The Weasel Has Landed

Running on the beach indeed. The weasel has just found another place to destroy: Leading Authorities, Inc.
Here's their press release.

My oh my! Well, at least he isn't running for office or otherwise directly involved in government.

Another "blogger" hangs up his spurs

The cranky and difficult to read X Perez Borselli* blog, a pro Zombie UHW pseudo-blogger, has finally ended with a whimper. The relentlessly pro UHW and written largely in ALL CAPS, even this "blogger" has seen the light and realized UHW doesn't even care about most of it's own employees pensions. National officers are taken care of for life, no worries for those folks but as for the staff covered by the various pensions aimed at SEIU local staff they are woefully underfunded. Oh the irony "that the fastest growing union in the Americas" (their claim on nearly every one of their press releases) is suffering from growing pains, and despite the very nature of its existence it is having trouble funding it's own employees pensions.

Here's the article shown above as written by Vincent Vernuccio.

*Borselli: a portmanteau of Borsos and Roselli? Why is it that we native English speaking Americans have to make up words all the time? 1.2+ million words in the language, doubtful any one person knows more than 60,000, yet we constantly make up new words! Just say no to fake words. Require who ever is speaking to you to use any one of our existing words. Grrrrrrr!

"Do over" election called for Local 221

Remember the "do-over" from the playground games of our childhoods? Turns out it work in the adult world too! This is from Red Revolt reader Monty Kroopkin one of the Local 221 reformers. Heh heh heh...love it or shove it SEIU fraudsters! This whole rigged election reminds me of what I used to tell the kids I tutored in math who couldn't be bothered with trying to understand a problem and work it out correctly: do it right the first time so you don't have to do it right the second time!

Checklist for Perez Henry

I have to admit I was not impressed with Zombie SEIU as it was run under Führer Stern's watch, but Randy Shaw's article at BeyondChron gave me a flicker of a hope that incoming International President Mary Kay Henry's administration might have the brains to lead the Zombies out of the mess the Führer has made. Squaring up with UNITE/HERE & NUHW would go a long way towards advancing both the interests of SEIU and labor in general.

I'm somewhat worried about Henry the dark horse candidate turned International President. I had high hopes two other unlikely high office candidates Obama and the Governator, given their obvious difference from the usual crop of candidates, would have the courage to lead in new and constructive ways...and we all see how well they've worked out for the working poor. Obama & SEIU: no EFCA or public option for universal healthcare, and the Governator's relentless attacks on the disabled poor and their caretakers.

Meh, we'll see.

What went wrong with Stern's SEIU? Plenty!

Though Führer Stern's sudden and suspicious resignation is old news by now I did find this somewhat interesting but woefully brief article about how he lost his way and his mind along the way.

The mess Stern leaves behind

Wow, things are more messed up in Zombie SEIU than even I suspected! Steve Early, writes this well researched piece about how much, and in what ways, the Zombie have squandered members' dues money over the past few years under the careful guidance of Führer Stern. Make sure you're sitting down and maybe have a pen and notepad ready for tallying the dollar figures. It makes me sick, almost as sick as Tasty when he realized how many articles have been written about Führer Stern's resignation.

The other reasons why Stern is moving on

For the most part I don't much care since he's lost his mind these last few years, but there are a host of theories as to why Führer Stern is moving on down the road.  Everything from SEIU says he's accomplished his goal of universal healthcare, he wants to leave at the top of his game, and so on. Of course no one under SEIU control will speak of the near complete loss in the NUHW/Zombie SEIU deathmatch in San Francisco last week, their uncomfortable involvement with ACORN, or disgraced former Illinois governor Blagojevich.  For a detailed rundown of why the Führer is likely moving on, check out Tasty Burger's blog entry. It's hard to deny the chronological proximity of the proffer and his resignation.

You snooze, you lose!

