I’m sitting here at the San José Convention Center at the annual SEIU-UHW West leadership conference, with thousands of members gathered to plan for their union’s future. UHW has a lot of momentum, is engaged in a lot of organizing work to unionize more workplaces, and are among the leading progressive groups in the state at a time when we desperately need such allies.

And they’re facing the threat of losing their elected leadership to the SEIU International, which is attempting to place UHW under trusteeship. The International accuses UHW of financial improprieties involving an “educational fund” segmented for a possible health care ballot initiative. UHW leaders and many outside observers believe the charges are groundless. The next move is a hearing on September 22-23 UPDATE: Yesterday Stern announced the hearing has been moved to September 26-27.

These developments dominate the meeting, but the rank and file members I’ve talked to seem resolute in their desire to defend union democracy. A group of allied reformers from other SEIU locals, SMART, have a significant presence here, a reflection of the intense battles going on within the broader SEIU movement regarding union democracy.

Whatever the outcome, there is a strong commitment to democracy among the 2,000 members here – democracy in the workplace, democracy in their union, democracy in their nation. Despite the internal politics that is an extremely positive sign. The labor movement has been at the forefront of social democratic politics in this country for over 100 years. When labor is strong, progressive politics are strong. Which makes the SEIU’s efforts to trustee UHW all the more disappointing, as we need unions to be laser-focused on this election and on the policy battles that will begin as soon as the dust settles in November.

Several Democratic politicians have already spoken at the convention, and more will be here tomorrow. Steve Westly spoke on behalf of the Obama campaign, exhorting members to sign up to help canvass for the campaign, particularly in Nevada and New Mexico. Kamala Harris and Jerry Brown are speaking tomorrow. I’ll have more coverage of their remarks at that time.

• Everybody’s waiting to see what Sarah Palin will have to say at 7:30PT.  I’m on record; she’s going to do great, and she’ll be feted by the media for it.  Very little of it will be true, but she’s on home court and is an engaging speaker.  Some speech samples here.  The speech is going to be tough and straight-up politics of resentment.  We’ll see if she can channel her anger at being called out for ridicule this week; I think she’s up to the task, and this backlash stuff is standard Republican politics when they are put up against the wall.  Stoller is asking the right question – will this be the right way to introduce yourself to the whole nation, including independents?

• Turning locally, while Arnold missed the festivities in St. Paul to look very serious about the budget, Pete Wilson made it out there in his stead – and he slammed Schwarzenegger’s call for a tax increase, clearly temporarily forgetting the increase of his own.  And when he was reminded, he said, “The situation was very different.”

• Among the bills about to land on the Governor’s desk is an equal pay bill.  This has become a big issue in the Presidential race, and I’m glad to see the legislature on the right side of it.

• This is a good Chris Hayes piece from The Nation about union members at the RNC, but the California-specific part about the SEIU-UHW fight I found just right:

The more I talked to the UHW members and heard their grievances, the more I thought about the fact that organized labor has two goals that can often come into tension: power and dignity. We tend to focus on the power aspect in politics: the power to collectively bargain, to make sure labor captures a fair share of profits, to demand higher wages–all of which have been in sharp decline. That’s the objective nature of unionization. The subjective nature of unionization, though, is dignity. It is the process by which working people come to believe that their views and their ideas and their demands are important. That they should be listened to. These two values can be in tension, as I suspect might be the case in California. Sometimes maximizing power might (I stress might, because the UHW-SEIU situation is very, very complicated) require people to fall in line, but the prerogative of dignity is to speak out and stand up.

• I’m interested in hearing more about Prop. 5.  Anything that rolls back our stupid and shortsighted drug war is positive, in addition to addressing the prison crisis.  Martin Sheen, of all people, has joined up with the No on 5 crowd, being run by the people who brought you the pro-Denham team during the aborted recall.

• Just noting the prison guard payoff to Don Perata because nobody else has.

Open thread time.

A major article in today’s LA Times alleges Tyrone Freeman and SEIU Local 6434 routinely misused local funds, including giving contracts to family members:

The Los Angeles-based union, which represents low-wage caregivers, also spent nearly $300,000 last year on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton’s steakhouse and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, records show.

In addition, the union paid six figures to a video firm whose principals include a former union employee. And a now-defunct minor league basketball team coached by the president’s brother-in-law received $16,000 for what the union described as public relations, according to the union’s U.S. Labor Department filings and interviews.

It’s not clear if there are any legal violations here, and Freeman and his family members deny that there was anything inappropriate in the contracts and spending:

“Every expenditure has been in the context of fighting poverty,” [Freeman] said…. Freeman, 38, said the union’s members have benefited from the money spent on the video production and day-care companies that his wife and mother-in-law operate at their homes, because of what he termed the high quality of the services.

