Where's Annelle?

Didn't we just go through this with Rickman Jackson? Exactly where is the disgraced former Local 721 President, and what is it that SEIU members are paying her to do?

While the official SEIU story is that Annelle is now some kind of assistant to Anna Burger on the east coast, she is described as "Manager" for Local 1000 in California on a contributions form for Cathy Hackett, a candidate for the 2009 elections for the Public Employees' Retirement Board (CalPERS), and her address is given as "Commerce" (in East Los Angeles).



It's only $100, but it's bizarre, especially as readers report that no one at Local 1000 knows anything about Annelle working there, and she is not currently in the office, nor expected to be!

Mysterious huh? So what's up?

Look who else is back!

Perhaps life as a sports agent isn't all he hoped it would be, as it looks like Tyrone Freeman is dipping his toe back into politics!

"Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining" says Tyrone (very aptly) on his new blog "The Blueprint for Justice". The blog - which Perez is sure Tyrone could make much more exciting - covers Tyrone's thoughts on the economy and unemployment (although not his own). He even asks his "mom" to get involved, just like he did at the convention!




So have a great Friday and go check it out! It's buzzing up!

Not to be missed - Part two!

Here's the rest of Perez's run-down of the most important stories of the last month...

5) Another creature for "The Island of Doctor Stern".
As reported with far more detail and clarity by Herman Benson, SEIU took "Justice for All" a mile or two further at the start of September, combining four California property services locals into a new district council called United Service Workers-West. Because the new organization is a council (not a local or international union), it's subject to different rules - Stern can appoint its officers for the next four years, and impose bylaws which take control of the local unions' finances and (inevitably) bargaining. Expect to see more of this type of thing, all theoretically democratically authorized at the Puerto Rico convention!


6) Sonoma County contract vote especially disgraceful.
4,000 Sonoma County homecare workers had to attend an SEIU meeting to vote on their new contract, giving them only a two hour window at only three locations. They had no chance to see the new contract before voting on it, but were able to hear an SEIU sales pitch. At least one homecare worker reports being physically shoved out of the voting room and prevented from voting. The full contract is still not available, and of course, SEIU aren't releasing turnout numbers for the vote! What we do know is that the homecare workers now face a $2 an hour wage cut in a year's time, and will lose their Kaiser insurance and be switched to a cheaper plan.

Update: Read more about the situation in Sonoma County on this new blog by a homecare worker (who believes the turnout to have been about 6-8%).


7) 1199NY sick of picking up Andy's tab.
While major locals have pushed back on Stern's incessant demands for staff/money/left cover before, this is the first time it's really been public.

"There is significant sentiment within the union that is questioning the way the dues money is being spent," said one 1199 leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "There are a lot of people who don't want this war."

8) Bruce Raynor still a millstone/albatross.
The "Workers United" mess is still a quagmire, and Stern and Raynor are still sinking deeper in together! The raids aren't going well (PDF), WU is laying off staff, and Perez hears Raynor is just flat out unpopular at 1800 Mass!


It's good to be back! Did Perez forget anything? Emails to the usual address: perezstern@gmail.com...

Not to be missed!

In no particular order, here's the first part of a quick rundown of the biggest stories of the last month...

1) Kaiser Layoffs
First and worst, this one's just sickening. Turns out Zombie UHW (specifically Mary Grillo and Veronica Chavez) signed off on the Kaiser layoffs in a backroom deal on August 4. The agreement shows that SEIU agreed to limits on workers' rights to challenge layoffs and set aside job security protections in the contract. Adding insult to injury, to date Zombie UHW are still urging workers to picket to protect their jobs, and Kaiser seem fine with that - contract specialists are regularly spotted making the picket signs on Kaiser property.


2) UNITE HERE rejoins the AFL CIO.
Unsurprisingly, UNITE HERE formally rejoined the AFL CIO on September 17, the last day of the organization's convention. Perez predicted the end of Change to Win back in March (really, you could tell it was over when SEIU started reusing the acronym for Change that Works), but it's great to see new strength for the AFL CIO come out of it.


3) Alejandro Stephens looking at serious prison time.
Former Local 660 President Alejandro Stephens is looking at up to 45 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to taking part in a scam involving late LA County Fed secretary-treasurer Miguel Contreras's (now defunct) "Voter Improvement Project" non-profit. Apparently Contreras hired Stephens as a fake consultant, and sent him money that came from charitable foundations (including Kaiser Permanente) under the guise of "voter outreach" that never happened. Annelle Grajeda is also named in the documents as having assisting Stephens with the fraud by helping her son pass $10,000 from the non-profit along to him. Stephens's own plea bargain leaves Annelle out of the sordid story, but names her son.