As pointed out by Tasty Burger, if you don't pay your Internet-related bills cybersquatters will get ya! Turns out members of the SEIU spin-off Workers United can visit their very own website www.workersunitedunion.org but since SEIU didn't pay to keep the domain name (which is less than $50 a year) someone else bought it. Now if you visit the website, it "rolls over" to a porn site. Oops! Not paying for a domain is like not paying your vehicle registration, a minor expense with major ramifications for not paying. Sorry no picture of a website here, you're going to have to check it out yourself. The result is a porn site so don't check it out on a work computer or home computer accessible to minor children....go to the library.

Important criteria for homecare worker background checks

Finally, some information about the criteria for these damn unwarranted background checks for IHSS (homecare) providers. Note: this info not brought to you by SEIU. They're too busy scrambling for a new president.

Life in a post-Andy world: what lies ahead?

The successor to will be Anna Buger until an election and then it's game on, with Burger and Henry as likely candidates. These are our choices? Sheeeeeesh! Give the choice, I wouldn't choose. Burger is essentially a female Andy Stern and Henry is certainly intent on destroying NUHW and all that is stands for.

Stern may have accomplished some admirable goals, but he's left one hell of a mess for the next president to clean up. Just think of it as his gift to 1.8 million dues paying members and the labor movement.

When comfronted with truth Zombie stewards resort to foul language, idle threats

Warning: Brief occurrences of what some would call harsh language below.

While rummaging through my inbox looking for an address I came across this email from Sonoma County IHSS (homecare) Steward Karen Timmons.

To: "Karen"
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009

Thanks, Karen! So do we have a 2 year contract?

To which she replied:

From: Karen
Sent: Sat, 12 Sep 2009

 Yes, we have a 2-year contract. If the economy changes, for better or worse, either the Public authority or UHW can open up the benefits or wages for conversation. If the PA wants to cut our wages, it's not going to happen. The contract must be ratified by the members.

She is mixing up the facts: the contract needs to be ratified by members, the wage reduction does not. Seven months later...

To: "Karen"
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010

No, Karen. If you read the contract carefully our wages can go down without membership approval. The wage contingency part of the contract states:

7.2 WAGE CONTINGENCY

B. If, during the term of this Agreement, either State or Federal participation levels
are reduced or, either the State or Federal sharing formula is modified in any
manner, relative to the baseline numbers described below, that would result in
an increased cost to the County and/or the Public Authority to maintain the wage
level described in this MOU, wages will be reduced by an amount necessary to
keep the total cost to the County and/or the Public Authority the same as such
cost existed on the day prior to the effective date of such reduction or
modification.

So there you have it.  An automatic wage reduction if revenue is not sufficient to sustain our wages. One would be a fool to think the economy will recover enough before the contingency kicks in. Thanks a whole lot for jumping ship [switching from NUHW to Zombie UHW], sabotaging all the members including yourself, consumers and hiding this crucial bit of information until after the forced ratification! How does it feel to sell yourself out?

I guess that was more than she could handle and she lashed out at me.

The contingency you repeat below is standard in all IHSS contacts; it was also in the contract you bargained. We have a contract and it cannot be broken. The county tried to slip one past us and lower our wages, but we caught them and that is why we maintained our income. There in an injunction in place that will continue to insure us (and that includes you) $11.50/hr.

Now I will tell you this.

1. You are a sleazy bitch and a pain in the ass.
2. If you ever e-mail me again or get in my face, I will take out a restraining order immediately. This is not a threat.

Oh Karen, if you take a moment to look at the language in the preceding contract you will see there is no dependency on FMAP money. Yeah, and once that money, which backfills our wages until October 1, 2010 runs out, we're taking a pay cut. How much? I don't know, but I'm preparing for minimum wage.

Now, I'm not a lawyer, even so I wonder if Karen's offer to take out a restraining order would stick.

Sal sums up what we all have felt in our blood for years...

Sal's message is to the point and totally irrefutable. Too bad SEIU has made an enemy of Sal and union democracy. If he we're still employed by SEIU he'd be my bet for the one person who could turn SEIU around.

No Knock-Out Blow in SEIU's Courtroom Showdown

Another good summary of the court room drama from last week and the real value in Zombie SEIU's puny victory. Thanks for the excellent writing Cal, keep it coming, we look forward to more.

