You Can Lie, But You Can't Hide!

As a faithful reader of Sternburger with Fries, I was pleased to see Tasty connecting the dots between Steve Greenberg's whitewashing of SEIUs sins of the day and Randy Shaw for calling him out for who he is: Stern's college roommate turned thinly veiled cheerleader for SEIU International. The latest Greenhouse inspired problem: a NY Times article that supports the neutrality of Kaiser but ignores the injunction filed against Kaiser. Also of note is his delcaration that SEIU is a "powerful, nationwide union that could do a better job negotiating contracts" but I wonder if he has looked at any of these contracts. The "bigger is better" message still has great meaning to SEIU.

Below is included Steve Early's letter to the editor calling out the Time for its very selective reporting. Go Steve!

To Mr. Arthur Brisbane,

The Public Editor, NY Times:

 

When a big employer violates federal labor law, and its misconduct affects the outcome of the largest private sector union representation vote since 1941, shouldn’t Times readers be informed about this?

 

Steven Greenhouse’s Oct. 9, 2010 article on the recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election at Kaiser Permanente (“Big Union Wins Vote Against a Rival in California”) quotes a Kaiser spokesperson, John E. Nelson, who declared that the election was “fair.”

 

Mr. Greenhouse reports: “Mr. Nelson said Kaiser was neutral throughout the campaign and had ‘cooperated fully with the N.L.R.B. to assure that we met our legal obligations.’ ”

 

Nowhere in this article does Greenhouse mention that the NLRB has issued a major unfair labor practice complaint against Kaiser for violating its duty to bargain fairly with 2,300 employees who left the “big union” (the Service Employees International Union) in January and joined its “rival” (the National Union of Healthcare Workers. The Board’s regional director in southern California has accused Kaiser of withholding a scheduled 2% raise last April—a management action that unlawfully punished the defecting SEIU members for their exercise of “employee free choice.”

 

If Kaiser had "cooperated fully" with the NLRB and met its "legal obligations," this case would have been settled last Spring, and the affected workers would have been paid what they were owed under their old contract. Instead, management misconduct cast a long shadow on the just-completed election, in which 43,000 Kaiser employees chose to stick with SEIU, rather than change unions and be treated like their 2,300 co-workers now represented by NUHW.

 

On Oct. 4, the NLRB sought what’s called a “10(j) injunction” in federal court, to obtain immediate back pay and other benefits for the 2,300 workers, while their case is still being litigated. This action is taken in only a handful of unfair labor practice proceedings every year, where the damage to workers rights is particularly egregious. Yet Greenhouse makes no mention of this in his article, again failing to provide readers with a full and accurate picture of the employer behavior that influenced the outcome of the latest SEIU vs. NUHW contest at Kaiser.

 

In the interests of full disclosure, I should note that I am an active supporter of NUHW. But as someone with 35 years of experience in labor law, labor journalism, and union organizing, I find the omission of these salient details to be quite a lapse in The Times’ usual standards of reporting.

 

Steve Early

11 Ely Rd.

Arlington, Mass.

02476

(781-643-1489)

Better Dead than Red?

Wow, shocking but totally unexpected. Way to go Zombie UHW! You'll do anything but support dues paying members, won't you? I suspect this is the first of many healthcare employers to reduce it's workforce now that employers know that if put to a vote for UHW or NUHW, the Purple Plague will bend over backwards to screw it's own members just to secure a win over NUHW. The message here is clear: think for yourself or vote for NUHW and you're on your own. "Race to the bottom," indeed!

What a $50 million fear and lies campaign buys the Zombies

Read Cal Winslow's excellent article on  the Kaiser fight, why NUHW lost and why standing up to fear -- be it from your boss or your union -- is crucial to making an informed decision. SEIU will spend any amount of money and use lies, fear and employer collusion to keep what is shouldn't have. No wonder organized labor is taking a beating: Americas fastest growing union is going out of it;s way to show how progressive and caring it is!

Money Talks; Democracy Walks

As we've all heard by now the Zombies and their blind-sided members at Kaiser "have overwhelmingly voted to keep our union". We all know how the Zombies like to overstate everything but this one time they are right. They did achieve a victory but only by overwhelmingly annoying the very members it wishes to represent. They lied, bullied and spread fear among members who are just trying to do their job and are entirely uninterested in the livelihood of union employees bent on keeping their jobs, including clueless temps supplied by one of SEIU's remaining allies the Obama administration . They may have won the battle but, as in the Fresno Homecare War of 2009, they are losing the war for California healthcare workers and both victories are under review by the government.

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.

New KP workers website

In an effort to combat the ever rising tidal wave of lies and manipulation from the Zombies I have posted a like to the NUHW sponsored website. Learn more about what is really going on in Kaiser. Note the tone of the website, no use of fear just just the law plain and simple. Go NUHW!