To be clear, this case is not the original set of accusations that Grajeda helped Stephens double dip from SEIU and his old job with the county, but a whole new can of worms apparently opened during that investigation.


4) The end of UHW?
After being destroyed in all but name this spring, will the UHW-W name now also be consigned to history? That's what Debbie Schneider apparently threatened to Zombie UHW staff at the beginning of September when she emphasized how vital it was that they win upcoming elections (oh dear). According to Debbie, major losses could mean the break-up of UHW members into other locals, and Zombie staff joining Kaiser workers on the unemployment rolls. Makes sense, especially as SEIU bosses have apparently been aggressively spending down the local's bank account since the take-over.


Part 2 tomorrow...

First things first....

Congratulations to HHS workers at Los Alamitos Medical Center and workers at The Sequoias Portola Valley who voted to make NUHW their first union this week!

Results for the NLRB run votes were 35 for NUHW to 7 for "No Union" at Los Alamitos on Monday, and 40 for NUHW to 20 for "No Union" at The Sequoias today. The elections were scheduled last month after BS blocking charges from SEIU were thrown out.

After realizing they wouldn't get enough votes to be an effective spoiler, SEIU pulled their name off the ballot at Los Alamitos last week (they never even tried at The Sequoias). There's now growing pressure on them to back off on other elections where it's clear they have no real interest in representing workers (like Kaiser?). Still, it sounds like SEIU swung into action as the boss's volunteer skunk team, reportedly calling workers the night before the election to say...

"I'm calling from the union, tomorrow is the election. Do you know what the next step is? Strike to get a contract!".

No word on who was behind that (failed) stroke of genius, but Amado David is famous among organizers who've worked with him for trying similar last-minute stunts.

No word (yet?) either on who's responsible for one of the most myopic, sour, and revealing "SEIU-UHW" (or is it "UHW-SEIU"?) emails to date - SEIU's last minute pronouncement that because Los Alamitos and Sequoias workers were forming a union for the first time rather than leaving SEIU for NUHW, it all didn't really count anyway! While SEIU seem proud to make it plenty clear that if workers aren't part of a massive chain or another union they're not worth the trouble, the picture looks a little different if you're actually one of those workers!

Well, rock on to the new NUHW members who'll now have the right to a voice in their workplace, and rock on to the SEIU communications department for letting their true colors show and putting (pre-trusteeship fake) "Pops Hardy" in charge of their email outreach!

Perez will be back....

...and making up for lost time early this week! Many thanks to all my well wishers and contributors...

Dave tries to go "old school" on UNITE HERE Local 2!

This is from last week and should have been posted earlier. As one reader put it, it's "important and disgusting"!

Well, here's one way to "stop with the politics"...

Just walk out!

Here's SEIU management slinking out of bargaining with international staff union UUR... That's Judith McCullough doing the talking, with Michelle Healy sitting to her right. Who are the other two?

Update: That's Mets fan and former 32BJ staffer Arun Ivatury sitting (and sighing) to Judith's left.



And here's UUR's report...

Dear UUR Brothers and Sisters,

SEIU has walked away from the bargaining table with UUR a full day and a half early (see attached video). This is another example of SEIU’s bad faith bargaining. Below is background on what transpired.

Your UUR bargaining team came to the most recent scheduled bargaining sessions with SEIU prepared to bargain and immediately get into the nuts and bolts of our contract so we can get it settled as soon as possible. However, given the tone and statements of Judith McCullough’s memo on behalf of SEIU called “UUR Bargaining” dated July 24, 2009, it was necessary to make one last stab at establishing ground rules based on the fact that SEIU’s memo unilaterally attempted to establish managements version of ground rules for bargaining with NO input from UUR.

It’s been clear to our membership that trust has been broken with SEIU over the last year or so. You, our members, have told us that transparency at the bargaining table is vital to instilling confidence in the process of bargaining with SEIU. Therefore, it has been imperative to your bargaining team to make every attempt at transparency from the table and to you the members of UUR.