Stern to resign!

...but where will he go? Why is he leaving? And who will replace him? Isn't he going to stick around for the Great Member Exodus of 2010? Don't punk out on us now, this is just getting interesting! Perhaps he's going to work for Perez Obama as more than just a member of the debt commission. Very exciting possibility here, stay tuned to Tasty, Perez and yours truly to keep abreast of this unfolding drama!

Could it be he just can't stand losing money, members and labor allies left and right?
__________________

From: "Diane Sosne"
Date: April 12, 2010 11:35:45 AM PDT
To: "Everyone @ SEIU"
Subject: Andy Stern Resigning as President of SEIU

Last night I received confirmation that Andy Stern is resigning as President of SEIU. He has not yet made a public announcement; we will share the details as we become aware of them.
__________________

Here are the news articles corroborating his departure. I will add to this list as it grows.

• The Politico: SEIU official: Stern to resign
• The Examiner: SEIU head Andrew Stern to resign
• Chicago Now: Breaking News: SEIU's Stern Resigning
• The Huffington Post:  Andy Stern Leaving SEIU, Sources Confirm
• Hot Air: Hmmmm: SEIU chief Andy Stern resigns
• The Atlantic: Andy Stern To Resign As SEIU President
• The New York Times: Head of S.E.I.U. Plans to Step Down
• Wall Street Journal: Powerful Labor Chief Stepping Down 
• The Washington Post: Andrew Stern set to resign as head of major union, SEIU official says
• The Washington Post: Officials say SEIU president is stepping down from post
• Firedoglake SEIU's Andy Stern Stepping Down
• The Atlantic Wire: Behind SEIU Chief Andy Stern's Resignation
• ScrappleFace: Retiring SEIU Boss Stern Wants More Time with The Family
• The Wall Street Journal: Labor's Stern Said to Be Resigning
• NPR: Union Official: Stern To Leave Service Employees
• Firedoglake: SEIU’s Andy Stern to Step Down

So there you have it folks: for whatever reason labor's sore thumb has finally looked back at his legacy of union busting/raiding, member dues money wasting, EFCA-killing, sellout contract promoting ways and has decided to move on to spend more time with his family. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek, what a lame excuse for running from the house of labor he set on fire! Good riddance, loser.

Press coverage for the NUHW/Zombie SEIU trial

Most labor disputes go unreported or woefully under-reported by the LameStream media. In an effort to bring the coverage to the forefront of my readers minds here's a round up of what was covered by mostly local media. Oddly enough the New York Times had a little, very little to say about this monumental Zombie SEIU screw up.


I have decided not to list any press releases written by Zombie UHW media relations flunkie Steve Trossman since they are horribly biased propaganda pieces and I assume none of my readers care in the least what he has to say.

Obviously a lot of the coverage will be duplicative but I feel it's still worth reading to get a consensus view of the trial and it's implications.

First off are Randy Shaw's and Carl Finamore's articles on BeyondChron, followed by Randy's summary of the struggle for union democracy since January 2009.

Local coverage continues with San Francisco Business Times coverage by Chris Rauber, IndyBay, Christopher Cook at San Francisco Bay Guardian.

National coverage includes the kind of super secret teleconference attendee David Moberg of In These Times, Mike Parker at Labor Notes, Steve Early at Monthly Review and finally Stephen Greenhouse of the New York Times wrote a whole paragraph about the trial verdict.

As a blogger I would be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent coverage of fellow bloggers Perez Stern and Tasty Burger (here, here and here).

Much to my surprise the pseudo-bloggers from the trial have nothing to say, despite being ecstatic about the verdict during Friday's teleconference. Lame!

"Meanwhile at the Legion of Doom..."

Disclaimer: Exactly who said what and name spellings may be incorrect but the gist of what was said should be pretty easy to figure out and follow.

Artists rendering of the tightly controlled teleconference Friday afternoon.

