On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 1:32 AM, Steven Robinson <srobin21 at comcast.net>wrote:
> Charges filed with National Labor Relations Board against SEIU and Bank of
> America
>
> by Mike Rhodes
> IndyBay.org
> Wednesday Jun 17th, 2009
>
> Financial ties between bank and union likely violation of federal law
>
> Charges filed with National Labor Relations Board against SEIU and Bank of
> America over "corrupt relationship"
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C.-Lawyers representing the National Union of Healthcare
> Workers (NUHW) filed charges today with the National Labor Relations Board
> (NLRB) over financial ties between Bank of America and the Washington,
> D.C.-based Service Employees International Union (SEIU) that appear to be
> gross violations of federal labor laws. (PDF:
> http://www.nuhw.org/storage/docs/SEIU-boa.pdf)
>
> The charges allege that Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, whose
> 234,000 employees SEIU has taken steps to organize, offered SEIU at least
> $88 million in prohibited financial support in the form of loans. Federal
> law bars loans, gifts and other financial ties between employers and unions
> attempting to organize their employees. Unions that take money from the
> companies whose workers they seek to represent are considered
> "employer-dominated unions."
>
> "The laws against the type of financial arrangement SEIU appears to have
> engaged in are very clear," said Sal Rosselli, NUHW Interim President.
> "Unions are supposed to be focused on the needs of workers, and the law is
> intended to keep employers from using money to gain undue influence with
> union officials. At the same time, the law prevents unions from shaking down
> employers with organizing campaigns designed solely to elicit funds to fill
> the coffers of the local or international union."
>
> Over the past two months, SEIU has staged protests outside Bank of America
> offices, called for the resignation of bank CEO Ken Lewis, and has demanded
> improvements in wages, bargaining rights, and health care benefits for Bank
> of America workers through public campaigns and in testimony before
> Congress. SEIU's efforts against Bank of America have been documented in
> more than 1,500 news stories.
>
> SEIU's precarious financial situation also has been well documented by the
> Wall Street Journal ("Unions in Debt," June 9, 2009) and in the union's own
> financial statements filed with the U.S. Dept. of Labor. These statements
> show that SEIU has $34 million in net assets, but more than $150 million in
> obligations to Bank of America, Amalgamated Bank of New York and others. The
> union is financially strapped as a result of heavy spending in the 2008
> election campaign, seven-figure legal bills linked to SEIU's involvement in
> the Blagojevich scandal and a corruption scandal in California, declining
> dues revenue, a loss of investment income, a costly civil war within the
> union, and ongoing battles with NUHW and hotel and textile workers' union
> UNITE HERE.
>
> NUHW estimates that SEIU has spent up to $10 million in the past three
> months in a desperate attempt to stop an organizing drive by 10,000 Fresno
> County, California homecare providers who are trying to switch from SEIU to
> NUHW. Millions more are being spent to stop other workers in California from
> leaving the service workers union, and at least $1 million per month is
> being spent in SEIU's attempted raids against the members of UNITE HERE.
>
> "Healthcare workers have been contributing money out of our own pockets to
> build our union, protect wages, and fight back devastating cuts to
> healthcare services," said Dannielle Estrada, an inpatient coder at Kaiser
> Baldwin Park in Los Angeles County. "It makes me sick to think of the
> millions SEIU has been using to attack workers, interfere with other unions,
> and cover up scandals instead of supporting healthcare workers and winning
> healthcare reform. To know that money came from Bank of America, one of the
> same corporations that wrecked our country's economy, adds insult to
> injury."
>
> Labor councils across the Western U.S. have issued resolutions condemning
> SEIU for their continued attacks on other unions, including SEIU's "reliance
> on corporate-type anti-union tactics."
>
> If the NLRB follows recent precedent in its investigation of SEIU, the
> Board will block all private sector union representation elections requested
> by SEIU pending the results of the investigation.
>
> "We believe that SEIU should repay their debt to Bank of America and find
> financing from sources that do not put them on the wrong side of the law,"
> said Rosselli.
>
> http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/06/17/18602196.php
>
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