After receiving SEIU’s final proposal on ground rules, we agreed to accept 99% of SEIU’s proposal. Our decision to agree to 99% of SEIU’s demands on ground rules was based on the fact that we wanted to get to the nuts & bolts of the contract as soon as possible. Here is a list of some of the issues UUR was willing to accept from SEIU’s ground rules proposal in order to get to the nuts & bolts of the contract:

1. UUR would carry the burden of all travel expenses for bargaining sessions.
2. UUR agreed that there would be no recording or transmitting of bargaining sessions.
3. UUR agreed to separate SEIU’s responsibility to facilitate paid time off for bargaining team members to attend bargaining from the ground rules proposal.

*Refer to attached final proposals to see SEIU’s final ground rules compared to UUR’s final ground rules. They are practically identical, yet SEIU still refused to agree.

The only change we made to SEIU’s final proposal on ground rules was sticking to our position that UUR members have the right to observe bargaining sessions between SEIU and UUR. As we all know being trained by SEIU, observers having the right to attend bargaining sessions are a basic tenet of SEIU’s strategy at the table for SEIU members. At this point we would ask for nothing less for our members. Transparency will ensure that you, our members, know what is happening at the bargaining table and is what you have asked of your bargaining team in these contract negotiations.

Like you, we are disappointed in SEIU walking away from negotiations. But, it’s not totally surprising considering some of SEIU’s recent union busting tactics against UUR and our members that has created the current atmosphere of distrust. For example:

1. Unilateral layoffs of close to 1/3 of UUR members

2. The pre-emptive layoff of a UUR member (Brad Gonzalez) for just mentioning UUR in a staff meeting at Local 5 in AZ.

3. SEIU’s denial of UUR members rights under the contract to be placed in the SIT program (violation of Article V, Section 7 of the contract). Instead, SEIU unilaterally decided to keep them as Organizer I and continued with layoff procedures. Marquis Queen and Helen Sanders are examples of two of the 19 UUR members who were denied entrance into the SIT program.

4. SEIU’s use of divide and conquer tactics. For example: Over 60% of those who were laid off were people of color and / or over the age of 40. Also, 100% of the 19 people denied self promotion to the SIT program were people of color and / or over the age of 40. Ask yourself…Is this what Ana Burger meant when she stated “We’re getting rid of the people that need to be gotten rid of.”

5. Denying members on layoff their rights under the contract to bump and replacing them with temporary staff. For example: Marquis Queen

6. SEIU’s attempts to bankrupt UUR and our financial solvency when it comes to representing our members. For example: Contrary to 25 years of past practice in bargaining, SEIU has put the entire cost of bargaining on UUR which includes travel from work assignments, lodging, expenses and docking bargaining team members salaries (in violation of the contract under Appendix H).

7. SEIU’s blatant attack on UUR’s elected leaders and bargaining team. For example: Chief Steward Sarah Solis, UUR President and bargaining team member Malcolm Harris and bargaining team members Denise McClendon, Marquis Queen, Quincy Sanders, and Gina Rivert. All of whom are people of color as well.

8. Another divide and conquer tactic is the use of temporary, contract, and Local staff to do Organizer I International work while at the same time they are laying off Organizer I International UUR members.

9. So many more examples to mention, but these are some of the most recent and glaring.

Who and what is next in SEIU’s arsenal against UUR? Many people have either been laid off or left employment in reaction to SEIU’s use of some of the worst union busting tactics imaginable. Like you, we are ready to get back to the table and settle our contract. We all want to feel good about the work we do and get back to building a progressive Labor Movement we can all believe in again. UUR is committed to remaining in Chicago through Friday prepared to bargain in good faith with SEIU. Our goal is to win a good contract for all of us. The question is…Is SEIU prepared to come back to the table to bargain in good faith and in a timely manner?

This is a call to arms. This is a time when we, as union members, need to stand up, stick together and show our solidarity, just like we ask the workers to do that we organize everyday. So, you as union members must take action to show our strength as a Union. We all know this is how we show unity and strength. These actions may include, but are not limited to: observing bargaining sessions, participating in public actions in support of getting a good contract, participation in the CAT team, creating a plan to strike if necessary.

Perez will be back tomorrow...

Blank expressions.

Last week SEIU organizers were handing out their business cards to workers as they toured USC University Hospital. Take a look at the cards, and fill in the blanks! Is SEIU just giving up on ever having permanent staff at Zombie UHW?

It sure looks like it! As well as the high turnover, there's the fact that as SEIU's BS blocking charges get closer to being thrown out by the NLRB, SEIU are sending anything with a pulse to Californiraq. Expect to see many more like Sharon Fuller-Bowman, an international staffer.

But does anyone know who Jesus Sanchez is? He seems to have caught on to the SEIU style, and won't even give up his work phone number on his business card... after all, why would he want to be bothered by actual calls from members?