An unexpected perk of following the trial from the Zombies perspective included a mass email invitation to the post verdict debriefing. I received two invites: one sent to my real name and email address and one for the blog. Much to my surprise both received replies with the phone number to call. So I called in under my real name and after waiting on hold for 10 minutes (I called 2 minutes early to make sure I got in) I was patched into the call in the middle of a man's sentence. He then introduced Mary Kay Henry, International VP of SEIU. What a cheerleader!

When she took control of the phone call she announced an agenda.

1. Verdict
2. Evidence
3. Feelings & Impressions

Verdict

So, of course they were happy with the verdict for obvious reasons. Now they finally have a third party/jury-based opinion about these crimes against SEIU that the former UHW employees allegedly committed for defending the wishes of their members above the dictatorial wishes of Führer Stern. No doubt they will go to ridiculous lengths to promote this verdict to their own advantage, including recycled lies and other puffery.

Keep in mind the representation cost for Zombie SEIU was, according to Steve "Don't take the Bait" Trossman, $5 million and involved for 4 law firms. Given the Zombies propensity for lying it's sure much more than $5 million. Should they get every penny of the award (see below) they still lost $4.3 million, backed off of or had numerous claims struck down, galvanized NUHW staff and supporters and have further pitted members against each other and employers against workers. As both Randy Shaw of BeyondChron and Tasty Burger at Stern Burger with Fries point out, the award is for either $724,000 against NUHW itself or $854,150 for the 16 remaining (out of 28) defendants. Added together this adds up to just a little more than the oft repeated "more than $1.5 million" the Zombies are fond of quoting. 12 defendants were cleared of all charges including 2 during the trial itself.

Evidence

The evidence the Zombies presented included:

• secret conspiracy as far back as 2007, (likely a reaction to the secret deal with nursing home operators which is a real conspiracy!),
• secret access to UHW servers (sounds like a lazy or incompetent sys admin to me),
• secret (non-UHW addresses) email system (which, when used to resist a trusteeship is totally legal, as pointed out numerous times by Judge Alsup),
• $3 million secret slush fund (didn't they drop this claim early on in the suit? It isn't listed in their "Guilty" flier.)

At this point a man's voice took over and covered many point to put the listeners into a froth. He stated that among other things, former UHW leaders:

• resorted to violence (but gave no examples)
• used members as a shield for their activities (it's the members who need a shield from Zombie UHW, just ask Liz Castillo!)
• circulated disassociation petitions (still not illegal)

Feelings & Impressions

He then stated that "they can't be trusted ever on anything". Has he (I believe he was Kohlman, the lawyer) followed what the Zombies have done since the trusteeship? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Finally he stated that everything in Barbara Lewis' [make the local] "ungovernable" memo came true. I don't know what the document stated, if it was a note to herself or a policy to be followed but the Zombies have done a fine job of making UHW ungovernable all by themselves. Of course this last comment concerns what has happened outside of January 2009, the focus of the trial, but still...I'm just saying.

At this point a Daughters of Charity member stated that she was very upset about the expired contract, and it's canceled extension. I wonder if she can admit to herself that the contract expiration and subsequent cancellation of the extension was to allow the members to strike for improved benefits. The half-truths Zombie supporters are willing to believe say in order to convince themselves the Zombies have their best interests at heart despite overwhelming evidence boggles the mind!

For a while there was some random spouting off from the "member bloggers" including Rudy Vallin stating it's time to "get back to work". Erica Boddie, another "member blogger"stated she was disappointed, felt this was a "slap in the face", complained about "purple shirts turning to red" and wondered why former leadership wasn't "practicing what you preach". She wanted it known that if she felt something was wrong with her union she would do everything within her power to fix it. What?! Where were you in the months leading up to the trusteeship? It's so easy to say that now! She also stated the obvious by saying that this trial "deeply impacted the labor movement" and now is the time to "restore the labor movement". Finally, she stated the trial has caused a lot of confusion among members. This surely was one of the Zombies goals, and for those Zombie supporters that read and believe everything stated in their emails and other propaganda, then pick up a newspaper or read any other source of news or opinion,confusion will result. And confused people made decisions they don't understand.

