UPDATE: UHW just issued a statement, apparently a few members of the executive board planned to raise objections to both the substance and timing of this vote, since there is an official meeting Jan 20-21st. Stern decided to do the vote electronically with the deadline of 2 pm tomorrow. More when I hear it…
ORIGINAL POST: I know I have been quiet here as of late, but I couldn’t let this pass without speaking out and making sure it did not fade below our collective radar.
Today a special meeting of SEIU executive board is being called by teleconference. On the agenda is the potential creation of a statewide long-term care union, a new local. SEIU International has established them in several other states and they want to do it here in California. That is not their only motivation and probably not their biggest one. The creation of this new union would gut UHW, by removing 65k members. This appears to be the solution that the International has come up with for weakening UHW, after the charges they went after UHW with fell apart during the trusteeship hearings in the fall.
The SEIU/UHW dispute aside, a statewide local sounds like it could be a good idea, no? Consolidate everyone who have the same type of job and build a new local. It might end up being a new benefit to the workers, or it might not. It depends on if the new local is a better advocate for the workers than the one they left. They would be leaving the known for the unknown.
One would think that SEIU members should have the say over whether or not they want this to happen. Well, there was an election, technically speaking. It gave all of the SEIU health care workers in CA two different options for creating a statewide health care local. There was no option for workers to keep their current representation, staff and elected leadership. Both would end UHW as we know it, which appears to be why the International is pursuing this, despite the results of the “advisory” election.
Ballots representing 7.8% of eligible members were received, a horrible turnout. Notice I didn’t say only 7.8% voted. That’s because the rules were changed mid-election and members were encouraged to vote more than once. UHW actively organized against the vote, and frankly organized circles around the International.
Perhaps just as important, union members presented the Election Officer with petitions protesting the election signed by 80,000 members. These were accompanied by 40,000 formal letters of protest. UHW members presented these letters and petitions in sacks weighing hundreds of pounds. It was an astonishing outpouring of opposition, organized in less than one month.
It is fair to say that SEIU members are vehemently opposed to the creation of this new local based on the results of the election and the huge backlash against it. However, the International is calling the election “a celebration of union democracy” and using it as justification during today’s board meeting. They have not received a mandate to make this change and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous at best.
The International has the power to create this new local and that is just what they are going to do. Stern would appoint the new leadership and staff would be found. The members that would be forcibly moved would be under unelected leadership that could from from anywhere in the country. They would be leaving, in at least the case of the UHW members, an incredibly strong, fast-growing union that has gained deep, far-reaching contracts that are in many cases considered the gold standard. Through this fight with the International, UHW members have proven how dedicated they are to their leadership and staff and willing to do whatever it takes to defend it.
The result is that the path seems pretty clear. Today the International will create the new statewide home care local. UHW members will actively and strongly resist it. That will create legitimate grounds for trusteeship, which the International would persue with pleasure. The path is so clear that it seems like it is indeed the point. This would gut UHW and end up with them trusteed.
Cal Winslow in the article I linked above and quoted goes into a longer deeper discussion of the larger fight between UHW and Stern/Internation. We have covered this in some depth last year here at Calitics. Generally speaking, the gutting of UHW would take away a strong ally here in California for the progressive movement. They are organized, effective and tend to be more progressive when it comes to policy than Stern and those he appoints. It is the difference between the Arnold health care plan that Stern flew in here to back and the Democrats’ legislation.
It is not my role as an outsider to tell SEIU how they should run themselves. It is up to the members. They clearly are not interested in what the International is attempting to force upon them. That is the antithesis of a bottom-up people-powered union. While I have great respect for a lot of the political work SEIU International has and continues to do nationally, this stinks for SEIU members in CA and for the larger progressive movement here.
This transcript from today’s Democracy Now! includes an interview with Sal Rosseli and the press release from the International on today’s events. Here is the excerpt as it gives you a flavor of where both sides are coming from in their own words.
Sal Rosselli, I wanted to ask you very quickly-we just got a statement a few minutes ago within the show emailed to us from the Service Employees International Union. They say, “Today’s vote follows an exhaustive two-year participatory process including 13 days of hearings to determine how best to represent SEIU’s 240,000 long-term care members in California. In August, an outside hearing officer concluded that California’s long-term care workers would be better served if they were no longer divided among three local unions. Similarly, in June, the member delegates to SEIU’s quadrennial convention representing the union’s 2 million members overwhelming adopted a proposal that called for the creation of a single long term care workers’ union per state.
“The question facing the IEB today”-that’s the International Executive Board-“could not be more urgent. These are particularly challenging times for California workers. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed dramatic across-the-board cuts in patient care and worker pay, including slashing the pay of many workers to a bare minimum wage, and long-term care members must to be organized to fight back.” They conclude, “The proposal being considered today would create the nation’s largest organization of long-term care workers, instantly making it a political and economic heavyweight in the nation’s most populous state.”
Sal Rosselli, your response?
SAL ROSSELLI: It’s disingenuous at best. You know, the hearings inside SEIU are kangaroo court type of operations. The bottom line is, workers need to be able to vote in a very democratic way about their future. And the workers in-the 150,000 workers in UHW in California have voted to stay united into one union.
It’s also hypocritical, because in every other state, including New York, long-term care workers are united with hospital workers. Enforcing a division of them in California, which is what Andy Stern is attempting to do, will delegate long-term care workers to permanent second-class citizenship. It’s the strength of hospital workers united with long-term care workers that’s fundamentally important to achieve quality patient care, achieve a real voice in staffing levels and achieve fair conditions for these workers.
My views are absolutely colored by watching the proceedings in the fall where SEIU was unable to prove that UHW did anything wrong and yet are doggedly continuing on a path to eliminate or vastly weaken UHW. That said, I am interested in what others opinions are on the subject. This is no cup of tea to talk about as two allies duke it out and good friends are on both sides.