The article goes on to detail the expenditures and flaws with them, some of which went to nonprofits in trouble with the IRS and “entities” associated with former LA Rams star Eric Dickerson that have been suspended from doing business in California.

Labor unions constantly have to battle the usually false perception that they misuse funds, and face a well-funded right-wing campaign that seeks to undermine unions for even the slightest error. Most unions, including those I’ve been a part of, are very scrupulous about how they use money to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, so I am very surprised to hear that this was going on.

And I’m not alone in that. The article quotes Nelson Liechtenstein, one of the nation’s leading labor historians, as follows:

It’s very important for unions not to do this kind of thing,” he said. “Union leadership is a public trust — all the more so when the people being represented are among the lowest-paid in America.”…

Lichtenstein said the [$418,000 golf] tournament spending was troubling under any circumstances.

“I don’t care if they’re making money or not,” he said. “It’s disconnected from the world of the people they’re representing. No one’s playing golf who’s a home healthcare worker.

And Joe Matthews at Blockbuster Democracy blog is even more critical, calling for Freeman’s resignation:

So this is going to be a difficult test of the union movement in LA and nationallly. But it’s a test. Freeman needs to step down and offer a full-throated apology. The union needs to ask for an independent audit of the local. And the public needs to hear immediately from union leadership — Stern, county labor chief Maria Elena Durazo, other top SEIU leaders such as janitors’ union chief Mike Garcia — about how such conduct must not be permitted in the movement. So far, the silence is deafening. Stern, in the story, refuses to address the conduct in question. That won’t cut it.

Why does the action need to be so clear-cut? Because the labor movement is on the rise in Los Angeles. To attend a city council meeting or a mayoral press conference is to watch the labor movement governing the city. As the journalist Harold Meyerson has written, the rise of the LA unions as a labor force has been aided by the widespread perception that our unions are not old-style, corrupt empires. This is supposed to be new labor. The public needs to see transparency and accountability in the response to this.

As for Freeman, I hope he can make amends for this conduct and have a future in the labor movement. But it can’t be as president of this local.

Matthews has it exactly right. The SEIU leadership needs to show that they won’t tolerate this kind of action within their ranks. Union democracy is important, and so is union accountability, union honesty, and union ethics. The misdeeds of one local unfortunately tend to get used to attack the labor movement as a whole – and Andy Stern and Tyrone Freeman in particular owe that movement answers and action.

More and Better Democrats.  We in the netroots are the most vigorous champions of candidates who truly represent their districts, candidates who challenge the status quo and demand tangible changes in our government.  If we had the power to create the quintessential strong Democrat, we’d be hard put to make up someone more authentic, intelligent, and schooled in the needs of his community than Manuel Perez.  

Crossposted at dKos.  Flip it.

The California 80th Assembly District is currently represented by termed out Republican Bonnie Garcia.  Manuel Perez won a tough primary by a significant margin, and now faces a former police chief, Republican Gary Jeandron.  This is one of the targeted races for both parties, as Republicans need to keep it, and Democrats know we can take it.  Perez represents one of our best hopes for a 2/3 majority. He also represents the people powered movement in Democratic politics.  Perez has been working for his community all his life, as a diligent student, a teacher, a promontore, a healthcare researcher, a healthcare provider, a school reform champion, an environmental advocate, a Schools Not Jails advocate, and a labor advocate.  The education, healthcare, and labor communities overwhelmingly support him, not because he filled out the questionnaires correctly, but because he can write them himself.

The best biography on Perez was written by David Dayen at Calitics shortly after he met him at the beginning of this campaign:

Manuel Pérez’ parents were immigrants who met in the fields while chasing the crops they picked for work.  His mother worked 26 years in the fields, despite raising a family.  His father became a veteraño (a veteran of the migrant fields) and worked for the city of Indio on water issues.  Growing up in Coachella and Calexico, Manuel worked in the fields himself over the summers when he wasn’t in school.  His parents understood the importance of education, teaching the values of “service and sacrifice and social justice,” and pushing him to advance as far as he could go.  At an early age, he saw a community of gangs and drugs where his best friend was killed in a drive-by shooting.

