On Apr 15, 2008, at 12:45 PM, Mark Rickling wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Does SEIU have any videos of disgruntled CNA/NNOC members like this
>> one of disgruntled SEIU nurses?
>>
>> <http://www.calnurses.org/seiu-watch/>.
>
> SEIU isn't currently raiding any CNA units. This video was produced as
> a part of CNA's effort to steal the CHW St. Rose units in Las Vegas.
That wasn't the question. There's clearly a growing dissident movement within SEIU. The nurses in that video had some real complaints about their union, including being insulted by union officers and being told to shut up at meetings. Not unrelatedly, I heard that Sal Roselli didn't go to the Labor Notes conference because he was sleeping in his office in hope of staving off trusteeship, which is likely because of his criticisms of Stern's leadership. In other words, a lot of the material for recent criticisms of SEIU has come from within the union, not from pantywaist academics.
> But that's not really our style.
Coming after the Labor Notes incident, it's not clear what is SEIU's style. Even you - to my surprise, I have to say - semi-justified that assault (the disruption, not the physical violence) with this:
> In the real world, when a union engages in such totally fucked-up,
> insanely counterproductive behavior like the CNA has, it commands a
> response.
Doug