Mary Kay kicked in with a few completely unbelievable comments. She stated the "nation is cheering", spoke highly of the "3 incredible ['member blogger'] leaders" and finally "I'm completely indignant!"

Q & A

Finally came the Q & A which showcased how brainwashed some of the Zombie UHW members really are, and how some members will believe what ever is told to them by the union, no matter how ludicrous.


April, from Kaiser Vallejo, stated this was a "great, great, great victory" but wanted to know what was next, specifically do they go to jail? No, this was a civil trial jail time is not an option. Where would they get the idea jail time was a possibility for the defendants? Hmmmmmmm.

Not wanting to pass up a chance to show off her self-deprecation skills Erica Boddie stated she would have been just as happy with a damage award of "$1.98".

A reporter from the Daily Labor Report asked about the fees for representation. Erica's response: likely equal to what NUHW spent defending itself, but most importantly "the cost to us was a moral victory"! I couldn't have misquoted myself any better than she did just there. She didn't even stop to correct herself! She was confident about the excellent representation! Sheesh. The self-denial among this group of sheep is amazing to say the least!

David Moberg, of In These Times asked what evidence did the jury agree with, and was told "the jury just took it all in". How's that for a non-answer?!

Erica spoke up again and said she is "here to represent the members" and "it's time to move forward"

Finally some members who were waiting on hold got in on the action were allowed to speak. Sonoma county's very own human megaphone, homecare worker and one time NUHW supporter Mark Nelson profusely thanked the lawyer for his work, and then proclaimed the new name for NUHW: "First name: Nothin', Last name: Comin' ". This is the level of understanding and sophistication we in Sonoma county have come to expect from Mark. I was somewhat disappointed when Mark didn't try to start and S-E-I-U! S-E-I-U! S-E-I-U! chant right then and there.

But the best part came in the last few seconds of the teleconference from yet another Sonoma county homecare worker and turn-coat Karen Timmons (a/k/a marymagdaleneforpresident or Nerak as she is known on the "member blogs"). She stated without hesitation and quite proudly that Sal and company didn't care about workers, and, (I'm not putting words into her mouth) "they are sociopaths"! That was classic Karen. I wished I had the ability to legally record the conversation. She also felt that "an act of God or a thunderbolt" was needed" to wake them up", but now is the time to talk to members, be kind and thoughtful. I wonder if this includes known or suspected NUHW supporters.

Just before the phone called ended there was an announcement that there were no more people waiting to ask questions which makes me wonder if the Zombies were screening callers, and how many other were on hold.

 * * *

Through out this phone call there was a sense of carefully controlled language, and not-so-subtle suggestions about what the members need to take back to their coworkers to convince them this circus, this spending spree, this near complete legal defeat was somehow a tremendous win for workers. No matter how you look at it this trial failed in all of it's objectives. Persist and march on reformers turned NUHW employees and supporters, you all continue to amaze me!

5 more debates scheduled for Sonoma County candidates

Courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County.

...and then there were 5

It appears one of the 6 KP "bloggers" has folded up shop. Of the 6 "bloggers" that popped up earlier this week, one of them has taken down all of her posts. Hmmmm, I wonder why. This is what I saw when I went to the "blog" today. Not only did yesterday's post disappear but all the posts have been removed. Has she determined that KP & the Zombies are up to their own backroom deal antics again?

Born Tuesday, April 6, dies April Thursday, April 8. Only the good die young, right? Well, there's nothing good about 6 bloggers saying the same thing at the same time, especially when they are likely financed with my dues money. The Zombies already have an established cheerleader.

The other bloggers...

The well informed Zombie UHW prisoner keeps abreast of what's going in a media climate that doesn't cover labor issues unless there is a trusteeship, strike or other high profile event. The real coverage about what is going on in labor can be found in so called "alternative" sources such as Labor Notes, Daily Kos, Empire Report, In These Times, etc. The one exception has been the L.A Times journalist Paul Pringle's exposé of ULTCW's (United Long Term Care Workers) much maligned former president Tyrone Freeman.

