March 3rd, 2010
More than 100 elected officials and leaders call for fair elections to join NUHW
116 San Francisco elected officials, community leaders, and allies have written an open letter to SEIU-UHW’s trustees. These leaders have called on SEIU to put an end to the intimidation and harassment of caregivers, and they’ve asked SEIU to agree to fair ground rules for our elections. Signers include 10 of the 11 San Francisco […]
March 2nd, 2010
In These Times: SEIU’s mega-local meltdown
By Steve Early
The 1021 reformers also made a point of declaring that they “will not spend a penny” of “precious local resources” to “raid or attack other unions.” They criticized SEIU for “spending tens of millions of our dues dollars” on such fights; a reference to Stern’s costly and controversial wars with UNITE HERE and the new National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), which is gaining ground on SEIU in California health care.
As Poon told Labor Notes readers: “We will have to deal with a huge task of rebuilding a union in a new direction.” “Even in better times this was difficult,” [Roxanne] Sanchez agrees. “But, with our local union in such disorder and our International union so estranged from its members, it will be a formidable challenge.”
March 1st, 2010
Beyond Chron: rejecting Stern appointees, SEIU1021 members give reformers election sweep
by Randy Shaw, Mar. 01, 2010
In a striking blow to SEIU’s national leadership, the reform “Change 1021” slate defeated Stern appointees and won all of the major offices and near total control of the Executive Board. It was the first election since SEIU’s International Executive Board merged ten California locals into one three years ago, creating one of the union’s largest primarily public employee locals. Longtime SEIU reformer Roxanne Sanchez won the top position of President in a landslide (3054-1458), Sin Yee Poon defeated Stern appointee Damita Davis-Howard 2141 to 1445 for the key position of Chief Elected Officer (akin to Executive Director), and controversial incumbent James Bryant was defeated by Alysabeth Alexander for Political Action Chair.
The one-sided outcome follows staggering SEIU defeats at Santa Rosa Memorialand Kaiser Sunset Hospitals, and reflects growing worker opposition to SEIU’s increasingly top-down, undemocratic approach. SEIU 1021 will now become part of the growing movement toward more democratic unionism in California, joining UNITE HERE, NUHW and other unions in promoting this trend. As Sanchez put it after the victory, “workers will now have real power in this organization that they did not have before.”
February 24th, 2010
Truthdig: A Calamity in the Making
“We see unionized health care workers are the last line of defense against employers making decisions based on profit as opposed to adequate care because unionized health care workers have a union to stand behind them when they blow the whistle on an employer,” Rosselli said.
Stern’s SEIU can’t be trusted with the workers’ welfare, he said. The SEIU has made sweetheart deals with national health care chains, getting their permission to launch organizing campaigns in some hospitals in return for agreeing not to strike and or advocate for patients.
February 20th, 2010
Labor Notes: young California unionists on their way to Detroit
Daniel Ray, a volunteer organizer for the National Union of Healthcare Workers said, “We need resources so we can send our young activists to Michigan so they can become the future leaders of this movement. They have been threatened with their job, their health care, and in some cases in Fresno, their citizenship. The opportunity of learning at Labor Notes will give these workers the tools necessary in empowering their lives and allow them to pass on their knowledge to their fellow brothers and sisters, not to mention a chance to build solidarity with other rank-and-file activists who share the same experiences.”