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.