Just as important and much more in depth than any Lame Stream media reporting are my fellow volunteer bloggers Sierra Spartan (retired) at ¡Adiós, Andy!, Tasty Burger at Stern Burger with Fries, and of course the highly respected and scathing-without-being-petty commentary of Perez Stern at (you guessed it) Perez Stern (back in action). What we all have in common is our burning desire to bring the evil of SEIU to the light of day and throwing in a little snark to take the edge off the daily dose of betrayal served up by the Zombies. And we do so gladly, for no compensation, real name recognition or any other means of motivation. We do it because it needs to be done.

So I find it especially galling that SEIU is now apparently paying members to blog about the trial against the former leaders of UHW in San Francisco these last 2 weeks. These likely dues-financed bloggers are (and likely without knowing it) taking one the remaining forms of unadulterated journalism and using it to deceive the few who read their blogs. I normally don't promote my intellectually inferior, morally bankrupt, react without thinking mortal enemies, but in the spirit of encouraging my readers to do as I do and form their own opinions I will list those bloggers below. I read them in my effort to keep a well rounded sense of what is going on down in San Francisco but I find their writing wholly unsubstantiated, irritating, highly speculative and far more biased than my own writing. Somehow I think it's more than just $8 an hour (California minimum wage) or $20 an entry. The way the Zombies throw around money, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. As for the pseudo-bloggers following the trial no new entries have been made since the verdict! Perhaps the Zombie have cast them aside, just like they wanted to cast us homecare workers aside!

Bob "Nolehace" Lewis: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/author/nolehace (First entry 3/24/10)

Erica Boddie: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-boddie/ (First entry 3/22/10)
"Homecare Mary" Harms: http://homecaremary.blogspot.com/ (First entry 3/19/10)
Rudy Vallin: http://www.calitics.com/userDiary.do?personId=4980 (First entry 3/19/10)

Apparently, the Zombies feel they have hit on something because now 3 more blogs popped up just today. They are centered around the KP national level bargaining. Notice how they all have the same kp prefix: it's kp-person's first name.blogspot.com. And they all were created on the same day, April 5, 2010. Clearly this wasn't a coincidence in either batch of bloggers.

	Silvia Torres-Limon (Northern CA): http://kp-silva.blogspot.com	First entry 4/5/2010
	Shirlee Anne Shirley (Southern CA): http://kp-shirlee.blogspot.com	First entry 4/5/2010
	Angela Young (Northern CA): http://kp-angela.blogspot.com	First entry 4/5/2010

As far as I know the progress of bargaining is only shared with the people represented: management negotiators report to management, labor negotiators report to the membership. This is how it was in homecare bargaining before the trusteeship. Oh wait, no, I'm wrong. According to Karen Timmons, Sonoma County bargaining team member for the first post-trusteeship contract renewal, said in no uncertain terms that:

Contracts are NEVER given to members to read until they are a done deal, signed by committee, IHSS/PA and the Supervisors.

For my outside of the wacky world of homecare readers, the IHSS PA is the In Home Supportive Service Public Authority, an arm of county government and the entity with which we bargain. The county supervisors double as the board of directors for Public Authority.

So why exactly is Zombie UHW encouraging and likely paying members to violate what I suspect is banned in the ground rules of bargaining? My guess: smoke screen. This way the Zombies can bargain away even more of the hard fought gains of Kaiser members without distraction of the members whose lives they will be harming. Prove me wrong Zombies! Show me your track record since the trusteeship was just temporary insanity!

This makes me so mad! So if you see any of these blind obedience to Zombie UHW folks running around off their leash...well send them on a Keyser Söze-inspired wild goose chase!

(10 minutes pass...)

And where were these pseudo-bloggers before the trial and before the KP bargaining? Perez Stern's got his start on 2/4/2009, Sierra Spartan 2/6/2009, me on 9/16/2009 and Tasty on 11/12/2009. In defense of Perez & Sierra, they may have started within 2 days of each other but took different approaches and used different writing styles. Also this was right after the train wreck in slow motion (trusteeship) was implemented.

