SEIU corruption scandal spreads as Stern escalates attacks on opposition
The LA Times reports that yet another SEIU leader has been implicated in the widening corruption scandal surrounding Andy Stern has been forced to step down. This time, the Michigan SEIU local is involved.
SEIU spending scandal spreads to Michigan
Rickman Jackson, former official in Los Angeles chapter, takes leave of absence from Michigan local. Action comes after Times reports of payments to firms owned by L.A. leader's family
By Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 26, 2008A spending scandal at California's largest union local spread to a second state Monday as the head of the union's leading Michigan group stepped aside because of a widening financial inquiry.
The Service Employees International Union said that Rickman Jackson, who served as chief of staff at the Los Angeles organization, has taken a leave of absence from its biggest Michigan local less than a week after the president of the Los Angeles chapter relinquished his post.
Both departures followed reports in The Times that the local and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of its president, Tyrone Freeman, and spent similar sums on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, restaurants such as Morton's steakhouse, a Beverly Hills cigar lounge and a Hollywood talent agency.
The Times also disclosed that a housing corporation Freeman helped launch used the address of a Bell Gardens home that property records show is owned by Jackson. Freeman, the housing corporation and Jackson have declined to say whether he was paid for any use of his residence.
SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette would not say Monday whether the union's inquiry into Jackson's activities is focused on his home and the housing corporation. The corporation did not receive the tax-exempt status it sought and lost its right to do business in California for a time. Freeman and Jackson were appointed by SEIU President Andy Stern, one of the country's most influential labor leaders.
Complete story at
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-union26-2008aug26,0,5532516.story
The LA Times also reports an escalation in Stern's drive to crush all opposition to his centralized authoritarian control of the union. Stern has announced plans to trustee the 150,000 member United Healthcare Workers West SEIU local, which has lead the democratic resistance inside SEIU.
More after the fold.
The LA Times says
SEIU's statement Monday also announced that Stern's administration would seek trusteeship of an Oakland local that has resisted the SEIU's efforts to shift 65,000 of its 150,000 workers to the chapter that Freeman headed. The Los Angeles local was placed in trusteeship last week, and all of its officers were removed.
UHW President Sal Rosselli has issued the following statement about the Stern gang's latest attack:
Monday, August 25, 2008
Stern's latest attack on UHW is an act of desperation
Today we received notice from SEIU International Union President Andrew Stern that he intended to hold a hearing on September 22-23, 2008 for the purpose of determining whether to put UHW into trusteeship.
Stern's latest attack on UHW is nothing new and an act of desperation. The vast majority of these allegations formed the foundation of a bogus lawsuit filed by SEIU that has already been tossed out of court.
This most recent action is simply a cynical attempt to divert attention away from Andy Stern and Anna Burger's links to the corruption reported recently in both the LA Times and the New York Times of leaders such as Tyrone Freeman and Rickman Jackson, and others who Stern and Burger appointed into office.
UHW is one of a number of SEIU affiliates that have forcibly spoken out against undemocratic practices, forced mergers and cronyism within our union.
Today's call for trusteeship hearing is Stern's attempt to retaliate against UHW for exposing his corrupt practices.
It points to the need to hold the top leaders of our International Union, including Andy Stern and Anna Burger, accountable. This act of desperation also establishes the need to have an independent agency investigate the financial practices and cronyism of the officers of the International Union.
In Unity,
Sal Rosselli
this was posted at the reform web site
http://democracy4seiu.blogspot.com/
Meanwhile, 100 caregivers who are members of the scandal-ridden SEIU United Long Term Care Workers local formerly headed by Stern ally Tyrone Freeman (forced to step down in the corruption scandal last week) have called for an independent investigation of the scandal.
