Dave Regan's Chickens Come Home to Roost at Kaiser Bargaining

It looks like some of Dave Regan’s chickens are coming home to roost.

Observers have long critiqued Regan for negotiating terrible labor contracts that dismantled the defined-benefit pension plans covering more than 20,000 of SEIU-UHW's members at California hospital chains like Dignity Health and the Daughters of Charity Health System.

Observers predicted that Kaiser Permanente would eventually demand the same concession from Regan.

And that’s what happened earlier this week during negotiations between Kaiser and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions at the InterContinental Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Here’s an e-mail that SEIU-UHW sent to its 50,000 Kaiser members on Tuesday:

From: Verna and Georgette <voice@seiu-uhw.org>
Date: Tue, Jun 18, 2019 at 7:02 PM
Subject: CONTRACT ALERT: Kaiser's offer to us 

We’re still in the middle of bargaining but this can’t wait. We all know Kaiser’s been making record profits — but they opened this session complaining that “hard times” are ahead for the company. They followed up with a disrespectful contract proposal that demands big cuts from us, including: · Copay increases to $20 · More outsourcing and automation of our jobs · Lower pay and elimination of pensions — starting with new hires, then we’d be next

Apparently, Kaiser -- despite its massive profits -- is proposing the lowest pay increases in decades as well as the elimination of defined-benefit pension benefits for new hires covered by SEIU-UHW. Instead, new hires would get a cheap 401(k) plan. That’s what Regan allowed Dignity and Daughters of Charity to do.

How will SEIU-UHW respond?

The union's leaders are calling on members to prepare for votes during the summer to authorize a possible strike later in the year. 

That’ll be interesting. Since Regan took over SEIU-UHW during the 2009 trusteeship, the union has reportedly conducted only one strike at a small facility during the past decade. Pretty lame, right?

Hmmmm. Will SEIU-UHW’s members even remember what a strike is?

Stay tuned!

Consultants Pocketed Millions from Dave Regan’s Ballot Initiatives

Tasty earlier reported how SEIU-UHW spent more money in 2018 on ballot initiatives than it did on organizing and representing its own members on the job.

So where did SEIU-UHW spend all of the $37.5 million that went to “political activities and lobbying”?

According to the union’s financial report, six political consultants and ballot initiatives walked away with three-quarters of the total. Here they are.

• $14.9 million to Waterfront Strategies (Washington DC)
• $4.6 million to the Fairness Project (Washington DC)
• $2.5 million to Kimball Petition Management (Thousand Oaks, CA)
• $2.1 million to Ohioans for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection (Ohio)
• $1.2 million to Savvy Communications (Rancho Mirage, CA)
• $2.2 million to Greenstripe Media, Inc. (Newport Beach, CA)

The biggest winner, Waterfront Strategies, is an advertising purchasing firm that places media tons of media buys for PACs. The firm’s parent company is headed by Jim Margolis, a former media strategist for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The Fairness Project is an organization founded by Dave Regan and principally funded by SEIU-UHW to run ballot initiatives in states outside of California. The head of the organization’s board of directors is Steve Trossman, one of Regan’s staffer who was also wrapped up in the Tyrone Freeman scandal.

Kimball Petition Management, or KPM, is a petition drive management firm owned by Fred Kimball, who founded the company in 1984 with his brother, Kelly. Fred Kimball was profiled in a 1998 article, "Collecting Signatures for a Price" in the Washington Post, according to Ballotpedia.

Regan set up Ohioans for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection to run a 2018 ballot initiative in Ohio. Altogether, Reagan spent $4.1 million on an effort to collect signatures, but forgot to have his signature-gatherers fill out a required state form. As a result, the Ohio Supreme Court voted unanimously to knock Regan’s initiative on the ballot.

Savvy Communications appears to be another name for her Stones’ Phones, a consulting firm specializing in phone strategies for campaigns.

Greenstripe Media, Inc. is an advertising purchasing firm headed by David Takara.

And here’s the punchline: Despite pouring tens of millions of dollars into political spending in political spending, Regan has no victories to show for it as far as winning organizing rights for workers and expanding the union’s membership.

