Government charges SEIU with intimidation and threats

NewsAugust 23, 2012

Kicking in screen doors, shouting down union members, threatening assault, lying about wages and benefits, and destruction and removal of personal property.

The State of California has officially charged SEIU with all these illegal acts, and more. Three years after Fresno homecare workers filed complaints that SEIU broke the law with lies, threats and intimidation in their 2009 election to leave SEIU, the government agency charged with protecting public employees has filed an official complaint against SEIU-UHW.

The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) cited SEIU’s “physical and verbal threats,” “menacing and abusive behavior,” “unlawful destruction and removal” of property and a campaign of lies about wages and benefits intended to mislead 10,000 Fresno homecare workers into voting to stay trapped in SEIU.

FOX News Fresno covered the complaint, and showed chilling footage of SEIU-UHW CEO Dave Regan screaming and urging 1,000 SEIU staffers assembled in Fresno to “kick those S.O.B.s in Fresno County.”

The coverage goes on to show a Fresno homecare worker testifying that SEIU “pressured me into voting for them.  The SEIU came and threatened that they will come everyday, all the time.”

As a healthcare worker in Fresno, this  coverage disturbs me. Why would any healthcare union act this way?  As a Kaiser worker, knowing that SEIU also broke the law and lied and intimidated workers in our 2010 election, this coverage makes me angry.

But, with yet another government agency filing charges that SEIU broke the law and violated workers’ rights, my bottom line question is simple:   

Why on earth is Kaiser management celebrating their “partnership” with Dave Regan and SEIU?

Sincerely,

Maria Adame, Reception, Kaiser Fresno
National Union of Healthcare Workers

PS. Here is a leaflet to share with your co-workers, and don’t miss this NUHW video about the Fresno election.