Kicking Us While We're Down: Republican Legislators Truly Despise the Poor

As a low income worker who is constantly attacked for working in the IHSS program and is brutally punished for trying to legitimately get ahead in life, I find it particularly gauling that Republican legislators are so willing to eliminate the poor by gutting our financial support! I know some of these legislators represent constituents that reward them saying "no" to spending money on any kind of socially oriented programs, but this is ridiculous.

Nothing like a little truth to destroy an otherwise solid sounding argument!

When in bed with the boss make sure the roof doesn't cave in!

This is disturbing as it is unexpected. As time goes on SEIU is becoming harder to differentiate from the employer it seeks to emulate, by acting more and more like the employers it should be battling on behalf of it's dues-paying members. This week's act of complacency and passive support is documented below in Randy Shaw's article on Beyond Chron.

"Doctor" Huerta makes the rounds

She's fearless, she's respected and she's feared by UHW/Kaiser for daring to think and then speak her mind but that's exactly what she is doing. Go Dolores!

2 down... a few more to go

Hear ye, hear ye: Anna "I've held every position but president, so pick meeeeeeeeeeeeee" Burger has decided to hang up her spurs. Don't run away now, SEIU is about to have it's rear-end handed to on it on a plate. Anna, you must stand by the president you now support...she's going to need it. Could this be the first of many high level SEIU execs to finally read the writing on the wall and jump ship before it completely sinks? Maybe. I'm sure Brave Sir Regan would rather die than quit so who's next? Email your suggestions. Top names will become choices on a poll.

Kaiser Santa Rosa Stewards to fellow members: see you on the other side!

For a year and a half now the Zombies have been slapping around their own members on multiple occasions and recently it's own staff, but now now they've really done it: 48 of their own stewards resigned en masse to support NUHW. That's 48 less in quickly shrinking army of largely willingly-blind supporters*. To quote from my favorite movie: They "showed these men of will what will really was".



I wonder just how much loss they have to endure before they realize they are fighting an uphill battle against a tiny, underfunded, small in membership but well supported upstart union they keep losing to! This should prove to be quite an exciting summer for union democracy,  California healthcare workers and the long overdue but well deserved collapse from it's own arrogance.

* I suspect the Zombies supporters are half willingly-blind supporters, and half totally clueless people who just believe what is told to them because of the perceived authority that is SEIU.

An Open Letter to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of UFW, tells it like it is. Go Dolores!

SEIU & the Zombies: Above the law?

It looks like the Zombies are on the way to court again, this time not to fight with NUHW but to explain to the Federal government why the feel they can flout their own International constitution and Federal law. Clearly, this is an example of what happens when an union implodes on itself. First there was the homecare rally at the capital that didn't happen because they didn't get a permit (the pictures from said rally are likely recycled from last year) but now the Zombies didn't bother to even

NUHW wins at Providence Tarzana 282 to 69

First, the vote count:

NUHW: 282 (72.5%)
SEIU: 69 (17.17%)
No union: 38 (9.8%)
Total valid votes (sum of the above the numbers): 389

After the last stalling tactic SEIU met its fate at Providence Tarzana Hospital. Months of bullying, delaying, lieing all amounted to just 69 votes out of 389 valid votes cast, that's just 17.7%. It's a shame what has happened to UHW since the trusteeship, but it's undeniably clear that given the choice between a member led union and one that's used every underhanded and evil tactic to further its own goals, the choice is clear: NUHW. Will the Zombies ever learn from their mistakes? Well first they'd have to admit they made a mistake, and that's a realization that will only occur when they are at their wits end and too many former UHW prisoners have jumped ship. I wonder how they will spin this first of many devastating losses coming this summer and fall.

Thanks to my mystery tipper for forwarding this good news.

What ever happened to the Zombie UHW Report?

I take my Zombie UHW report here at the blog so I thought maybe they had deleted my email address. I guess they are so focused on fighting with and threatening members that the pure propaganda piece is no longer high on their list or priorities. Or maybe they finally realized no one cares what they have to say.

Homecare fraud by the numbers

So the numbers are in from the Great Homecare Scare of 2009/2010. As you may recall from last year's budget fight in Sacramento, the idea of screening homecare providers for criminal convictions was made into law. At first ANY felony conviction would bar a prospective or current provider from working in the program. After a lawsuit was filed, the barring convictions were reduced to just those that defrauded the government, as well as convictions of sexual abuse or child abuse.

Oddly enough convictions in rape, murder, robbery are still "acceptable" to the State. Just wait: next year these will be used to eliminate providers matching this criteria. (Eventually that parking ticket in Boston is going to catch up with, I just know it!) Hmmm, funny how for years the State wanted nothing to do with who did the work. Just do the work, be happy with minimum wage and don't ask for lofty rewards for your hard work like healthcare, sick pay or a pension. At least SEIU was able to bargain some contracts sporting better than minimum wage and worker only benefits. (We'll see how long that lasts!)