Breaking: Feds Order Rerun of Officer Elections at Trustee’d SEIU Union

The US Department of Labor has overturned the results of internal officer elections at SEIU Local 73 due to misconduct, according to an e-mail and a press statement from SEIU (see below). 

The federal agency reportedly ordered a government-supervised rerun of the elections to choose the union’s president, officers, and Executive Board.

Dian Palmer, who has served as SEIU’s trustee at Local 73, said in an e-mail sent yesterday to Local 73’s members that the election was overturned because of “a problem with the conduct of one of our local union staff who was elected to the local’s executive board in our last election. The identified conduct was a misuse of union data during the election campaign.” Palmer says the individual has resigned. 

Tasty’s sources say the individual is Organizing Director and Executive Board member Sean McGough. It's unclear whether he is a fall guy and whether others were also involved.

During last year’s elections, two competing slates of candidates battled for votes: one backed by SEIU’s trustees and the other (“Members leading Members”) supported by former staff and members of the union who called for greater local control. The now-overturned elections, held in October 2018, saw Palmer elected as the union’s president. Until then, she had served as SEIU’s trustee since SEIU imposed its trusteeship in August 2016.

Just days after the October 2018 election, “Members leading Members” filed a complaint with the US Department of Labor alleging 13 violations of election rules. For example, the complaint alleged that SEIU’s trustees used union resources to campaign for the slate headed by SEIU’s trustees. According to other allegations, thousands of members did not receive mail-in ballots. Here’s a link to the complaint, which apparently prompted the federal investigation.

A rerun election has not yet been scheduled.

The action by the DOL is the latest controversy to wrack Local 73 since SEIU President Mary Kay Henry imposed a trusteeship on the union nearly three years ago. 

First, a lawsuit alleged that SEIU’s trusteeship was improper. Then, in January 2018, Trustee Dian Palmer fired about ten members of the union’s staff after they announced plans to stand as candidates for the “Members leading Members” slate.

Next, in February 2018, union members filed two federal lawsuits alleging that SEIU officials had improperly failed to allow members to retake control of their union through membership elections. With a judge threatening to order an immediate election, SEIU officials finally agreed to conduct an election in October 2018.

Local 73, headquartered in Chicago, represents 25,000 public-sector workers in Illinois and Northwestern Indiana.

Here’s the e-mail sent by trustee Dian Palmer to Local 73 members regarding the DOL’s action. Note that Palmer says SEIU officials are voluntarily requesting a rerun election. However, Tasty’s sources say a rerun election was ordered by the feds because of election misconduct.

From: "Dian Palmer" <info@seiu73.org>
Date: May 23, 2019 at 1:10:58 PM CDT
To:  >
Subject: Important information about last year’s election of union officers
Reply-To: info@seiu73.org

Dear members, I am writing today to share important information related to last year’s election of officers. In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Labor has been conducting an intensive review of our 2018 officer elections. Our leadership team is absolutely committed to ensuring that each of you has a union that operates with integrity and transparency. To ensure this, we have fully cooperated with the Department of Labor in their investigation and have responded to each and every question quickly and thoroughly. Making this union work for you is our main priority. This week, we were shocked and appalled when the Department of Labor informed us of a problem with the conduct of one of our local union staff who was elected to the local’s executive board in our last election. The identified conduct was a misuse of union data during the election campaign. Conduct like this has no place in our union. We took this problem seriously, confronted the staff person, and immediately asked him to leave both his staff position and his office. He has since resigned. We are focused on doing everything we can to ensure that you have complete confidence in the democratic processes of this union. We intend to cooperate fully with the Department of Labor and will ask for a re-run of our local union’s election. We expect that the Department of Labor will supervise the election. Rest assured, as we work through this process, we will continue the work of our union to improve the lives of all SEIU Local 73 members. Once we have more information, including details of the upcoming election, we will share them immediately. You can read the statement we shared with members of the media byclicking here. In the interim, if you have any questions, please reach out to your Member Action at 312 787 5868 or email mac@seiu73.org. In unity, Dian Palmer, President Copyright © 2018Service Employees International Union Local 73All rights reserved. SEIU 300 S Ashland Chicago, IL 60607 United States

Dave Regan's Ballot Initiatives Push SEIU-UHW into the Red

Like a snake-oil salesman, Dave Regan continues to hawk his ballot initiatives to SEIU-UHW’s Executive Board despite their ineffectiveness and colossal cost.

