SEIU

From SMART:
www.reformseiu.org

SEIU Member Activists for Reform Today (SMART) is an organization of rank-and-file members of SEIU who believe that members are the real source of strength for our Union and the people behind every victory. Members have fought for years in our work sites, in the streets, and in the halls of government to make SEIU the largest and strongest union in the country – now 1.9 million workers strong. Members also know that growth is critical to our success, and to rebuilding a fighting labor movement – but not growth at all costs, and not without full participation of the members.

For the sake of growth at all costs, some recent agreements orchestrated by SEIU’s leadership in D.C. have traded away high contract standards, limited members’ free speech and ability to protect the public we serve, and compromised our right to strike. All this has been done without real member involvement.

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After these waves of restructuring, and the granting of broad authority to the President and his appointees, what has been the result for SEIU members? Has growth led to greater victories for us, and better contracts? Let’s take a look:

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Undemocratic mergers of Local Unions and appointment of Officers:

* Local 87 in San Francisco, CA was trusteed after refusing to merge with Local 1877. They later voted to leave SEIU, and returned only when SEIU agreed to leave their Local alone.

* Local 36 leaders with the “Philly Home Team” ousted an appointed trustee in 2003 after widespread dissatisfaction with the trusteeship and resulting contract negotiations.

* The 2006 reorganization of Local Unions in California was implemented undemocratically, without a vote by Local or bargaining unit. Some units now face legal challenges to their union recognition, while others like Local 347 in Los Angeles are refusing to submit to the merger into large “mega-Locals”.

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Replacing union representatives with call centers:

* Workers "are not interested in coming to union halls," says Stern, suggesting that call centers and text messaging -- instead of shop stewards -- are part of the new communications paradigm for unions. (Crain’s Insider, 5/2/2006)

* Members of Service Workers United (SWU), formed by SEIU and UNITE/HERE, allege that calls to their Worker Resource Center went unanswered for months, and “service representatives” were unable to provide critical information about their contract and benefits, while grievances went completely unaddressed.

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Contract negotiations that exclude members, and trade organizing for fundamental union rights and the public interest:

* A 2005 agreement between Washington Local 775 and several nursing home companies was negotiated in secret (but details were later leaked to the press). The ten-year agreement allegedly prevents workers from going on strike, prevents nursing homes and the union from speaking ill of one another, guarantees increased profits to nursing homes through lobbying for more public funding, and gives companies the right to direct new organizing.

* A similar agreement with nursing home companies in California was killed in 2007 after secret negotiations were made public. The agreement would have meant workers lost their right to strike or complain publicly about quality of care problems, and greatly limited their power to improve pay and benefits. Nursing home companies would get SEIU’s assistance in lobbying for more funding, supporting tort reform, and opposing stricter staffing requirements. Nursing home companies would allow limited new organizing based on political success in funding and other areas.

* During Unity Council bargaining in 2007 for Tenet Healthcare workers, SEIU officers and staff attempted to vote on behalf of unorganized workers who weren’t even organizing yet. Their attempts undermined the efforts of actual union members in bargaining with Tenet, who would have lost the right to strike for seven years and were pressured to settle for lower contract standards.

* This year, SEIU unilaterally eliminated the Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) Unity Council and appointed a consultant from D.C. to manage contract negotiations, even though creation of the Council was ratified by a vote of the members. This threatens to weaken SEIU members with their bosses just as they are about to begin contract negotiations for 16,000 members in California.

* Service Workers United (SWU) gives large contracting companies like Aramark and Compass unilateral power to determine when and where workers are allowed to organize and does not disclose the terms of its contracts with these companies. Subcontracted SWU members often work in the same locations, doing similar work as other SEIU members. In these cases, their inferior wages and benefits create an unjust lower tier of union membership.

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SEIU Contract victories that leave union members in poverty:

* Illinois homecare workers were represented by SEIU for twenty years without any collective bargaining agreement, and as of 2007 still made less than $10 an hour.

* SEIU fought with AFSCME for representation of 49,000 childcare workers in Illinois, even though SEIU’s negotiated wages were under $10 an hour, undermining wages negotiated by AFSCME.

* In his 2006 book “Solidarity for Sale”, Robert Fitch reports that Maryland homecare workers earn $50 a day and lacked health care, sick days, or retirement benefits.

* Tens of thousands of homecare workers in Los Angeles, whose organizing success in 1999 was claimed the biggest union victory in decades, still make $9 an hour and most lack health benefits.

* Many janitors in California and elsewhere still don’t have the justice they deserve, making $9 an hour—for jobs that used to pay significantly more in the 1980’s.

