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!

"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!

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.

"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.

"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

Blatantly leading journalism

The Press Democrat, the major local, leading paper, owned by the New York Times, prints what sells, not necessarily what is important or useful to its readers. An example would be the pseudo-random poll of select readers shown below. Is it just me or does this seem like a rigged vote trying to masquerade as poll of potential voters? At least they pointed out this was not a scientific survey, and it is on the opinion page. Perhaps this a last ditch effort to sway voters. Whatever, objective reporting is dead.

Final 4 management objections for Memorial workers soundly rejected by NLRB

The story so far: an organizing effort for approximately 700 workers occurred over the last 6 years, under the direction of the old SEIU UHW. The trusteeship of the SEIU UHW happened and the organizing effort suddenly stopped. The 160+ employees of UHW who quit in disgust formed NUHW and after reconnecting with the workers at Memorial picked up where SEIU left off after abandoning them in August 2009. An election was scheduled, SEIU came late to the party and demanded to be allowed in. Despite dire warnings that if allowed onto the ballot, SEIU would lose by a landslide, SEIU insisted on forcing themselves onto the ballot.  The cool kids had to let them play, and so the election was scheduled. Officially, SEIU wanted felt they were the better union for many lame reasons no one remembers or cares about but unofficially they knew had no chance of winning the election so they pushed the no union vote, because you see, in their eyes, no union is better than a competing union especially one created from former employees that are winning the hearts, minds and votes of soon to be former members and prospective members. Suffice it to say when the votes were counted the underdog NUHW won by a landslide (283-13).

* * *

The final four objections to the election for Memorial workers were soundly defeated by the NLRB Wednesday. As you may recall Memorial management backed off of 6 of their 10 objections, and after the Administrative Law Judge reviewed Memorial managements case the remaining 4 were dismissed by the NLRB.

The ruling above is 32 pages long and quite detailed, but after an exhaustive description of each objection the Adminstrative Law Judge deftly dismisses the objection. My favorite: the "scientific experiment" that almost completely misses the point and proves to be a complete waste of expert witness testimony not to mention money!

NUHW won the election. Of the 10 objections filed by the employer they dropped 6 and the remaining 4 were dismissed by the NLRB. Clearly the workers have won so why the resistance? Memorial management has taken a position similar to a death penalty defense, by using every legal means to delay the inevitable and annoy the workers, but even they have to admit the writing is on the wall. An appeal is sure to come, unless every reader expresses their disgust with management's actions thus far. Call, write or possibly protest (no plans yet) to make sure they don't file an appeal.


Kevin Klockenga, CEO, 546-3210
Debra Miller's, Vice President of Human Resources, 525-5225

Or write to either of them at:

1165 Montgomery Drive
Santa Rosa, California 95405

Does anyone have the extension to the CEO's voicemail?

30 days of craziness

Today marks the first of 30 crazy days of Get Out of Zombie UHW Craziness. Before this blog existed, pro-NUHW Kaiser workers gathered enough signatures to decertify SEIU. Unfortunately, this didn't happen because the decert was filed outside of the allowed time for such a petition. This window represents the chance for soon-to-be-former-UHW-members to break free of their shackles. This should prove to be a very exciting 30 days. Expect massive media coverage (massive for labor anyway) and frequent blog entries by both Tasty Burger and myself.

Zombies push for "No Union" votes fails...again!

The Zombies have revealed their main approach to defeating NUHW: vote no union...or else, with "or else" meaning NUHW will win. As happened in the election for unorganized workers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, last December the no union vote, an obvious favorite of management is now the favored vote of Zombie UHW when ever they suspect they will lose a vote between the 2 unions.

Read on to see how this strategy is backfiring. One would think the Zombies would change course after losing repeatedly with this lame-o topic, but these are Zombies: they "know how to do everything" and are "never wrong". Hah!

Zombies abandon election, soon-to-be-former members

It's a rare occurrence when the Zombie just give up and walk away. For all the mighty resources they claim to have (with money likely being the only credible one left), they retreated to the lamest excuse I've heard in a long time:

Management created an extremely hostile environment so that workers who supported unionization feared what was going to happen.

This jem was uttered by stator of the obvious Zombie spokeswoman Adriana Surfas. In my mind this raises 2 questions.

1. How is this any different from any other organizing drive?
2. Since when has SEIU ever backed down from a fight?

If one looks at recent elections the Zombie have stayed in the election until the bitter end, often with disastrous results. All links courtesy of Tasty over at Stern Burger with Fries.

Salinas Valley Workers Vote for NUHW!