Caregivers Call for Justice in SEIU Corruption Scandal
Local 6434 members want an independent investigation, no more hand-picked leaders accountable to Andy Stern and Anna Burger
LOS ANGELES, Aug 25, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- More than 100 nursing home workers and homecare workers who are members of SEIU Local 6434 gathered today at the Oakland and Los Angeles offices of their parent union, SEIU. They demanded an independent investigation into corruption by Local 6434 President Tyrone Freeman, as well as any role national SEIU officials may have had; the right to choose their own leaders instead of having them appointed by SEIU officials in Washington, D.C.; and a stop to SEIU's forced restructuring of local unions until member control is restored.
Freeman was appointed to run Local 6434 by SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, and supported with staff and money from Washington, DC. A Los Angeles Times investigation recently revealed he spent union members' dues on an exclusive cigar club, a golf tournament, and payouts to his family and friends.
"We are outraged at the abuse of our trust and misuse of our union dues by Andy Stern and Anna Burger's appointee," said Karen Linzy, a homecare worker who lives in Inglewood. "Our leaders should be accountable to healthcare workers in California, not to union officials in Washington, D.C."
Members of the local have been denied the right to choose their leadership since Stern and Burger installed Freeman in 1998 as president of Local 434B. In 2006, SEIU restructured local unions in California, putting Freeman in charge of the largest local union in the state. The U.S. Department of Labor has launched an investigation into rigged election rules that made it impossible for members to run for union office unless they were chosen by Freeman.
Prior to the Times investigation, Stern and Burger had been moving forward with another restructuring plan to move 75,000 more members into Freeman's local without a fair vote.
Weeks after the misuse of funds at Local 6434 was revealed, Stern and Burger replaced Freeman with John Ronches, an assistant to Burger from Washington, D.C. who has no experience with long-term care workers. SEIU has insisted they will investigate the matter themselves using internal union procedures.
"For a union to be the voice of its members, members must have a voice in our union," Linzy said. "There should be no more forced reorganization of our local unions until an independent investigation is complete and control of Local 6434 is returned to its members. Appointing yet another Washington insider accountable only to Stern and Burger is more of the same."
SOURCE SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West
Comments
SEIU Corruption Scandal or Roselli Power Play
Someone needs to remind SEIU UHW West president Sal Roselli that he did not acquire the top post at that union through a transparent democratic process. The local he ran, SEIU Local 250 represented health care workers in Northern California. Through a very quick and clouded process he created United Healthcare Workers (UHW) by taking over SEIU Local 399, Local 250's sister union in the south. Sal and his leadership team from up north painted the takeover as a merger. Union members in the north and south voted to merge unions but they never voted on who would be the officers. In fact, members in the south merely voted on a dues decrease which resulted from the fact that members up northpaid less dues than those in the South. An internal decision amongst the leaders appointed Sal to lead the new statewide union, not a democratic vote from the members at large.
Today, Sal is using the same kind of tricks that will not only taint the image of SEIU in a negative manner but threatens the entire state of the labor movement for years to come. It's even more disheartening to see Sal teaming up with the LA Times to create these divisions by attacking one of the few people of color leading major local unions in this country (Sal's partner is good friends with the journalist that wrote this story. The LA Times is also one of his partner's clients). To understand the full picture you must be clear on what is at stake for Sal Roselli:
1) Sal Roselli does not want to lose the 65,000 homecare and nursing home workers he has up north because that's his base for reelection and statewide elections come up at UWH in Feb 2009.
2) Sal holds very little support in the south. All of the leadership that existed when the takeover took place in 2004 have all left, been fired, or pushed out.
3) Everyone knew that 6434 would be the long term care union. In 2001, SEIU Local 399 (the southern local taken over by 250 to form UHW) gave all of its nursing home care workers to 6434 (then 434B). The idea was to unite nursing home workers with the homecare workers in the same union since their livelihoods depended more on the state budget and governor than private employers. This allowed SEIU Local 399 to focus on private sector hospital organizing and representation. Joining forces with SEIU Local 250 was supposed to be the emergence of a statewide private sector hospital union. The statewide union allowed for more coordination and resources to be directed against the big statewide private sector hospitals. No one in the south knew, except for the top leadership, that SEIU Local 250's main base consisted in the nursing home/homecare sector. In fact, the southern California local leadership should have assumed the reigns of the new UHW union because it represented thousands more private sector hospital workers.
