"Gaining your trust, and the trust of all our members."

Did you enjoy last week's letter to members from UHW scab Carolyn Gilkey? Well then perhaps you'll like this letter from scab Ernesto "Dirty Ernie" Rodriquez to workers at Kaiser Woodland Hills...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

These are trying times for all of us. There is much confusion, division and fear. After finding that UHW leadership was found culpable of financial malfeasance, and failure to comply with SEIU International Board rulings, SEIU has implemented a trusteeship. I, like many other bargaining unit staff of former UHW now work for SEIU. SEIU is, and always has been our parent affiliation. We fought a good fight for Sal Rosselli, but the war was won by SEIU. Now we are faced with the task of rebuilding our union, and getting back to the business of servicing our membership. It seems that at one point we lost out direction, and now we must make educated decisions, and that is why I will have a SEIU representative at our next council meeting for a question and answere session.

I applaud all of you for your hard work on behalf of the former leadership of UHW. I especially applaud Danny Romo, e-board member of the former UHW, and rep chair. I realize how difficult it must be to suddenly change direction, but I caution you not to make emotional decisions. For the sake of the membership that we vowed to protect, we should make every effort to get information from the other side of the debate. We now have the opportunity to talk to SEIU, and we should seek all the facts before we proceed. Fear, uncertainty, accusations, finger pointing, strong differences of opinions, and division, are part of the situation that we now face. We have grown together to become a strong body of activists, and all of you bring something valuable to our council. I caution all of you to get all the facts before you consider dissafiliation, and boycotting your union dues. There is a question of whether you not paying union dues will keep you as a member in good standing. I do not want to lose any of you as stewards.

As a staff representative, I carried out the derectives of my employer, at times, with some apprehension. All staff was required to go through an interview process with SEIU, and it is noticable that SEIU seems more open than the former UHW, to debate, questions and constructive criticism, and this is essential towards gaining your trust, and the trust of all our members. Disafilliation, in truth, is a decertification of our union. I invie you to inquire on line, at the National Labor Board web site, about the ramifications of a disaffiliation/decertification.. There seems to be mis informed members that are promoting this idea. We must be fair and responsible to our members, and have all the facts before we explore this idea. You do not have to take my word for it, but for the sake of our members, please seek the truth. I know that disafilliation/decertification will put our union contract and union rights in jeopardy for one to three years, this my brothers and sister, is a NLRB fact. According to the staff that experienced the last trusteeship, we emerged as a stronger and better union, which was 399. We can do it again, and I would be very proud to walk with all of you into this new era.

In Unity,
Ernesto Rodriquez-SEIU Rep/Organizer