Update (4/7/10): I found 3 more. They were all born yesterday, literally!

	Therese Fleming (Central Valley): http://kp-therese-f.blogspot.com	First entry 4/6/2010 All entries removed 4/8/2010
	Rachelle Heartte (MSW, ACSW):  http://kp-rachelle-h.blogspot.com	First entry 4/6/2010
	Victoria DeLacruz (Central Valley): http://kp-victoria.blogspot.com	First entry 4/6/2010

Zombie UHW: pushing the anti-union vote at all costs, again

It seems the Zombies will never learn from their mistakes. As you may recall the vote for unionization at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital last December was 283 for NUHW and - no kidding - 13 for the Zombies. This staggering loss was widely publicized, but what was not as well publicized is the vote for no union at all, a nerve-rackingly close 263. I was at the vote count that night and it was quite an emotional roller-coaster for all but the Zombie UHW supporters.

You'd think after such a staggering (21.8:1) defeat the Zombies would change their tactics, as would any normal person or group. But the Zombies - being a special breed of con artists - will keep using the same lame tactic while utterly convinced better results are just around the corner. What they are doing this time should make the unofficial alliance with Memorial management pale in comparison. To learn more, read Randy Shaw's article from BeyondChron to learn just what the Zombies have been up to down at USC University Hospital.

Worse yet is their attack on Barbara Lewis and NUHW (of course)! However, before I dissect their flier I just want to point out I just don't believe anything the Zombies have to say. They've outright lied so many times and aren't willing to back most of their statements it's difficult to say with absolute certainly what's truth and what's puffery. So I will instead point out the hypocracy in their statements, claims which I can easily back, and they are reluctant to talk about when presented with the truth.

So, right off the bat, the third and forth words in the title: Backroom Deal. Given the Zombies track record for backroom deals (listed below) and the fact that NUHW is running a shoe-string budget, with a much smaller staff than their Zombie counterparts, does anyone really believe that NUHW has the time or interest in negotiating a backroom deal? This would seem to go against one of the main reasons why NUHW exists!

Here a few of the juicier backroom deals Zombie UHW have negotiated on behalf of their prisoners, err I mean "members", courtesy of ¡Adiós, Andy!

The LMP Shakedown
Reganomics (also referenced above in paragraph 2)
SEIU Threatens To Dissolve CKPU
Pharmacy Agreement Going Down To Defeat?
Zombie UHW Taketh, Zombie UHW Giveth Away...
Signed, Sealed, Sold Out
Signed, Sealed, Sold Out (Part Two)
...and so on

Second is this long standing claim that NUHW officials, acting in their capacities as pre-Zombie UHW elected (not appointed) officials, are guilty of "misusing millions in union funds". This misuse of union funds is merely an opinion presented as fact from the International. As U.S. 9th Circuit District Judge William Alsup has told the jury many times in the trial between NUHW & the Zombies these last 2 weeks, resisting the trusteeship is not a violation of the law, it just doesn't sit well with the International leadership's plan to run all of SEIU from Washington, D.C. with no real regard for the members or prospective members. In simple terms this is akin to moving money from your wallet or purse to your hand. Unless it has changed hands it's still yours!

Finally, this bit about NUHW signing a "secret deal with management" and cutting "members out ... completely". This is almost identical to what the Zombies did to homecare workers up here in Sonoma county back in September. But I'm just speaking from experience, what do I know about Zombie UHW practices in California.

Revolution Brewing at Local 221

From Monty Kroopkin who is "way down south" at Local 221 (San Diego area). This letter is intended for the members of Local 221 but it gives a peak into the problems the members are dealing with down there. It's good to know the fight for union democracy extends well beyond the NUHW/Zombie UHW fight.