SWU Can't Even Get One Friend!


I guess ONE vote is better than ZERO?

But hey, it's not all bad news. Since the Zombie withdrawal those who get to vote now have 2 choices: salvation (NUHW) or more of the same (no union). Also, the Zombies are burning through obscene amounts of cash in a very short amount of time (which can't be "replaced" with a dues increase until the next convention in 2012) and the credibility of their approach to unionism is taking severe and difficult to recover from hits. Thanks Zombies for making the choice even easier!

P.S. Isn't a definition of insanity doing something, usually the wrong thing, the same way every time and expecting different results?

5 more debates scheduled for Sonoma County candidates

Courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County.

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.

Candidate forum for supervisors

Here ye, here ye... a forum for 2nd district supervisors is this Saturday in Petaluma.

Local 1021 members regain control of their local; Führer Stern...

...calls to congratulate them?! Might we be seeing the softer side of ol' Mr. Pink-Scarf? Who would have thought an election inside a mega-local could have been pulled off without any (or at least any substantial) resistance from $tern & Co.? Congratulations Local 1021 elected leaders: you've set an example for the rest of SEIU.

Members ask direct questions about mysterious resignation at Local 221

Its seems the Zombies can't stop shooting themselves in the foot with shady, money stealing, members'-will-blocking appointed local presidents. This was emailed to me from Monty Kroopkin, democracy reformist and blog reader from way down in San Diego. Monty asks but 3 simple questions; questions that will most likely go unanswered, which only will further damage the credibility and accountability of 221 EB and Zombie International.

President's Day Open Letter on the Resignation of President Moore

Dear SEIU Local 221 Executive Board Members,
The sudden resignation of former Local 221 President Sharon-Frances Moore has raised many serious questions. Members of our union have a right to answers. Sadly, most members have heard about this situation, not from our own union officials, but from the articles in the San Diego Union-Tribune (if they have even heard about it at all)

Labor leader resigns amid election dispute
SEIU-sent officials to probe complaints

Please fully inform our membership on the answers to these questions.

(1) Is it true that the SEIU Ethics Commission opened an investigation of one or more complaints that Sister Moore allegedly violated the SEIU Ethics Code?
(2) If it is true, what was/were the complaint(s)?
(3) If it is true, what is/are the findings of the Ethics Commission?

Members have a right to know if our union funds were used improperly, or illegally. We have a right to know if any laws or union rules were violated by a Local Union president, or by any union official.

We have a right to openly discuss how to prevent such violations, if any, in the future.

It cannot be "ethical" to make the SEIU Ethics Commission's reports a secret.

With an annual Local 221 budget of about $7 million, we cannot tolerate a cover-up.

For Union Democracy,
Monty Kroopkin
http://reformseiulocal221.blogspot.com/
p.s. -- Members or union staffers who filed any complaints regarding former President Moore (or regarding any other union official) should make their complaint(s) public. Because fear of retaliation may prevent someone from coming forward, an anonymous copy of a complaint may be sent to Reform221 at reform221@earthlink.net
 or to 4440 33rd Place, San Diego, CA 92116.

Community support for Memorial continues... (part 3)

Who can figure out what the Press Democrat will print, especially when it's letters to the editor. It seems to me half the time I glance at the paper on the way out of the grocery store I see the median price of homes in Sonoma county as the above-the-fold story. We have some real news here and they can barely get it together to print a few letters to the editor. Recently they published a little and none too well researched article about the hospital's allegations of misconduct by NUHW and Labor Board agents itself. Seriously folks, Memorial management backed out of 6 of the 10 objections they submitted, not the NLRB, but somehow this is not newsworthy. Anyway, here's what little coverage it did get and better yet a couple letters to the editor that don't pull any punches.

 

Too bad the PD editor can't be bothered with presenting the voices of the community, as shown below.

Dear Editor:

I was shocked at the spare and biased article regarding the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Union elections.  It announced this Monday's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing to address hospital management's complaints that the union which employees have been STRUGGLING TO BRING TO MEMORIAL FOR FIVE YEARS clearly won.  Managements captive audience meetings to discourage workers from voting pro union failed.  MILLIONS OF DOLLARS spent by the "intervening" union, SEIU, failed to split the pro union ticket.  Out of 600+ eligible votes, SEIU got 13 even though they had filled the Petaluma Sheraton Hotel with paid "union organizers" brought in from all over the country.

