[progchat_action] SEIU reform struggle heats up
Steven L. Robinson
Brian Cruz, Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky, members of SEIU Local
1021 in the Bay Area, look at union president Andrew Stern's attempts to
oust his opponents and crush a growing reform movement.
SocialistWorker.org (US)
September 17, 2008
)DEFIANT AND determined, several thousand members of Service Employees
International Union's (SEIU) United Health Care Workers-West (UHW) marched
through downtown San Jose on September 6.
Homecare workers, stewards from Kaiser facilities, medical technicians from
Catholic Healthcare hospitals, and scores of nursing home workers and union
activists joined the demonstration, chanting, "Sin justmcia, no hay paz"
("No justice, no peace") and "When healthcare workers are under attack, what
do we do? Stand up, fight back!"
But the focus of the protest wasn't some heartless nursing home boss.
Rather, the target of the workers' wrath was the head of their union, SEIU
International President Andrew Stern, who wants to put UHW into
"receivership"--that is, placed under control of a Stern appointee, who
would have total power over that union local.
The anti-Stern protest was held in conjunction with a UHW educational
conference that stressed rank-and-file activism, the importance of union
democracy and the necessity of holding union leaders accountable.
UHW, led by the popular and democratically elected President Sal Rosselli,
has been in the forefront of the fight to democratize and reform SEIU.
Rosselli has increasingly clashed with Stern's moves to centralize power,
authority and resources into the hands of the International President's
office. By campaigning against corruption and for rank-and-file control, UHW
has earned Stern's enmity.
Over the past year, the Stern administration has spent millions of SEIU's
dollars attacking UHW and trying to undermine the local. This has included
frivolous lawsuits, direct mail hit pieces and robo-phone calls to UHW
members. In an effort to silence UHW in the run-up to July's International
Convention, Stern threatened to take control of the local.
UHW leaders, to their credit, refused to be silenced and went public with
the fight to reform SEIU. UHW officers and members, along with a new group,
SEIU Member Activists for Reform Today (SMART), were able to bring the
debate to the floor of the convention and even contest elections for some of
the International Executive Board seats.
But the International managed the floor very tightly and ended up winning on
all of its proposals. Stern also pushed through a resolution authorizing him
to split UHW by moving its 65,000 long-term care workers into the Los
Angeles-based SEIU Local 6434.
Next, the International announced a hearing to determine the fate of these
65,000 workers for Manhattan Beach, near LA, just 10 days in advance. UHW,
however, was able to organize a mass protest at the hearings of over 6,000
members from all over the state. This embarrassed Stern and forced him to
back down, albeit temporarily.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STERN'S CAMPAIGN to take control of UHW has also been slowed down by a
series of scandals involving top allies, including SEIU Local 6434 President
Tyrone Freeman. Stern had intended for Freeman to get control of the 65,000
members transferred from UHW. But following a series of investigative
reports by the Los Angeles Times, Freeman has taken a leave from his office
and is under criminal investigation.
According to the Times, "Freeman's local and a related charity have paid
hundreds of thousands of dollars to home-based firms owned by his wife and
mother-in-law, as well as $16,000 to a now-defunct minor league basketball
team coached by his brother-in-law." The local also ran up bills at pricey
restaurants, an expensive cigar club and William Morris, the Hollywood
talent agency.
Freeman's rise to a powerful union position is typical among Stern's allies
in the SEIU. Originally put into office as a Stern appointee, he went
unchallenged in a subsequent union election because Local 6434's nomination
requirements make it practically impossible for non-incumbents to run (4,800
nominating signatures must be gathered within three weeks in a local
representing homecare workers, who rarely see one another).
Rickman Jackson, the former chief of staff for Local 6434, who moved on to
be president of the largest SEIU local in Michigan, stepped down because he
was implicated in one of the charges against Freeman (it was Jackson's local
that was involved in the violent attack on the Labor Notes conference in
April to "protest" a scheduled appearance by a speaker from the rival
California Nurses Association).
Also immersed in scandal is Annelle Grajeda, the appointed president of the
65,000-member SEIU Local 721. Grajeda became president of the SEIU
California State Council in a Stern-backed coup against Rosselli, who had
held that post. Grajeda was also elected by acclamation to become one of
SEIU's six International Executive Vice Presidents (a $200,000 per year
post).
Now, however, Grajeda has stepped down as well, amid charges of permitting
double- and even triple-dipping by her ex-boyfriend Alejandro Stephens. As
labor journalists Steve Early and Cal Winslow reported, "Stephens is accused
of remaining on the payroll of Los Angeles County, while collecting 'tens of
thousands of dollars' from various SEIU entities, including the state
council headed by Grajeda, Grajeda's own 75,000-member local, and the
international union."
Stern has decided to try to use this disaster as an excuse to dispose of
UHW. He's proclaiming himself a proponent for "reform" within the labor
movement and has promised to clean house.
Thus, he's called for a new hearing to place UHW under trusteeship,
recycling charges that were earlier dismissed by a federal judge. The
hearing is set for September 26 and 27. However, the location hasn't been
announced yet, as Stern aims to undercut a mobilization by UHW members to
protest the threat of trusteeship.
A trusteeship is the labor-movement equivalent of martial law. It allows the
International to remove all elected officers, dissolve any and all
leadership bodies, fire staff, and ignore rank and file bargaining
committees. In their place, one appointed "trustee" is empowered to make all
decisions. Labor law only permits an International to place a Local in
trusteeship for very specific reasons, such as corruption or financial
malfeasance.
What are UHW's "crimes" that would justify a trusteeship? Blowing the
whistle on backroom deals and substandard contracts conducted in the name of
labor-management partnership; opposing the SEIU International's support of
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's so-called health care reform, which
is based on individual mandates; and sending a delegation to the
International Convention to propose constitutional changes, motions and
resolutions designed to give rank-and-file leaders a voice at all levels of
the union.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HOWEVER, STERN'S campaign to destabilize UHW seems to have had the opposite
effect. The International's use of smears, lies and innuendos against
Rosselli has galvanized UHW's membership around an explicit agenda of union
reform.
Oscar, a member of UHW in Oakland, said, "People are pissed off because of
the scandals. People are getting more and more involved and understanding
the issues more clearly. [Member] turnouts are better, and people see with
their own eyes the truth. They are more confident than ever. As we continue
to win the best contracts ever and raise the bar for the nursing home
industry, people are excited."
The stakes in this battle are high. A trusteeship of SEIU would also weaken
the voice for reform and democracy inside the union. No doubt one of Stern's
first actions would be to cut UHW's ties to the SMART reform group.
Jon Meade, president of SEIU Local 1021's Paramedic Chapter, warned, "If UHW
is dismantled, union democracy will be hurt the most. This is a watershed
event for union democracy inside SEIU. This is a landmark struggle for the
labor movement. It represents union democracy verses corporatization."
The broader labor movement would be weakened if the voices of dissent inside
SEIU were silenced. Finally, the broader progressive community also would be
harmed by a UHW trusteeship. With UHW out of the way, Stern would be able to
ignore the membership's desire for single-payer health care reform and cut
political deals that protect the insurance industry.
This is why we should all turn out on September 26 and September 27 to
protest at the UHW trusteeship hearing. This next protest promises to be as
big--or bigger--than the membership turnout at the last hearing in July
outside LA.
"Los Angeles will look like a no-show by comparison," said Elsa from In Home
Support Services in Sonoma County. Asked if Stern can be stopped, Elsa was
somber, but resolute: "Yes, we can stop the trusteeship."
http://socialistworker.org/2008/09/17/seiu-reform-struggle
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