SEIU

Puerto Rico’s Teachers Beat SEIU Raid

— Steve Early

When last seen on the picket line, Puerto Rican teachers were fighting their way through police barricades to appeal to fellow workers from the Service Employees (SEIU) at its lavishly funded convention in San Juan in June.

The message of the Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR) was simple: please stop SEIU President Andy Stern from colluding with the indicted governor of the island to replace FMPR with a “company union.”

In the view of SEIU, teachers needed a new SEIU-affiliated union because FMPR no longer had legal recognition after its walk-out over wages, classroom size, and the threat of privatization.

This month, however, the teachers themselves disagreed that it was time for a change. By a margin of 18,123 to 14, 675, they voted against joining the SEIU-backed SPM (Sindicato Puertorriqueno de Maestros), which is closely aligned with another SEIU affiliate, the Association de Maestros de Puerto Rico, an organization of school principals and administrators.

OFF PROGRAM

At SEIU’s convention, only a handful of delegates dared to challenge Stern on this issue. When eight rank-and-file members from California tried to distribute a leaflet asking why the “top leadership has sided against the teachers of Puerto Rico in a gross case of ‘colonial’ unionism,” SEIU staffers threatened several of them with reprisals. “They told us that this is a betrayal and that we could be suspended from the union if we continued handing out the fliers,” delegate Brian Cruz, from Local 1021 in San Francisco, explained to The San Juan Star.

Most of the 3,000 delegates and guests simply cheered when Stern and SEIU Healthcare Chair Dennis Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, introduced their good friend, Anibal Acevedo Vila, the island’s governor. Acevedo Vila is still awaiting trial on federal corruption charges and it was his administration that precipitated a 10-day, island-wide public school strike led by the FMPR last winter. As The Star reported June 3, SEIU used its convention and the governor’s appearance to promote a rival organization, “which is hoping to become the new union representative for an estimated 42,000 public school teachers.”

It was not to be. The FMPR orchestrated a “vote no” campaign, after it was denied a spot on the ballot as further punishment for its “illegal” strike. FMPR was even barred from having observers at teacher polling places.

Prior to the start of the election, FMPR presented evidence to the labor relations commission showing that it still had voluntary financial support from 12,000 members, who have continued to pay union dues even though automatic deductions from all teachers’ paychecks were discontinued when FMPR was decertified.
Although SEIU favors “employee free choice” on the mainland and assured critics here there would be a multiple-choice ballot, Puerto Rican teachers had just one union option, which they then rejected.

The defeated SPM has almost no dues payers so SEIU had to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into this losing effort, much of it spent on advertising. As one FMPR supporter reported, SEIU had “paid staff at each school giving out free T-shirts and coolers and the media and the government were clearly in its favor but still they couldn’t impose their union on us.”

FMPR activist Edgardo Alvelo, who teaches at a vocational school in Rio Piedras, estimates that his union spent only “$50,000 on the whole campaign.” According to Alvelo, “that money was very hard to obtain, but it was enough to win. It was our people in the schools that did the job. Today, we are celebrating and tomorrow our struggle will continue in all our schools.”

94 PERCENT TURN-OUT

The vote turnout was extremely high. Of the 36,000 teachers eligible to participate due to their permanent status, 33,818 actually voted, with a thousand of those ballots being challenged or voided. FMPR now faces the task of continuing to function as what’s called a “bonafide organization” under Puerto Rican labor law. While still deprived of the full collective bargaining rights it had before the strike, FMPR retains a strong steward structure, the ability to represent members, and mobilize around educational policy issues and day-to-day job concerns.

FMPR supporters in New York, California, and elsewhere aided the successful “vote no” campaign by raising money to help keep this militant independent union afloat. (For more information, see the FMPR’s own website: http://fmprlucha.org) On October 14, some protested outside the Manhattan headquarters of United Healthcare Workers-East (the former SEIU/District 1199 long headed by Rivera), where they denounced Stern’s raid on FMPR as an insult to New York hospital workers “proud history of fighting for justice and dignity.”

During an August visit, one New York Solidarity Committee member, Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, brought money that was collected for FMPR members disciplined for their union activity. Reports Sheridan-Gonzalez, a registered nurse:

“The union, in collaboration with students and parents, had developed a progressive, inclusive curriculum that was extraordinarily successful. This collaborative structure was unilaterally dismantled by the government/school authority in 2007 and 17 teachers were suspended when they fought back. Their energy and commitment was inspiring and reminiscent of the spirit of U.S. unions in the 1930s and Puerto Rican labor in years past.”

That same feisty spirit was on display in this month’s island-wide union vote, which gave SEIU an expensive lesson in the meaning of “no.”

Under Shadow of Corruption Scandals, SEIU Launches Hearings Against Dissidents

— Mark Brenner

It’s crunch time for the November election, but top officials in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are struggling to focus as corruption scandals and internal divisions over a threatened trusteeship spread across the union.

Since mid-August four International Executive Board members have left their posts in the wake of reports detailing corruption and cronyism.

At the same time, the International is escalating its internal battle with United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW), the 150,000-member local that has been an outspoken critic of SEIU’s national leaders. The International announced hearings for late September to examine whether to take over UHW, and sent representatives to monitor the Oakland-based local’s operations.

This move stems from allegations that UHW’s officers improperly handled union funds by creating a nonprofit organization to “finance a defense of the top officers in the event of a trusteeship.” The monitoring program and September 26 and 27 hearings are “a purely political move to silence our members,” countered UHW President Sal Rosselli.