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SEIU is OUR Union

This is our union, and with the SEIU 2008 Convention fast approaching, it’s time to take it back! Growth must be based on the power of workers, the success of our victories, and NOT at their expense!

S.M.A.R.T. is a front group funded by Roselli. Leftists will swallow anything. The sad thing is that there's legitimate critiques in there amongst some issues that have honest differences of opinion and some others that are outright distortions, but its gonna be run by staff who are off the books and will get dropped as soon as the convention is over.

Thats quite likely. There is also a UHW specific site as well :
www.seiuvoice.org

I know rank and file folks who are involved with SMART and other members who are involved with local movements to reform SEIU. The bottom line is that the big merger (1021) out here pissed allot of people off. You can dismiss anything by saying that its a front for Roselli or a power play etc. But that doesn't change the fact that there are many rank and file folks who are looking to regain some of their local's former democracy and autonomy from the international.

No need to resort to name calling. I'm not "swallowing" anything. I've spoken directly with people who were fucked over by the merger (like elected e-board members being replaced by appointed officials) and are now supporting reform. Whats wrong with that ?

'ya think ?

Whatever. I'm just glad i'm in a democratic union

Eh, I wasn't referring to you as "a leftist" not that I think its necessarily some sort of insult. However, the bulk of the union democracy movements are controlled either by Marxist parties and groups or union leaders in a faction fight. And whenever one of these allegedly rank n file groups pops up they suck in a real members and use their concerns for other purposes which actually distorts and destroys the potential for a rank n file movement. And it always annoys me that the left generally is inclined to sieze on any criticism as proof of what they want it to prove rather than critically understand the whole picture.

My criticism here isn't that there aren't legitimate issues, which I thought I had made clear but guess not, but rather that members who actually have serious ideas on how to improve their unions get sucked into fake democracy movements and the legitimate critiques get crushed beneath the weight of the hidden political agenda behind the allegedly rank n file groups actual internal committee.

521, 721 and 1021 got rammed together for good reasons in an unfortunate way. Problem is that it actually happened according to the plan everyone voted on at the 2004 convention. There's certainly some real rank n file resentment over how it happened but that resentment is being used in a faction fight between fatcats. So I find it an unfortunate situation. I'm not dismissive of rank n file concerns. I am dismissive of high powered leaders manipulating those concerns for their own personal interests in gaining power.

the dispute makes the times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29labor.html?hp

and one side of it makes the IW letters column:
http://www.iww.org/PDF/IndustrialWorker/IWFebruary08.pdf

The australian labor movement loves SEIU. I'm not sure why exactly but we're also ripping off technology ideas from them. Its like symbiotic parasitism.

gripping stuff.

revol, if you want to play forumwarz you have the bloody link.
Thug, as i think we discussed before I think the idea of replacing work place stewards with call centers is one of the worst ideas I've seen come down the pike in years.Talk about corporatism and disempowering the rank and file!

deleted -- thank you!

Thats the best distortion in Roselli's armory. MSC's don't replace stewards. At least not any of the one's I know and I'm pretty sure there's only like 6 in the U.S. They're a place where you can call in to get your healthcare or pension info, a member or steward can call to get help on a contract clarification question, stewards can order materials for their members, etc etc. My local has an msc. We have "stewards" only we call them something else. I have no idea where people get the idea that they replace stewards. Do you have an example of a local anywhere in the U.S. where thats actually happened? What they do is replace staff positions so members can get any info they want or stewards can get materials without having to wait around for some fucking rep to get to them. Its horizontal technology.

It might be some level of confusion over the name steward. SEIU has different traditions in it depending on some historical factors. Some locals have stewards, some have delegates, some have advocates, but its all the same thing.

edit -> The locals that don't like MSC's are the locals that want members to be totally dependent on staff reps. In the same way that locals who've gotten rid of steward elections are being accused of anti-democracy. What they don't say is that what it means that anyone can be a steward who wants to just by attending a steward training. There's no limitations. Its orwellian.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/10/BAESVG4KG.DTL

The hilarity never stops.

Each time l read about seiu it amazed me. l am a ex seiu employees wife for six years, when we found out seiu had not done my husbands paper worker we went to the new head of local 1021 and told her the truth she then sacked him, blackmailed him getting him to sign a paper that he would not take seiu to labour court, or she would cut of his medical and the sad part is we had a disable child so we had to accept this sad offer. we then losted our house and are kids losted there friends and six years of life in the usa. when l see seiu take people money and there managment use it for there own pleasure ie FOOD,the dont have the staff to help the people now that 1021 has taken over,with it hand picked managment it time for change get a union that can help you people l am now in europe and my husband works for the union here people are listen to here, so take my advice change your union or get rid of the hand picked managment and pick your own have a say in what is going on with your union