NEWS&PRESS

CounterPunch: How the SEIU won in California

Big Money, the Big Lie and Fear

By Cal Winslow

The vote, 18,290 for SEIU, 11,364 for NUHW, was expected to have been closer. SEIU’s massive use of thousands of imported staff, multiple glossy mailers, robo calls and home visits apparently paid off. So did collusion with Kaiser and the NLRB. NUHW, quite rightly, will appeal the results.

The cost for SEIU – of the Kaiser election (SEIU refuses requests to itemize its expenditures) will rank as one of the highest (per voter) in US history. Observers estimate the total thus far at $20 to $40 million. Randy Shaw, writing in BeyondChron (September 7, 2010), argues that even if SEIU has spent only $20 million — “it will exceed Whitman’s: the former EBay CEO spent 100 million in the primary to reach 17 million voters, SEIU spent 20-40 per cent of that to reach 44,000 Kaiser workers — or 2 per cent of the size. That means that SEIU spent between $495-$910 per vote, the equivalent of Whitma’n spending between $7.7 and $15.4 billion to become California’s next Governor.”

Money, we know, is sometimes not enough. So SEIU threw in intimidation, a campaign of smears, lies and fear. Consider this one example: SEIU consistently (in the hundreds of mailings it sent to members) accused NUHW leaders as having “stolen” members money, and, moreover, having been found guilty in court. Kaiser workers were treated with flyers featuring fake mug shots of NUHW leaders under the headline, “Guilty.” The truth – no NUHW leader (in stark contrast to SEIU’s scandal-ridden California operations) has been found guilty of stealing a penny, let alone charged with this in a court.

Kaiser workers call for new election, stronger protection of workers’ rights

Employees’ choice thwarted by delays in NLRB enforcement, false fear campaign by SEIU and employer

Oakland, Calif.—One year and seven months ago, an absolute majority of 43,500 Kaiser Permanente employees in California presented petitions to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), asking for a vote to leave the incumbent union SEIU and form their own union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). When ballots were counted today, 11,364 were for NUHW, and 18,290 were for SEIU—and workers are calling for a new election.

“Workers can’t have a fair vote when they don’t know they have the right to choose without being punished for it,” said Marie Foster, a program assistant at Kaiser San Jose for 23 years. “SEIU and Kaiser management threatened people’s livelihood and the NLRB didn’t take action to protect us until it was too late. This is a perfect example of why we need stronger laws and better enforcement to stop employers from making decisions that employees should make for ourselves.”

Today’s outcome was not the overwhelming majority for NUHW that caregivers could have won last year. For 19 months, SEIU employed legal obstruction tactics to deny workers’ right to vote. During that time, Kaiser illegally funded SEIU’s re-election campaign, paying for dozens of Kaiser employees to conduct full-time election campaigning on behalf of the incumbent union, and providing SEIU officials with conference rooms and access to campaign during new employee orientations.