----- Original Message ----- From: News for Social Justice Activists To: llnews at lists.riseup.net Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 7:43 PM Subject: [llnews] Rosselli Resigns From SEIU Exec Committee, Charges Stern Interfered in Local's Affairs; SEIU official accusing union president of power grab;
IN THIS MESSAGE * Rosselli Resigns From SEIU Exec Committee, Charges Stern Interfered in Local's Affairs * SEIU official accusing union president of power grab
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Unions Rosselli Resigns From SEIU Exec Committee, Charges Stern Interfered in Local's Affairs Bureau of National Affairs, Daily Labor Report
The president of one of the largest locals of the Service Employees International Union Feb. 9 resigned from the union's executive committee, citing an "overly zealous focus on growth ... at any cost" as well as undemocratic practices foisted upon the local by the international and its president.
In a resignation letter to SEIU President Andrew Stern obtained by BNA, Sal Rosselli, president of the 150,000-member United Healthcare Workers West, wrote that as labor leaders "we are obligated to place the needs of our members first and to uphold democratic principles not only in the workplace, but also in our union. That is increasingly being blocked, circumvented, and manipulated," he charged.
Rosselli, who plans to remain at the helm of United Healthcare Workers West, then laid out numerous instances in which he alleged that Stern personally interfered with the local's affairs to the members' detriment.
Stern could not be reached Feb. 11 for comment on Rosselli's accusations. Another executive committee member, Dave Regan, who is president of District 1199 WV/KY/OH, however, criticized Rosselli's letter as an "unprincipled betrayal of the work of the union in the last 12 years," adding that Rosselli participated personally in every leadership decision made within the union.
In an interview with BNA Feb. 11, Rosselli said that prior to sending the letter he met with numerous elected SEIU leaders in California as well as his own executive board and decided that it is "time to draw a line in the sand" and tell the international to stop interfering. He said this action was precipitated by a "series of things that happened in the last couple of weeks."
According to Rosselli, Stern unilaterally eliminated a unity council consisting of representatives of all SEIU locals that bargain with Catholic Healthcare West and appointed an international union consultant to "manage our collective bargaining relationship." He said that Stern took the action even though the council had been created by CHW rank-and-file leaders and approved by the international's executive board.
"Your decision potentially weakens us just as we are about to enter negotiations for 16,000 CHW employees, jeopardizing the lead contract of our 2008 contract campaign that has lined up the expiration dates of nearly 100 acute care hospitals covering approximately 100,000 caregivers," Rosselli wrote in his letter to Stern.
SEIU is preparing to engage in a coordinated bargaining campaign with the health care industry with 100 hospital contracts expiring in either May, June, or July. A vast majority of the expiring hospital contracts are in California and cover numerous facilities of Catholic Healthcare West, Daughters of Charity, and Sutter Health (156 DLR A-7, 8/14/07 ).
Rosselli told BNA that in a Feb. 5 letter Stern said he was suspending the unity council structure and putting an SEIU employee in charge of coordinating bargaining. Rosselli said the contract with CHW expires May 1 and bargaining is scheduled to start later this week. In regard to Stern's letter, he said that 100 SEIU elected leaders from 32 CHW hospitals met recently and made it clear that they intend to be in control of their own bargaining, not the international.
In another allegation, Rosselli charged that Stern silenced UHW members bargaining with the California Nurses Home Alliance by directing representatives of the international to "meet with our employers behind our backs and then abused your power by barring UHW members and staff from participating in direct negotiations with our employers, despite the fact that UHW represents 75 percent of the nursing home members in bargaining."
A controversial agreement negotiated by the international with a number of California nursing home chains that gave SEIU the right to organize a certain number of nursing homes in California in exchange for meeting "political benchmarks" was terminated in May 2007, partially due to Rosselli's local's dissatisfaction with the agreement (114 DLR C-1, 6/14/07 ). Shortly before the agreement was terminated UHW's board demanded that the international give rank-and-file members a "seat at the bargaining table and the final vote to ratify any employer agreement that involves their employers."
Despite the termination of the agreement, Rosselli added that it is "obvious" based on recent meetings with representatives of the nursing home industry that the international is still engaged in "secret talks" with these employers.
Rosselli further alleged that Stern and the other international officers interfered in the affairs of the SEIU California State Council, which represents 650,000 California SEIU members, by prompting an election to replace him as its president, despite the fact he had two more years left on his term to serve as president. He further alleged that the international manipulated "the per capita voting formula and procedures" in order to control the "outcome of the election and seat the leader of your choice."
Annelle Grajeda, president of SEIU Local 721, was elected Dec. 3, 2007, to head the state council, replacing Rosselli, whose term was not slated to expire until 2009. Grajeda, a staffer at the former Local 660, was named by Stern to lead Local 721, when Local 721 was formed from the merger of seven locals that included Local 660.
Following SEIU's 2004 convention, the international began the process of merging numerous locals in California into several large locals. Stern then appointed the presidents, other officers, and executive board members of the merged locals, according to sources within SEIU.
Secret Meetings with Schwarzenegger Alleged
In another allegation, Rosselli charged that Stern's "secret meetings" with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and other elected state officials without the participation of leaders of California SEIU locals "fatally weakened our many years of disciplined work to bring about true health care reform."
Rosselli said the secret meetings led the California politicians to believe that SEIU and the entire labor movement would "settle for far less than was necessary to protect the interest of working families or to win the support of California's voters." He charged in his letter to Stern that the final agreement that was reached was "flawed and tainted as a result of your actions and was politically doomed."