How costly are Dave's ballot initiatives?

Last year, SEIU-UHW's spending on lobbying and political activities tripled to $37.5 million from the prior year.

Regan's ballot initiatives were so expensive they caused SEIU-UHW to experience a $17.5 million loss for the year, according to the union's annual financial report to the US Department of Labor. (The union took in revenues of $114.7 but spent $132.2 million.)

Excerpt from SEIU-UHW's DOL Form LM-2 for 2018

This may help explain why SEIU-UHW is now charging its members a maximum dues rate of $168 per month.

Regan's spending also helped SEIU-UHW surpass a disturbing threshold: the union spent more money on “political activities and lobbying” ($37.5 million) than it did on “representational activities” ($36.3 million).

How does this spending compare to other unions?

Tasty took a look at the spending patterns of similar unions during the same year and using the same data set (DOL Forms LM-2). Check out the table below. As you can see, SEIU-UHW’s spending is ass-backwards.

	Representational Activities	Political Activities and Lobbying	Ratio of Spending on Representation to Pol/Lobbying
SEIU 2015 (CA Longterm Care Wkrs)	$16.5 million	$5.1 million	3.2 to 1
SEIU Local 1021 (Northern Cal)	$11.5 million	$2.0 million	5.8 to 1
SEIU 1199NY	$57.0 million	$14.5 million	3.9 to 1
SEIU Local 49 (Oregon)	$3.4 million	$0.5 million	6.8 to 1
NUHW	$6.0 million	$0.7 million	8.6 to 1
SEIU-UHW	$36.3 million	$37.5 million	0.97 to 1

Here’s another interesting comparison.

Last year, SEIU-UHW spent almost three times more money on lobbying and political activities than did SEIU 1199NY… even though 1199NY had far more members (273,599) than SEIU-UHW (99,268).

In fact, if you tally up the political spending of the five other unions in the table above, it doesn’t even come close to what SEIU-UHW spent.

Hmmm, what do you call a union that spends more money on lobbying and political activities than representing its own members on the job? Good question.

A political consulting firm?

Apparently, that's Regan’s innovative strategy for “rebuilding the US labor movement.”

Lawsuit Alleges Another Sexual Scandal inside SEIU

SEIU continues to face allegations of sexual misconduct nearly two years after it grabbed headlines for scandals surrounding SEIU EVP Scott Courtney, several Fight for $15 staffers, a top official at 1199SEIU in Boston, and SEIU-UHW.

In one of the most recent episodes, SEIU’s second-largest local union was hit with a civil lawsuit by a former female organizer alleging that three male co-workers sexually assaulted her during an offsite work event. 

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names SEIU Local 2015 and three of its male staffers as defendants.

The suit alleges that the three male staffers committed assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation in an episode that’s reminiscent of the infamous one allegedly carried out by conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during a high school party.

Here’s what happened at a “work function” in Chicago, according to the lawsuit by the female SEIU organizer:

“Despite Plaintiff’s repeated statements that she was not interested in sex with him, Defendant #1 grabbed Plaintiff by the arm, took his penis out of his pants, and attempted to penetrate Plaintiff with it. Defended #2 restrained Plaintiff and prevented her from escaping while Defendant #1 attempted to rape her. Defendant #3, a supervisor for Defendant SEIU, watched the entire incident, verbally encouraging Defendants #1 and #2.”

A source inside Local 2015 tells Tasty that despite the lawsuit’s allegations, the union returned two of the defendants to work. And the local hired Glenn Rothner -- a lawyer whom SEIU often hires to fight decertification campaigns -- to defend itself against the suit.

Rothner recently filed a motion seeking to remove Local 2015 as a defendant. He argues that the union should not be held liable “because sexual assault is not within the course and scope of employment of the employees of unions.” Nice argument.

The lawsuit comes two years after #MeToo scandals forced SEIU President Mary Kay Henry to appoint an external advisory group to determine what practices SEIU could enact to stop sexual abuse within the union.