Now management has bought time in order to deteriorate working conditions.  This is in preparations for the up coming dreaded legitimately won labor negotiations.  Their lawyers' tactics appear to be "Throw any allegations you can think of at the union.  Something is bound to stick."  But those I consider Memorial managements' partners in crime, SEIU, would not agree to ANY rules of conduct prior to the election.  NUHW fiercely tried to come to some sort of decent arrangement with management. But thanks to intervening Johny-come-lately union SEIU, no rules of conduct could be had.

The complaint that NUHW supporters were electioneering by wearing emblems, t-shirts, buttons and the like is particularly amusing to me.  Memorial is a Catholic hospital.  Some of the clergy were wearing NUHW buttons and such.  At least one of them was a Monsignor.  An open letter of support for Memorial Hospital's employees labor union organizing from Catholic Academics is on file.  Why was none of this information included in the article?

I was there the night of the vote count.  It was going to be held in a large conference room in the main hospital building.  At the last minute, perhaps because too many community people (like me) showed up, it was moved to a small trailer across the street.  Greeting us at the door was a security guard and the hospital's lawyer.  NUHW's lawyer had to ARGUE his way in to observe the count.  NLRB reps witnessed this nonsense.  We Memorial Hospital Employees' supporters deferred entry to employees, but even some of them were turned away.  This is clearly a case of the pot (management) calling the kettle (NUHW) black.  

Why do I care???  Because I look forward to the day we have an election in Sonoma County IHSS so we can throw the SEIU bums out.   They stripped us of our leadership, colluded with the governor to trash our contracts, harass us workers, and are talking of raising our union dues to boot.  I don't want to give them one red cent, let alone a raise.  They give unionizing a very very bad name.  I want my NUHW leadership back.  It's a union I do believe in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Elsa Stevens

Here's another.

Dear Editor;

I am writing in disbelief of Bleys Rose's "Hearing Set for Memorial Workers", February 6.

First of all, why was there no pro-union comments from the SRMH workers?  A hearing is really unnecessary and could be avoided due to the following facts:

 Hospital management filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board,(NLRB), which have no significance. They had confirmed that the majority of employees who voted, did so to form a union with NUHW.  However, weeks before and up to the election voting day, SRMH Management had meetings to try to persuade workers to vote against a union, and refused to comply with the Fair Election Oversight Commission, (FEOC), who are community members, whose role was and is to defend the employee's right to understand about forming a union in an workplace that would be null of intimidation, misinformation and pressure tactics., as well as helping set ground rules for the election.  Instead, management held anti-union meetings, with one-sided misleading information on strikes, bargaining, and dues.,further creating undue pressure and stress on their employees prior to voting, etc.

They now need in all good conscience to finally respect the worker's decision and begin to bargain in good faith without further delay, and respect their employee's final decision to form a union with NUHW...

Management and St. Joseph Health System is going against their own "principles" of dignity, service, excellence and justice by contradicting themselves, having promised that: "If workers held a secret ballot election through the NLRB, they would stand steadfast by their decision."  This history making vote and victory by SRMH workers should be celebrated !

I and other elected officials as well as community leaders believe that SRMH Management needs to withdraw the remaining objections and end this unnecessary conflict so that a fair contract can benefit everyone.

Andria Callas

One step closer to a contract for Memorial workers

Hey everybody, I have some great news to share with you.

The election at Memorial has finally been resolved. This is the final, authoritative and definitive response I was waiting for. What we all felt in our hearts December 18, now has the backing of the slowly waking up to the SEIU-induced nonsense NLRB.

I'd like to highlight my favorite part



It reads:

The remaining undetermined challenged ballots, if any, shown in the Final Tally column are (not) sufficient to affect the results of the election. A majority of the valid votes plus challenged ballots as shown in the Final Tally column has (not) been cast for NUHW.

So, despite the best efforts of the Zombies and the Memorial Bridge "let's just deal with management directly" folks, the voice of the majority has been heard. NUHW is in, the Zombies are out. The next and hopefully final hurdle is a hearing to resolve the remaining 4 of the original 10 objections submitted by Memorial management.

Community support for Memorial continues... (part 2)

In a previous blog entry I wrote about community and political leader support for Memorial workers, which includes, oddly enough our very own flip-flopping County Supervisor Shirlee Zane. She puts on a good show at the September 2009 meeting where Zane said she was going to write a "letter to the head of SEIU in Oakland and to Andy Stern in Washington, DC," (skip ahead to 4:14 mark) about the secrecy surrounding the contract ratification. She has yet to write that letter which is quite disappointing, yet completely normal for her. She says all the right the things but is not much for standing behind her promises.

Here's her letter.