The state Senate Health Committee Jan. 28 rejected omnibus health care reform legislation that was approved by the assembly in December (20 DLR A-5, 1/31/08). Many labor unions opposed the bill, arguing that it lacked adequate controls on what health plans and insurers could charge for coverage, which the unions said would render premiums unaffordable for low- and moderate-income Californians.
Other Allegations Cited
In other allegations, Rosselli charged that Stern personally:
attempted secretly to squelch the SEIU California State Council's endorsement of Barack Obama for president; removed a UHW administrative vice president from the executive board of the California United Homecare Workers Union for asking questions about "budget and allocation of funds," creating a "culture of fear throughout SEIU, making local officers, members, and staff afraid to speak up for fear of reprisal": and excluded UHW from discussions SEIU had with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, although the local represents the largest number of workers in Catholic health care institutions of any SEIU local. In addition, Rosselli wrote that Stern has scheduled an internal hearing to review all aspects of UHW's Catholic health care employer relations and representation "raising the specter that these matters will be placed entirely under control" of the international and its "bureaucracy where rank and file members will have no say, and no ability to affect their workplace destiny."
Rosselli told BNA that Stern sent a letter to every health care local that represents both hospital and long-term care members alerting them to a Feb. 12 hearing that has been scheduled to "determine local union jurisdiction" and to look at national, regional, and areawide bargaining agreements.
Rosselli also made a number of charges against other international officers and staff. Specifically, he charged in his letter that in a deliberate attempt to "create instability in important ongoing organizing campaigns by fomenting mass resignations among" the local's Southern California organizing staff, international officers and staff helped "orchestrate the recent resignation" of the organizing director for Southern California.
He also charged that international officers and staff manipulated voting procedures in bargaining with Tenet Healthcare by trying to cast per capita votes on behalf of "unorganized workers who had no knowledge of the negotiations, paid no dues to SEIU, and were not even in the process of forming a union." He added that the failed effort would have given away the members' right to strike for seven years and forced them to accept lower standards."
"The Nursing Home Alliance agreements and others negotiated by the International Union appear to regulate entire categories of workers to permanent second-tier status, without basic rights and standards to be expected in a union contract or any reasonable hope of achieving them," Rosselli wrote. "This transactional exchange of members' rights and standards for greater numbers contradicts the core mission of SEIU," he added.
Noting that up until now he has abided by the code of conduct that requires executive committee members not to discuss what happens within the committee, Rosselli wrote that he could no longer in good conscience remain silent, which is why he decided to resign from the committee, which consists of 20 members appointed by Stern.
Regan Says Rosselli Acting on Personal Agenda
Meanwhile, in an interview with BNA Feb. 11, Regan said that presidents of other SEIU locals are angry that Rosselli is putting his "personal agenda above the common agenda" of the union. According to Regan, since 1996 when Stern became president, the union has been trying to figure out how it needs to change in order to confront employers that are increasingly regional, national, and global. The union decided its locals needed to be interdependent with each other, and larger, so there has been tremendous consolidation among locals, he added.
Rosselli's local was able to grow from about 40,000 to 140,000 members due to some of the changes he is now criticizing, Regan said. "He helped formulate what he is now criticizing," he said.
Regan contended that UHW has been involved in bargaining with other SEIU locals but "could not or would not approach" some of the employers on a unified basis with the other locals. The international had to create a structure so the locals would "speak with one voice," he added.
Regan added that the union has increasingly made decisions to give authority to the international officers to deal with employers that have negotiations with numerous SEIU locals. He added that Rosselli agreed to some of the positions he is now criticizing.
By Michelle Amber =======================================================
www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue_seiufeb12,0,5748848.story chicagotribune.com SEIU official accusing union president of power grab
By Stephen Franklin
TRIBUNE REPORTER
February 12, 2008
Sal Rosselli doesn't think his union, the Service Employees International Union, is all that democratic, and he is making a fuss about it.
But he is not your average union-card carrier. As leader of a 150,000-member local in California, and until recently head of the more than 600,000-member SEIU California State Council, Rosselli has wielded quite a bit of union clout.
He also belonged to SEIU's executive committee until last weekend, when he resigned in a blistering letter to union President Andy Stern, accusing him of expanding his powers at members' expense.
Rosselli's gripe is likely to loom large at a gathering in Chicago, starting Tuesday, of officials from 29 SEIU locals who will be discussing strategy for dealing with Catholic health-care facilities.
The feud brought some unease for officials of the 1.5 million-member union, who like to portray the SEIU as leading labor's renewal.
"This kind of criticism from Sal is factually inaccurate and fundamentally untrue," said Dave Regan, head of District 1199, which represents 35,000 SEIU members in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Rosselli's basic complaint is that Stern and top SEIU officials have sidestepped local union leaders to make critical decisions and have merged locals without giving members a voice.
"Over the past two years, a stark difference has evolved between SEIU's projected image and its real world practices," he wrote to Stern. "An overly zealous focus on growth, growth at any cost, apparently has eclipsed SEIU's commitment to its members."
Among his complaints, Rosselli pointed to Stern's decision recently to dissolve a council of SEIU locals that had been bargaining with Catholic Healthcare West in California and to replace them with a union consultant.
But Regan replied that Rosselli's own local, United Healthcare West, has benefited from the kind of union-inspired mergers that he now protests. So, too, Regan said the decision to shift to a different bargainer with Catholic Healthcare West reflects the union's search for a new overall strategy.
To Ken Wong, a labor expert at UCLA, such turmoil is expected. Much of the SEIU's growth strategy is based on consolidating locals to gain more power. As a result, union jobs have been cut, and locals have disappeared, Wong explained.
"And whenever you have this much change going on, inevitably there are going to be some disagreements," he said.
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Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune =======================================================
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