Hmmm. Sounds like Mary Kay Henry was not too successful.

And the suit comes at roughly the same time that Local 2015 decided to flaunt its impeccable moral judgment by re-hiring a disgraced former staffer, Rickman Jackson, who was removed from his job in 2008 for stealing $33,500 from the union’s low-waged members while serving as the Chief of Staff to the union’s then-president, Tyrone Freeman.

Members: 'Democracy Is under Fire at SEIU Local 73'

Dian Palmer

Here’s an update from Chicago about SEIU’s trusteeship of SEIU Local 73.

It turns out that SEIU officials did a real doozy on Local 73’s constitution and bylaws during the trusteeship of this union of  approximately 25,000 mainly public-sector workers in Illinois and northwestern Indiana.

Under the union’s old rules, Local 73’s officials were required to hold four general membership meetings each year where members could pose questions to union officials, introduce resolutions, vote on motions and budget issues, and take other actions.

What changes did the union’s new constitution bring?

Well, they eliminated the union-wide membership meetings and replaced them with one “assembly” per year… where only delegates are permitted to speak and vote. Members can only be observers.

In a recent newsletter, an opposition slate called “Members leading Members” offers more details:

the most damaging change came when the trustees eliminated all four annual membership meetings required by the old constitution. This act alone will completely take the members’ rights away when it comes to holding their leaders accountable and charting the direction of their local. Dian Palmer, from the very first day she came in from Wisconsin as a trustee, hated the membership meetings and the fact that the members were asking questions. At one staff meeting in June of 2017, Dian Palmer proposed that we eliminate the question and answer sessions from the membership meetings altogether.

At a membership meeting held on February 23, Local 73 officials – including the union’s current Chief of Staff Tyson Roan -- reportedly called police arrest Local 73’s former president, Christine Boardman, for allegedly “trespassing” when she attended the meeting and handed out the leaflet below. Boardman said she has a right to attend the meeting since she’s a retiree.

Meanwhile, the “Members leading Members” slate reports that trustee Dian Palmer -- Local 73’s new president -- got her salary bumped to $166,000 per year. Union members reportedly filed charges over the pay increase, alleging it was not properly approved.

   LOCAL 73 MEMBERS ARE LOSING RIGHTS IN THEIR UNION by tastysternburger on Scribd

Election Brings Initial Loss for SEIU at Kaiser

SEIU may be on the brink of losing a unit of 343 Registered Nurses at Kaiser Moreno Valley Medical Center in Southern California.

Last Friday, nurses cast their votes in an NLRB election triggered by members of SEIU Local 121 who requested a formal vote so they can leave SEIU because they’re dissatisfied with the union.

On election night, a majority of the ballots supported leaving SEIU. The final vote tally won’t be finalized until three dozen “challenged” ballots are resolved. According to the NLRB, the vote tally at the end of election night was the following:

No Union:  120

SEIU Local 121:  111

Challenged Ballots:  37

SEIU Local 121 appears to be worried it’ll lose the election when the “challenged” ballots are finally counted. After the vote count, it filed a formal appeal with the NLRB in an effort to overturn the entire election.

The hospital’s nurses have been members of SEIU for more than 10 years but have been dissatisfied with SEIU for a long time, according to an RN who called the purple union “fear mongers.”

The vote couldn’t come at a worse time for SEIU. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which includes Local 121 and other SEIU locals, will go back to the bargaining table with Kaiser for the first time on April 17 to negotiate a “national agreement.”

Since 2009, SEIU unions at Kaiser have been led by SEIU-UHW president Dave Regan, who has given away massive cuts in health benefits and retirement plans at hospital chains across California. Kaiser now appears to be angling to win the same cuts for its workers. 

Regan has been a big proponent of “partnership” deals with Kaiser and even colluded with Kaiser executives to fight strikes by other Kaiser workers, including statewide walkouts by the National Union of Healthcare Workers and the California Nurses Association.

Last year, Kaiser’s partnership unions split into two after Regan reportedly attempted to seize more decision-making power inside the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. The unions fed up with Regan broke away and formed a new coalition called the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which negotiated a national agreement of its own in 2018.