He became the only person in his family to go on to higher education, getting his bachelor’s degree at UC-Riverside (and becoming an organizer on campus).  He had the opportunity to get a master’s degree in Social Policy at Harvard, and took it.  Instead of leaving his community behind, he returned to it, organizing field campaigns throughout the state for candidates and issues like Schools Not Jails.  This is someone who hasn’t waited around for higher office to make a difference in his community; he’s rolled up his sleeves and dived in.  As a director for the Borego Community Health Foundation, he’s created one of the first diabetes resource center in the desert region and has delivered health services to underserved regions.  As a researcher for the California Institute for Rural Studies, he put together a groundbreaking study on women’s reproductive health issues in Imperial County, where women have little opportunities and resources to manage their own health.  With Promotores, he’s part of a group of community-based leaders devoted to teaching  about health issues and making sure people in the community get the facts about programs at their disposal.  As a schoolteacher he started his school’s first ever Chicano Studies program designed to allow students to learn history from their perspective.  With the Eastern Coachella Valley Social Change Collaborative, he identified farm workers living in the area and trained them to be community leaders themselves.  Believe it or not, he’s only 34.

OK, at this point he’s 35.  But still.   Since then, Perez was given the Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Achievement Award.

This is an exciting campaign, not because we expect to win, but because Perez will be a legislator we can believe in.  He takes nothing for granted, and expects us to hold him accountable, to hold all elected officials accountable, every day, on all issues.   Like Obama, he wants to build a movement that works past November 4th, and brings the average citizen back into the picture in government.  Here’s Perez on the day of the primary:  

I work for the Courage Campaign.

Yesterday Julia gave the full, disheartening rundown on Governor Schwarzenegger’s attack on state employees. Also, Courtni Pugh shared the results of an SEIU poll demonstrating that Californians expect better from their Republican legislators on the budget to prevent these sort of wage cuts.

Today Courage Campaign releases a video in which state employees of SEIU 1000 speak out on the impact of the pay cuts. It’s right there, g’head and click play, then rate it up and add it to your favorites and other neat things. SEIU has been tremendous in this fight, not just pushing the politics of it all, but really pushing to make things happen for its members where the rubber hits the road. The Courage Campaign petition drive and call drive were great successes, but it’s the synergy with our labor allies that’s really pushing this to a new level.

These testimonials from state employees are often times difficult to hear. Not being able to pay bills, being forced to leave their homes, being driven out of the state workforce because it’s simply nowhere near a livable wage. This stunt by the governor is entirely backwards, and there’s plenty of evidence in the video. Punishing the people who are actually getting things done for the state as some sort of blustering threat to the few who aren’t getting it done is just nonsensical. You’d think he would at least be honest about it, but when signing the order yesterday, Schwarzenegger dropped this insulting gem:

QUESTION: Do you think that your action today will force the legislature, the added pressure, to come up with a budget solution faster?

GOVERNOR: This is not meant to do that.

If we’re to take him at his word then, he’s just cutting essential services and punishing honest, hard working public servants because he’s too lazy or uncreative to do anything productive. Which is why it’s so important to have the testimonials like in this video to bring public opinion to bear on Arnold’s outrageous behavior. Saving this state from its inner demons demands that these partnerships with labor continue to grow and strengthen. This is a great start that’s starting to deliver encouraging results.

Full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign

On Monday, Julia, Rick Jacobs and Assemblyman Dave Jones delivered more than 28,000 petition signatures gathered by the Courage Campaign to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s front door. You can click on the link to the right for a light-hearted taste of the path traveled by our intrepid petition carriers. More than 200,000 state workers have been threatened with a pay cut to just $6.55 an hour as the budget stalemate stretches on without any end in sight. The signatures and the attention were enough to convince the Governor to delay signing such an order (which incidentally he isn’t allowed to do according to the state Legislative Analyst), but only temporarily.

In his own unique magnanimous way, Arnold’s decided to delay until Thursday. That would be tomorrow. That means we don’t have much time to drive home the point that Californians will not stand for this sort of attack on so many of the workers who keep this state functional. Just because Arnold can’t get the legislature to work doesn’t mean he should punish the people who are still getting their jobs done.

Please take this opportunity to get on the phone and call Governor Schwarzenegger. Phone numbers, a sample script, and a form to report back with your experiences are available, so get dialing cause we have a narrow window in which to get through to him. State Controller John Chiang has already stood up strongly against this proposal, but Arnold isn’t going down without a fight. As the Governor said today, “The controller has his opinion of what he wants to do. He’s a constitutional officer and he runs his office his way. I think the law is very clear that he has to follow through and do exactly of what our executive order says.”

He’s not backing down, and neither will we. But it takes people power to drive this message home, so call Arnold now.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Today was supposed to be the day that Schwarzenegger signed the executive order to cut over 200,000 state employees pay to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour.  He has delayed that action until at least Thursday, which SEIU Local 1000, the Courage Campaign, True Majority and CREDO Mobile can take some credit for.

