MORE ON THE CALIFORNIA HEALTHCARE WORKERS REVOLT AGAINST SEIU DICTATORSHIP

[Omaha Steve]

http://gangbox.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/more-on-the-california-healthcare-workers-revolt-against-seiu-dictatorship/

Posted in Uncategorized by gangbox on the February 14, 2009

Local United Healthcare West workers protest their union’s takeover by Service Employees International

By Seth Sandronsky

On January 27, Andy Stern, national president of Service Employees International Union, came one step closer to realizing his dream of uniting service employees under a single SEIU banner. But Stern’s dream is nothing less than a nightmare for local members of United Healthcare Workers West, the Oakland-based affiliate that’s the latest union to be swallowed whole by the SEIU, the second-largest labor union in the country.


United Healthcare Workers West are concerned that patients and employees will suffer under Service Employees International Union rule. The SEIU claims that patients and employees will benefit.


UHW represents 150,000 health-care employees in California, including 28,000 in Sacramento. Late last month, Stern placed UHW in trusteeship, a legal maneuver that amounts to a hostile takeover of the union and its members. SEIU suspended the union’s constitution and bylaws, seized its financial assets and removed 100 elected union officials, including UHW head Sal Rosselli.

More than a few local UHW members are livid about the takeover, including John Boros, an administrative vice president from Sacramento.

“The only people happy with the SEIU takeover are the bosses, especially those of nursing homes,” Boros said. “SEIU negotiates agreements that give away gains for patients and workers.”

Rosselli publicly criticized Stern in January 2007 for agreeing to a pact with the Tenet nursing-home chain in California that barred workers from striking for seven years. A year later, Rosselli, as president of the SEIU California State Council, knocked Stern’s stance on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s failed health-care initiative. Stern’s response? He disbanded the entire state council, then stacked it with members more amenable to his positions.

FULL story at link.

[msongs]

1. is andy panda the new jimmy hoffa? in it for the power and $$. hmm nt