It retrospect, the scandal at SEIU does not have to do with Tyrone Freeman or Rickman Jackson. The scandal is another smokescreen in Sal Roselli's attempt to take over all of SEIU at least starting with SEIU locals in California. At the end of the day it's not about the members but how much power Roselli can obtain. Union members should beware whenever this guy is in the mix. Get the facts and ask as many questions because there's a coup brewing and a power struggle going on...
Re: SEIU Corruption Scandal or Roselli Power Play
You had me till your last paragraph cafecito. Tyronne Freeman and Rickman Jackson wouldn't have had to step down if they hadn't done anything wrong, end of story. If a union official wants to be a real leader they'll be clean. It stinks that actual organizing is going to suffer because of this.
Andy Stern is right on the strategy (get the same workers in the same union, build a political machine, organize on scale and actually change conditions for workers in an industry), he's wrong on the tactics because the folks in charge acted imrpoperly and he's only built animosity over the last few months on the left. - look at some of the responses to Jimmy's posts on other blogs - they all smack of "unions are corrupt" "democracy on the most micro level is the only way forward," They're both innacurate, but there's nothing to point to to counter them because it turns out that Sal (who defines democracy somehow in this debate) either hasn't done something corrupt or hasn't gotten caught and Tyronne Freeman did.
Freeman screwed up and he should be kicked out of the union - it sucks because he is a smart guy, but none of that matters. The response Stern did issue - to threaten to trustee Roselli's UHW plays right into the Labor Notes & CNA folks hands who would like nothing more than to see the death of coordinated campaigns. Look how long it takes for SEIU to wage another successful campaign against a hospital system. Freeman and every other corrupt union officer screwed it up for workers everywhere and the International's response isn't helping any.
Re: SEIU Corruption Scandal or Roselli Power Play
You've got it exactly right, Lloyd. The only thing I would add is that I think SEIU falls into these tactical mistakes because they try to take shortcuts--they try to accomplish the right goals (organizing at scale) without building the rank-and-file leadership and organization necessary to win the fights, so they end up with local leaders like Tyrone Freeman who are good at leveraging political deals, but not so good at (or interested in) building a strong rank-and-file union. This does not necessarily lead to corruption, but it certainly makes it more likely.
This isn't true of SEIU as a whole (many of the Justice for Janitors victories are prominent exceptions), but where SEIU messes up I think this is why.
Re: SEIU Corruption Scandal or Roselli Power Play
Cafecito,
your post is full of factual innaccuracies, though I'm sure you know that already. I'm a UHW staff person, and I worked for local 250 before the merger that created UHW, so feel free to discredit what I say, but you might want to back up some of claims with some sources. Allow me to correct your inaccurate statements:
First, on the process that created UHW. Both locals voted to merge, and either local could have voted it down. The current system that Andy Stern has been pushing and that was designed to force 65,000 UHW members into Tyrone Freeman's corrupt local, is a pooled vote where the International decides which members are eligible to vote. In this instance, the International intended to allow all 160,000 6434 members to vote but disenfranchise almost 90,000 UHW members who work in hospitals and clinics, and under the pooled system every UHW member allowed to vote could vote no, and still be forced out of their union.
