[lbo-talk] more bad press for SEIU

[James Straub]

>
Truth be told, SEIU's problems are even more extensive than the  
laundry list in that article.  For one thing, the international just  
laid off all of its organizers with less than a year experience, which  
doesn't sound like a big deal and may just be part of an overall staff  
restructuring, but seems very ominous to me because it's been a very  
long time since seiu laid off organizers.  A number of big locals  
created through mergers of smaller ones are having problems ranging  
from internal power battles to budget chaos.  The CNA is raiding us  
(amongst others) all over the country, and the collateral damage from  
that has put a complete stop to almost all new organizing in health  
systems until they can be stopped.  More worryingly, nobody in seiu  
has a convincing strategy for how to stop the cna so we can resume  
organizing.  The occupation of UHW, if it goes forward, I fear will  
deeply pervert seiu and do major harm to all parties involved, and  
more or less cripple seiu's credibility as a democratic organization  
of workers.  Finally, there is gossip afoot about some pretty high-up,  
talented, senior people thinking about leaving because of all the  
organizational disarray and toxic conduct by leadership.

Ordinarily I would say that the silver lining is that all these  
problems will lead to stern leaving sooner than later.  But  
ironically, that's actually an even bigger problem itself.  His  
successor would almost certainly be anna burger, and although I don't  
know much about her firsthand, pretty much everyone up at that level  
who i talk to says in private that she will be disastrously bad, that  
she has all the bad features of stern without the good ones.

So yes, seiu will probably get worse for some time before it gets  
better.  IMO.  But, there are plenty of good programs around the  
country that are still marching along, organizing and occasionally  
winning, and they'll continue to do so no matter what further  
psychodramas emanate from HQ in DC.  1199P organized multiple  
hospitals in hard-fought NLRB elections in western pa last year; the  
Michigan healthcare local has won like a dozen contested nlrb  
elections this year; the campaign I'm working on in LA is going to  
liberate almost 10,000 municipal workers from an incompetent and  
corrupt psuedo-union and do much to unite public sector employees in  
socal; the building services division continues to succeed at  
organizing security guards and multi-service workers; and so far the  
cna's raids, while disruptive, have been beaten back.

Tell you the truth, the labor movement at the moment has more  
destructive feuds going on than any other time I can remember in the  
past decade.  Unite and HERE and on the verge of a very messy divorce.


> Washington Post - January 9, 2009
>
> Troubles in Service Workers' Union May Dim Hopes for Labor
> By Alec MacGillis
> Washington Post Staff Writer
>
> President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for labor secretary will go
> before Congress today embodying the hopes of a movement that views
> Obama's victory as a chance to reverse years of union decline. But
> labor's prospects are already being shadowed by controversies
> besetting the Service Employees International Union, the country's
> fastest-growing union and one that has gone from being seen as a
> savior of the movement to a favored target of its opponents.