I just got back from a great day of actions at and around the capitol on this proposed wage cut.  After picking up over 28,000 signed petitions, a big backdrop and an easel I headed to the airport to pick up Rick Jacobs, my boss and Chair/Founder of the Courage Campaign and Jethro Rothe-Kushel, our videographer.

We headed straight for the noon rally held by SEIU Local 1000, which represents nearly half of the workers at risk of living in poverty due to the proposed callous action by the governor.  It was a great rally of about 200 Local 1000 members wearing their purple shirts, marching, chanting, blowing whistles and waving signs.  Jethro snagged a few interviews with some Local 1000 members and it should be part of the video he produces in a day or two.  The folks at Local 1000 were really happy to see all of these non-union activists being so supportive of their members and pushing back against the governor.

After the rally we grabbed a sandwich and then headed over with the sign, stand and the two boxes of petitions across the street from the Hyatt, where the governor stays when he is in town.  Assemblyman Dave Jones joined us there. Sen. Florez and Controller Chiang had conflicts, but wanted to be there.  We started off across the street from the capitol with Rick and Jones doing some one on one interviews.  KCRA (local NBC affiliate), KXJZ (local NPR) and a few other print folks were there.  The governor actually left in his motorcade as Jones was doing an interview.

Rick carried the big box (that sucker must have weighed at least 60 lbs) and Jones the smaller one across to the Hyatt, plastered with the Courage logo.  We decided to drop them off at the Hyatt to point out how out of touch Arnold is with what he has proposed.  The governor pays $293/night to stay in the suite.  It would take someone working 44.7 hours at the federal minimum wage, without any taxes being taken out to afford just one night’s stay at the governor’s special rate.  That is more than a week’s worth of work!  (flip it…)

The concierge at the Hyatt was very nice, but explained that they had a policy of not accepting things for the governor and politiely suggested we take it to his office.  Then a dude came up and asked if we had permission to be filming in the hotel.  He was rather rude about it and insisted that the cameras be shut off, which everyone ignored and Jones took some umbrage with his statements.

So, we walked across the capitol, with Rick and Assemblyman Dave Jones carrying the box together and cameras and reporters in tow.  This of course attracted other reporters once we got inside.  Univision and the Bee among others.  CHP stopped us at the door and asked what we were up to an explained we could not go inside.  There seemed to be a crowd of folks, staff and lobbyists I presume inside.  CHP had a staffer come out and talk to us.  At first she suggested we take the boxes to the mail room, when Rick piped up and said something to the effect of “do you really want Assemblyman Jones to deliver this to the mail room”.  She quickly rethought her plan and said she would be right back.  A minute or two later she popped out and told us someone would be with us shortly.

It took about 10 minutes, while Rick and Jones did interviews, for the governor’s press secretary to show up.  He said he would make sure they were handled properly and gave his speil to the Rick/Dave Jones.   Well….really for the press’s benefit, about how the governor is hoping the legislative leaders work everything out in their negotiations.

He took them inside the office, but then emerged later and was headed in the direction of said mail room.

Hopefully, there will be some media coverage and it will place more pressure on the governor to rethink his proposal.  As soon as the video is done and  I get the pictures, I will be sure to put them up.  Thank you to everyone who signed the petition, Credo and True Majority for helping push this out to their members and all of you who forwarded it to your friends and family.  This is what activism is all about.

This is a bit of a hail mary:

Now, business groups and like-minded Republicans have added relief from the meal and rest period rules to the list of things they want approved with the state budget.

California businesses, led by the California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber), the California Taxpayers’ Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, have spent millions and successfully enlisted the GOP to advocate for their interests over the years.

In California, it takes a two-thirds vote of each house in the Legislature to pass a budget or a tax increase. That gives the minority-party Republicans – and the business community lining up at their doors – far more ability to influence the budget than most other legislation. GOP lawmakers have successfully blocked major legislative tax increases since 1991 because of that power.

This year, with the budget already 28 days late and the state $15.2 billion short of a balanced budget, business groups are pushing to ensure their interests are taken care of as the budget is shaped. With that push comes money.

CalChamber is indeed the most powerful advocacy group with respect to Republicans and the governor.  All of their “job killer” bills are routinely vetoed, the reward for $11.5 million dollars’ worth of lobbying since 2003.  

But I would seriously doubt that they have the juice to overturn labor rules in the budget.  When it comes to influence, labor isn’t exactly a piker. The business community should worry more about their members coping with a failing economy than any of this, but of course CalChamber reflects the opinion of their top-earning members, just as the Republican Party reflects the opinion of their richest contributors.

It’s all posturing, and so is tomorrow’s budget vote in the Senate.  What that vote could be about is beyond me.