The rank and file executive boards of both local 399 and local 250 met for over a year prior to the mergers to work out all the complicated issues that are involved with merging two vibrant organizations. BOth executive boards unanimously endorsed the merger and a leadership team of Sal Rosellie as president of the new local, and Jorge Rodriguez, the president of local 399, as Executive Vice president. Members of both locals voted over 95% for the merger. (A larger percentage of 399 members voted for it than did local 250 members) After the merger, Andy Stern followed the recommendations and appointed sal and jorge and all other members of the executive boards of both locals maintained their posts after the merger. The new e-board then developed a new constitution and bylaws. Elections were then held to approve the constitution and bylaws and to elect a new E-Board and Officers. Sal and Jorge were elecetd by the entire memebrship of UHW to their positions.
to your point #1: Forget about what Sal wants, or what Tyrone or Andy want. These members want to stay united with hospital workers and in a union that isn't corrupt and they overwhelmingly expressed this opinion in a vote earlier this year.
to #2 there are many leaders of UHW, both staff and rank and file, who were alos leaders of Local 399, including Executive Vice President Jorge Rodriguez.
to #3: In all of SEIU, every state has ONE union for all healthcare workers, including long term care, except for 3. In California their are 4 unions that represent Healthcare Workers (not including public hospitals which are in public sector SEIU locals) These locals are UHW(hospitals, nursing homes homecare), 521 (homecare), 121RN(Registered Nurses) and 6434(nursing homes and homecare). In Washington state, Local 1199NW respresents hospitals and local 775 represents long term care, and in Oregon, longerm care is with Public Sector workers in Local 503 and hospital workers are with building services in Local 49. And with the exception of the transfer of nursing homeworkers from Local 399 to 6434 at the direction of the international (which you mention), I am not aware of a SINGLE example of a jurisdicitional process resulting in splitting long term care workers from hospital workers anywhere else in SEIU ever. As far as everyone knowing that all long term care would eventually end up in 6434, maybe that was the consensus at the Havanna Cigar club, but not on the shop floor, certainly not in in UHW where we've had a stated mission since at least 2000 of uniting all healthcare workers in one union.
as for this gem: . "No one in the south knew, except for the top leadership, that SEIU Local 250's main base consisted in the nursing home/homecare sector. In fact, the southern California local leadership should have assumed the reigns of the new UHW union because it represented thousands more private sector hospital workers." This is a blatant lie, and insulting to the intelligence of the staff and memebrs of Local 399. Prior to the merger, Local 250 had 45,000 Hospital members at Kaiser, CHW, HCA, Sutter, Tenet and other hospitals and Local 399 had 35,000 members total, all in private sector hospitals and clincs. And as far as "no one in the South knew..." this flyer that was distributed in all facilities and was readily available on the web seems to inddicate otherwise.
http://www.seiupowerofone.org/resources/FactsComparison250-399.pdf
(i would suggest that anyone who is interested take a look at www.seiupowerofone.org, the site set up for members of Local 250 and 399 to get information about the merger.)
As far as what Local 250's main base was, at the time of the merger, it had 45,000 hospital members, 8,000 nursing home workers, and 45,000 homecare workers. Local 250 was the first union in the country to organize hospital workers, homecare workers and has organized nursing home workers for as long as anyone can remember.
Finally: "At the end of the day it's not about the members but how much power Roselli can obtain. Union members should beware whenever this guy is in the mix. Get the facts and ask as many questions because there's a coup brewing and a power struggle going on... " replace Sal Roselli with Andy Stern and you hit the nail on the head.
Update
LA Times story today...
Steve Lopez:
Nurse assistant works hard to pay her SEIU dues
Spending by local's president hits hard when you are schlepping bedpans for $10 an hour.
August 27, 2008
Alba had a smile on her face last week when I arrived at the Los Angeles nursing home where she hustles through long, hard shifts night after night. Hard to believe she'd be in high spirits after changing the diaper of an elderly woman, but she had one thing going for her:
She hadn't yet heard about the financial shenanigans of her union president.
read rest at
http://tinyurl.com/6ng7us
congressional committee to investigate
read whole story
http://tinyurl.com/6pve9p
more on seiu corruption
Friday, August 29, 2008
Stern Allegedly Consistently Ignored Sexual Harassment and Theft at Locals
http://democracy4seiu.blogspot.com/