Though the Zombies teamed up with Kaiser management and basically strongarmed their way to a false victory, this cash hungry approach to keeping members will quickly bankrupt SEIU. Once those paychecks start bouncing (which I have heard has already began) they will be unable to find anyone to work on their behalf and against the members. It's hardly a surprise, but still very discouraging.
So what's next? Well the Zombies are likely to screw up the lives of members now under contract and once enough people are burned by SEIU they can put management intimidation and Zombie bullying aside, look at their diminished paychecks and vote what is best for them.
* * *
As you may have noticed I've been laying low for a while now and for this I have an explanation. As a homecare member I was (and still am) quite interested in the future of homecare in California where I was born raised and (for now) still live. I also wrote extensively about Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital given my various connections to the hospital. I want to write my own original material based on what I read and observe and not rely on the writing of others such a former UHW cheerleader "X Perez whatever", nor do I want to say pretty much the same thing as Tasty Burger. It occurred to me to Perez Stern covered the Fresno homecare battle, Sierra Spartan covered the descent of Andy Stern and I focused on Sonoma homecare...we all have out specialties. Tasty Burger clearly has the inside scoop on the Kaiser battle.
Since I've been busy with earning a living, keeping up with my bills despite the effort of SSI to penalize me every time I try to provide for my family, and branching out in my other financial endeavors I've had my distractions. For now there will be less frequent blog entries but I'm still here, watching, thinking, waiting for that sign that tells me now is the time to break free of Zombie rule here in Sonoma county.
Thank you Keyser for this blog and all your support.It's going to be downtime for a while but that doesn't mean this fight is over. We've only just begun and the battle for the hearts and minds of Ca. workers continues. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteNUHW is a joke. Go organize workers not yet organizied. Refering to SEIU as Zombies is disrespectful, - it is nothing more than name calling.
ReplyDeleteNUHW did -- read here. http://sonomaredrevolt.blogspot.com/2009/12/victory-for-memorial-workers-nuhw.html
ReplyDeleteI suggest that using members dues money to bully and intimidate them into voting for SEIU is disrespectful. I suppose you have listened to everything SEIU tells you, accept it at face value and refuse to do your own research. There is no cure for willing ignorance.
I dare you to step outside your purple cubicle, open your eyes and see what SEIU has done to encumber your life this year. Then tell me who is a joke.
To Anonymous - you do realize that NUHW organized more NON-UNION health care workers than SEIU did in the past year, don't you?
ReplyDeleteNow now, you and I know Purple Plague supports can't be bothered with the truth! Beside they're still too busy drinking their daily dose of Purple Kool-Aid, now with extra servings of fear, uncertainty and doubt.
ReplyDeleteI am not a member of SEIU, nor am I ignorant, nor have I drank any Purple Kool-Aid. All this stuff is name calling. Something the right-wingers do all the time in politics. Should I say you drank the Red NUHW Kool-Aid? That NUHW is a union of poor losers? That NUHW are Zombies? and so on...
ReplyDeleteHow many actual new workers did NUHW organize? Or, to put it anorther way, how many total campaigns have NUHW run per organizing new workers as opposed to raiding SEIU members?
A raid by any other name is still a raid. And, quite frankly, I am glad in a way that SEIU won.
The name calling and self-serving righteous (we know better, SEIU bullied members, fight is not over for the hearts and minds of SEIU members, Zombies, Purple Plague does not know truth, and so on) put forth by NUHW supporters is the kind of Kool-Aid that no one should every drank, SEIU or NUHW alike. Period.
I guess you didn't hear Stern likening Rosselli to a terrorist. http://www.zcommunications.org/the-battle-for-kaiser-seiu-calls-for-world-war-iii-by-cal-winslow
ReplyDeleteOr missed SEIU's raid of the of UNITE-HERE. http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=7494
I don't know the precise number of workers organized by NUHW last year, I simply don't have that much free time. I do have time to back up my claims, where's your substantiation?!
The Plague knows the truth and has tried extremely hard to keep members from knowing what is really going on by hiding contracts, downplaying their own self-inflicted losses, etc. They stick to the "guilty in civil court", "stole millions of dollars" tacts.
I strongly encourage you to set aside everything you're heard from both SEIU and NUHW and do you down research, then make up you own mind.
I made it clear: I don't like name calling by anyone when it comes to orgainizing workers. At the end of the day, it is not about Stern or Rosselli. It is about the issues that concern the workers. Period.
ReplyDeleteMy substantiation is from NUHW website and press releases. They make it very clear that SEIU members want to leave SEIU and go with NUHW. It is all over the website. Just click on the leaflets or press center links for starters. It is clear as day. There are more leaflets and press center releases that talk about organizing SEIU members than new workers.
