance cuts for many more. 

After SEIU-UHW lost the election at Bay Area Healthcare Center in February, SEIU-UHW’s attorney Bruce Harland used every stalling tactic in the book to delay the implementation of the final results. However, each purple monkeywrench has eventually been tossed aside by judges and the NLRB.

Here's the NLRB's "Tally of Ballots" from the election at Bay Area Healthcare Center:

  Nursing Home Workers Decertify SEIU-UHW: NLRB Tally of Ballots at BAHC 2-18-2015