But now the legislature passed this law hoping to curb the Governator's 2007 estimate of 25% fraud in the program, only to find out in a study he commissioned that the waste was at best 1%. Now with the cut-off date of June 30, 2010 for current providers behind us we can see just how many of the State's 350,000+ providers are kicked out of the program.

So as of 6/29/2010, 446 out of 396,956 homecare workers are ineligible for employment. That's 0.11% (not a typo and not 11%), or just barely more than 1 in one thousand. Kind of makes all the bad press about homecare seem more like angry propaganda from conservative lawmakers who have no idea bout how the program works, the money it saves or the humanity inherent in living in and being cared for in the home instead of a nursing home. Keep in mind as "independent contractors" we had to pay for our own background checks and fingerprinting. Mine was among the cheapest in Sonoma county $52 for both. Multiply this by hundreds of thousands and you can see the great and bankrupt State of California made the vast majority of underpaid and desperately poor homecare workers pay for the cost of proving their innocence.

It gets worse: in Sonoma County, home of the Red Revolt, we see:

Do you see that? Out of 2719 providers, 1 lost his/her job. Put another way: $52 x 2719 = $141,388, minimum cost paid by the honest providers to disqualify one worker. Can I have my $52 back now? Can we all have our pay to prove we're innocent money back?

I can hardly wait until this year's budget is passed to see what money wasting, provider humiliating anti-fraud laws are forced on the poor and overwhelmingly innocent workers.

"WWIII" begins...

...with the first battle being fought in the Service and Technical group for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, size unknown as of this writing, but I suspect this is the 48,000+ group we've all been waiting for.

More as it happens. Thanks to retired blogger Sierra Spartan for the tip off.

UDW excels where the Zombies fail

UDW, (United Domestic Workers), the counterpart to SEIU with respect to homecare workers in California have yet again succeeded where the Zombies have failed. The latest example of UDW shining through the muck of state politics and Zombie propaganda is this email I received. The absence of an email from is all the proof I need that the Zombie have abandoned homecare workers in the counties which UHW has contracts. The Zombie aren't even trying to help their dues paying members anymore any more. See Stern Burger's write up on yesterday's failure de jour! I wonder if Erica Boddie still has such an lofty of post trusteeship UHW.

Sacramento rally canceled due to Zombie ultra-fail

I don't feel so bad for missing the rally for work yesterday. I knew attendance would be low but this is just ridiculous! Go check out the link, it's hilarious. You'd think the all powerful and well funded Zombie UHW would be able to handle the simple process of securing a permit before the rally at the state capital. Clearly they are so consumed with defeating NUHW, they can't even pull off a rally at the capital. They used to do several a summer, now, just one and they still messed it up. This is the new, democracy free UHW, home of the slacker. Thanks to Stern Burger for the reporting!

"We just write the rules, we don't follow them"

This is essentially what Memorial management is saying to the workers and the community in which we all live.
They fought 2 different unions organization efforts and lost. The pushed a no union vote and lost. They filed objections about the election and either rescinded them or had them trounced by the NLRB. Yet they still fight the inevitable.

Shame on them! If you are as outraged as me we can all voice our opinion by contacting Sister Katherine Gray, CSJ (General Superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange), and writing a respectful but unambiguous email stating your concern for Memorial management's disregard for it's own rules, mission statements, and the decision made by voter in December election, we can hopefully and finally get the hospital to behave and move forward instead of backward.

kgray@csjorange.org

Memorial saga continues...

Apparently it's not enough that the workers at Memorial have been organizing, waiting and fighting management for more than 6 years to join a union. Throw in 2 competing unions, a substantial "no union" effort backed by Memorial management vote, unending delays, appeals and psychological warfare from management, despite their own commitment to abide by the workers choice and you can see Memorial management is proving the unthinkable is possible by treating it's own employees worse than the Zombies treat it's own members.

First is Randy Shaw's article at BeyondChron.

As beautifully pointed out by Randy Shaw at BeyondChron, Memorial management has yet again taken the low road and further delayed the inevitable union-negotiated contract between the voters who won the election and the ever profitable Saint Joseph Health Systems. How profitable? On December 7, 2009, just 10 days before the election they bought a building they don't have immediate plans for. This recreational shopping at its finest folks!

However, the news isn't all bad NUHW is the official and exclusive bargaining agent for Santa Rosa Memorial workers, again.

* * *

Sorry about the delay in reporting this (and the other postings today): I just finished 8 days in a row at my new job. In an economy where unemployment is10% nationwide I feel fortunate to have 2 jobs; however working homecare and delivering pizza to western Santa Rosa is no road to riches. Also, today marks the first year of marriage so I'm catching up on my blogging and then spending time with my sweetie.