Dear SEIU Brothers and Sisters,

The federal Department of Labor has agreed with incumbent officials of SEIU Local 221 to another extension of the deadline for the Department to file a lawsuit against the union to compel a re-do of the union elections of July 2009. This is the fifth extension of the deadline, which was originally January 17, 2010. The Dept may still reach an out of court settlement with the union, for a new election to be conducted under government supervision. Or, unlikely at this late date, the Dept could still dismiss the complaint which was filed by 10 members of Reform221 on November 16, 2009. The Dept did announce in January that it had made a preliminary finding of serious violations in the 2009 elections.

Meanwhile, the same people who are accused of rigging the July 2009 elections are still in control of our union. That is, with the exception of former Local 221 President Sharon-Frances Moore. She resigned on January 18, 2009, for reasons which the union membership has still not been allowed to hear. Her running mates in the July 2009 elections are still the majority on the union's Executive Board. They voted to appoint Moore's former chief of staff, Eric Banks, as Interim President. Banks also served as the official contact person for the election campaign of Moore's slate of candidates. Moore's slate of candidates were mostly incumbent members of the "provisional" (aka, unelected) E-Board, and were appointed directly by International SEIU President Andy Stern in 2007.

If you don't like the way this is dragging out, and don't like the sound of who is appointing who, then it is time to make your voice heard. Please write to U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, District Director Alan Weiss at Weiss.Alan@dol.gov and urge him to get on with resolving this complaint. We need a new election NOW, not years from now!

And, please join Reform221. Our platform is posted on our website at http://reformseiulocal221.blogspot.com/ (scroll down to see it). If you agree with most of what we stand for, we want to work with you to take back our union and to make it effective in dealing with our employers. Contact us at reform221@earthlink.net
 
And come to the first General Membership Meeting of SEIU Local 221, and voice your concerns, on April 17, 2010. Information on the meeting is at the Local website at http://draft.seiu221.org/General_Membership_Meeting.aspx You can introduce resolutions on the direction of our union and/or for particular actions to be taken, which -- if voted in by the members at the meeting -- are binding upon the incumbent Executive Board and the union's staff. Resolutions can be introduced from the floor of the meeting. (So don't be put off by the request to turn yours in by April 7. Those turned in on time will however be printed up so eveybody at the meeting will have a copy). Did you know that you could do that? Did you know members of our union have this power?

For a Democratic and Effective Union,

Monty Kroopkin, Steward

Here's the ruling from the U.S. Department of Labor. It appears Local 221 executive staff will delay the inevitable and further soil the SEIU brand here in California and by extension nationally.

The amazing shrinking case against NUHW

First it was a $25 million claim for damages, then $4.18 million now a piddly $225,000?! When will the Zombies throw in the towel and slink back to Washington, DC?

Also, the best estimate for the SEIU legal bill is $10 million dollars. And that's for 2 weeks worth of work, sound familiar?

Zombie's epic fail in Kaiser Roseville

From retired blogger SierraSpartan whose blog I have reference more than once is a recap of the woefully under-attended Zombie rally at Kaiser Roseville. His email was received at 1:27 today.

This word just in from my Kaiser Roseville source...

SEIU and Zombie UHW had a "contract support rally" at Roseville today,
and was an out-and-out bust.

1) No Barney Bus - therefore, no lost-timers from other facilities to
make the protest look bigger than it really is.

2) Start time at 10:00 a.m., supposed to go to 2:00 p.m., but it
didn't get going until after 11:30 a.m., and has already broken up.

3) Management sent out two different notices about this rally (on two
different shifts over two different days. But even with two different
sendall messages going out to the entire Roseville staff, only about
20 people showed up at the middle of lunch hour (and the time of the
highest attendance of this "rally") to particpate in the UHW march
around the Roseville Eureka campus.

So - out of about 2500 to 3000 total employees on the campus, about
half of which are members of one union or another, only 20 people came
out and marched with Zombie UHW - and at least half of those
individuals were and are identifiable as either organizers or staff.

Three words: Weapons. Grade. FAIL.

Photos to follow.

Regards,

Sierra

Keep the juicy news coming, Sierra!