As for UNITE HERE. The fight was never between SEIU and UNITE HERE. It was between UNITE HERE and Workers United, a.k.a UNITE and HERE.
The talking points that SEIU was the villain in the fight was put forth by UNITE HERE early on in 2009 in their secret internal memos as reported in Ben Smith's June 1, 2009 Politico blog. You can downloard the memos there.
The memos state clearly that no matter what the facts are in the fight with Workers United, we (UNITE HERE) must lay it all on SEIU/Stern, which was a very good idea given the fact that SEIU/Stern was always in the public spot light. On this point, UNITE HERE has been very good on repeating this talking point ad nauseam. Very good.
In any event, I am done ranting, and as I can see from your recent comments you still engage in name calling a.k.a the Plague.
All I will say is that name calling will not do your cause well to organize new workers. It will only turn off workers and make you look no better than the Plague/Zombies you are trying to organize against. Workers have no time for this kind of stuff, - and nor should they.
Workers United is a subsidiary of SEIU. I think one Bruce Raynor is part of that mess.
ReplyDeleteWorkers United is an affiliate of SEIU just like UNITE HERE is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. To believe for a moment that niether Wilhelm or Trumka is not also part of this mess is to think along the lines that fire engines cause fires. All have blood on their hands.
ReplyDeleteIf you read the Workers United "About Us" page they clearly state they are interested in organizing the workers that are clearly UNITE-HERE's territory.
ReplyDeletehttp://workers-united.org/about_us
The "raid" on UHW happened when Andy Stern made up a reason to trustee it. Before the trusteeship and continuing to this day, SEIU's treatment of the workers is sinful. They have proven they are really only interested in their dues money to pay their own outrageous salaries.
ReplyDeleteWorkers trying to take back their own union, even in the face of the lies and intimidation that SEIU, working in collusion with Kaiser, visited upon these workers is not a "raid."
It's so disrespectful of the tens of thousands of workers who are leading NUHW to call them out for "raiding" their own union.
Agreed: self-organizing to get out of a hellish union is not a raid, it's a widely supported attempt to regain what Stern took away. NUHW has, from the start, been a member driven union, as opposed to SEIU who view us as dues units and pawns for national plans that leave us in the dust.
ReplyDeleteIf being a member of SEIU is an issue then simply become a fee payer or go work someone else that is not a SEIU or union shop and begin a drive to organize those workers into NUHW. Raiding another union is not only disresptul to the 18,000 Kaiser workers who voted for SEIU, but it is wrong as well.
ReplyDeleteOk explain to me exactly how I as a homecare worker can become a fee payer? SEIU adn the state make it too hard a problem for even NUHW's lawyers to figure out.
ReplyDeleteContact your local NLRB. Under the Beck rule you have the right to be a fee payer. For example, there are some groups that don't allow membership into any group like the Jehovah Witnesses, and because of such the law under Beck allows them to be fee payers.
ReplyDeleteYou can also check the language in your contract under Dues Check-Off. The language should read something like paying monthly dues or a monthly fee determined by the union.
In most cases you must send a written letter to the Secretary Treasurer of your union you are with telling them you want to be a fee payer. This is how you start the process.
Also, you need to demand the by-laws of the union you are with (SEIU by laws are on their website)to see what the process is to become a fee payer. Most unions list the process in the by-laws under members rights, - or something like that.
Quite frankly, I would not trust any official from SEIU or NUHW because both want your dues money and I doubt very much either organization would let the members know about being a fee payer.
But really check with the Board or with an independent labor lawyer. There is a way under the Beck rule that you can become a fee payer. Hey, less money you got to pay to someone you don't like can be a victory in itself!
Homecare workers, being quasi-public employees are subject to the PERB. But no matter, the contract we have with Sonoma County allows only a few options none of which include fee payer. Check out our contract here:
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B4rKk772k-fOYTI5YTllM2ItZGRkZS00NWJlLTk2NTUtZDg5NGM5NWE5YzZl&hl=en
Check out section 5.6B (page 7). We're boned!
I know PERB workers who are fee payers. I wouldn't give up trying to figure it out. I would check out your local union by-laws. I know SEIU International by-laws allow members not to pay dues if they make a certain amount of money, or are retirees, etc...
ReplyDeleteWhen you sent a letter to your union about being a fee payer what was the response you got?
In any event, best of luck to you.
SEIU suspended UHW's bylaws when it was trusteed. When I hand delivered the signed and dated paperwork to the IHSS Public Authority I received a letter in the mail from the PA stating my request for stopping the automatic deduction union dues has to be addresses at the union level. Unwilling to work with a union that won't even follow its own rules, I called someone in Sacramento and that woman put me into a conference call with UHW. The State/UHW have yet to honor my request.
ReplyDeleteIn their ignorance they revelled in purple, not understanding their great loss.
ReplyDelete