Notes on the Kaiser layoffs...

From a reader at Kaiser Roseville...

"People are getting pink slips as we speak. In some areas, like the business office, the contract is basically being followed to the letter; this is presumably because the redeployment process had already started some months ago.

However, in other areas, the contract is being violated left-and-right, but the workers are now being told that they are NOT going to be laid off, but there will be voluntary reductions in the workforce (try to square THAT circle...)

The Purple People have once again set up an information table outside of MOB 1 conference rooms on the third floor, and are "counseling" people presumably on the upcoming "strike" vote. I haven't gone down there yet, because I still get my blood boiling at any time I see purple shirts. No security has shown up on the floor, yet. I'll wait until my NUHW steward shows up before I act - there may be news coming out of Roseville soon! :)"

Keep an eye on awesome member blogger Adios Andy for much more...

Bad faith and harassment continued...

As Perez mentioned yesterday in our report on SEIU's continued attempts to smash UUR, management harassment of the few remaining international staff continues...

Here's chief steward Sarah Solis's's email to UUR members...

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Dear UUR Brothers and Sisters,

Over the last two weeks SEIU has started its attack against our President, Malcolm Harris. On July 22nd, 2009 Malcolm was removed from Local 500 after being there for nearly half a year. His removal was due to accusations of poor work performance, disrespectful exchanges with management and for not doing his expenses. Michelle Healy, his supervisor at the time, issued a Verbal Warning to Malcolm on July 30th, 2009.

On July 27th, 2009 Malcolm arrived at a Workers United campaign in Pennsylvania. He was asked what his opinion of the campaign was. Malcolm expressed a critical analysis of the campaign and was subsequently removed. Malcolm's new supervisor, Secky Facione, issued Malcolm a written warning on August 6th, 2009 for expressing his opinion about this campaign.

On July 29th, 2009 Malcolm arrived at the Pennsylvania Childcare Campaign, for which Victoriana (Vicky) Baca is the coordinator. On July 30th, 2009 Malcolm experienced car trouble and took his car to a mechanic. He then contacted Vicky around 7:30am notifying her that he might be late to the office where he was supposed to meet with the team at 10am. Vicky suggested Malcolm take public transportation. Malcolm expressed that he felt this was an unreasonable suggestion given the fact that he was unfamiliar with the transit system. Vicky then asked him to arrange a ride with a coworker, which Malcolm did. Nonetheless, Vicky sent Malcolm a text message around 8:30am notifying him that he was to leave the campaign. On August 10th, 2009 Secky Facione and Vicky Baca held an investigatory call with Malcolm regarding allegations of insubordination.

We've all expressed our opinions about campaigns. Were you ever written up for doing so? We've all been late in doing our expenses from time to time. Were you ever given a warning for being late on expenses? We've all had car trouble and had to come into work late. Were you written up afterward?

I am sure the answer is NO, NO and NO! SEIU IS DESPERATE! They are looking for any way they can get rid of UUR leaders who take a stand. We must remain united! UUR plans to file a ULP. However, we need to take immediate action. Show your support for Malcolm by demanding a stop to these BOSS TACTICS and insisting management stay focused on the real issue at hand, NEGOTIATIONS!

Copy and past the following email below and send it to management by FRIDAY, AUGUST 14TH, 2009. Feel free to add your own personal touch.

Never giving up,

Sarah Solis
Chief Steward

.................

TO: Secky.Fascione@seiu.org, Michelle.Healy@seiu.org, Victoriana.Baca@seiu.org, judith.mccullough@seiu.org, unionofunionreps@gmail.com

SECKY, MICHELLE, VICKY AND JUDITH,

YOUR BEHAVIOR OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS HAS DISAPPOINTED ME TO NO END. INSTEAD OF WORKING TO REBUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH UUR AND NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT, SEIU IS FOCUSED ON DESTROYING US BY ATTACKING OUR PRESIDENT MALCOLM HARRIS. WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR BOSS TACTICS AND RIDICULOUS ACCUSATIONS. THEY NEED TO STOP NOW!

IF SEIU IS TO BE A LABOR UNION I AM TO BE PROUD TO WORK FOR, THEN YOU WILL RESPECT US BY GETTING BACK TO THE TABLE TO NEGOTIATE IN GOOD FAITH AND LEAVE MALCOLM TO DO THE IMPORTANT WORK OF ORGANIZING.

- Union Activist

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If not now then when, UUR?