NOW’S NOT THE TIME

The rush to trustee UHW has ignited concern in many quarters of SEIU, particularly with the presidential election so close at hand. On September 12 the executive council of the giant 1199-United Healthcare Workers-East overwhelmingly adopted a resolution encouraging the International to postpone any deliberations until after the November election. Leaders from several other locals have contacted International President Andy Stern urging him to delay any action against UHW.

Despite these misgivings, the International denied UHW’s request for postponement, and sources at the International report that plans are underway to impose a trusteeship. Such a move could require dispatching several hundred SEIU staff to California. SEIU’s trusteeship officer could take weeks to announce a recommendation.

According to Rosselli, the specter of trusteeship will impact UHW’s plans for the fall election. “We have a team of folks in New Mexico right now, and we are waiting for approval from the International to send more people to New Mexico and Nevada,” he said. “But our plan in California will be curtailed because of this escalating battle against us.”

SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette denied that a trusteeship is in the works, or that the September hearings will affect the union’s political efforts.

CLEANING UP OR PAYBACK?

Corruption Scandal Spreads Across SEIU Tyrone Freeman, originally appointed by Andy Stern in 1999 to head SEIU’s homecare operations in Southern California, stepped down in August after the Los Angeles Times implicated him in a string of financial improprieties. Formal union charges against Freeman include: Directing more than $600,000 in contracts to his wife; Paying his mother-in-law $8,000 a month to care for his daughter and the children of other union staffers; Using more than $13,000 in union dues for membership at a Beverly Hills cigar club; Improperly paying himself more than $60,000; Charging the union about $8,000 in expenses associated with his Hawaiian wedding. Rickman Jackson, former chief of staff for Freeman and now the appointed president of SEIU’s Michigan health care union, received $2,500 a month from a housing group set up by Local 6434. According to the Times, Jackson continued to draw a salary from Local 6434 while working in Michigan, and received $18,000 in consulting fees from the International. Jackson went on paid leave in late August. Annelle Grajeda, appointed president of Los Angeles-based public sector Local 721, took paid leave following Times reports that her former boyfriend Alejandro Stephens collected multiple salaries from the union while drawing a salary as a county employee. In 2007 Stephens collected more than $150,000 from SEIU, including $75,000 in consulting fees from the California state council. Grajeda was tapped to lead the council last year after the International union forced her predecessor, Sal Rosselli, out of office.

The UHW trusteeship hearings are unfolding as a corruption scandal spreads within SEIU. A series of August reports in the Los Angeles Times document a pattern of financial improprieties by several Stern-appointed political leaders (see box). The allegations have led to leaves-of-absence for Local 6434 President Tyrone Freeman, his former chief of staff Rickman Jackson, and Annelle Grajeda, president of Los Angeles-based Local 721 and head of the union’s state council. Freeman has been suspended without pay and is facing charges, while Local 6434 is under voluntary trusteeship. The union is investigating Jackson and Grajeda—both on paid leave—as is the Department of Labor. Amanda Figueroa, secretary-treasurer of Local 6434 and a member of the International Executive Board, also took temporary leave from her union positions.

Several local unions have expressed concern that any action now against United Healthcare Workers-West could hurt SEIU’s efforts in the November presidential election.

The allegations against UHW stem from the creation of a nonprofit organization in April 2007, part of the union’s efforts to promote health care reform in California. The International alleges the nonprofit was designed to “convert union dues into a private source of outside funds to maintain their power.”

UHW transferred $3 million from the union’s treasury to the nonprofit account, but spent only $100,000. As trusteeship rumors swirled earlier this year, the UHW executive board dissolved the nonprofit and returned the remaining money to the union.

Ringuette acknowledged that UHW leaders did not design the nonprofit for personal enrichment.

“The International is trying to smear UHW when in fact it’s Stern’s allies who are guilty of corruption,” Rosselli said.

Ringuette would not comment on recently leaked email communication between senior International staff and officers discussing options for “UHW work.” A June 5 email likened a UHW trusteeship to the invasion of Iraq: “easy to get in and then a slog.”

UHW officials seized on the leaked documents as evidence that the trusteeship is retaliation for their opposition to Stern’s attempts to centralize power.

LOSE-LOSE CHOICES

Shortly after announcing trusteeship hearings, the International also launched an advisory referendum for SEIU’s long-term care members in California, asking them to choose between a single statewide long-term care local and a single statewide local for all health care workers.

The union signaled in July that the single long-term care local would be headed by the leaders of now-trusteed Local 6434. Ringuette said that a statewide health care workers union would be a new local, with leadership appointed by the International.

“This will mean the dissolution of UHW,” Rosselli said. “Even if they don’t succeed in imposing a trusteeship they are planning on eliminating the union.”

At a UHW leadership conference in early September, 2,300 delegates unanimously voted to “use all available means” to fight attempts to divide their local or replace their elected leaders with appointees. International monitors got a preview on September 3, when 75 rank-and-file bargaining team members drove them out of a bargaining session between UHW and Catholic Healthcare West.

Speaking to the leadership conference afterwards, George Wong, a pharmacy technician at Kaiser–San Francisco, promised much more if the International moved on UHW.

“When the day comes and they try to dissolve the executive board, they will have to drag us out of there,” he said. “We are not going to go quietly into the night.”

SEIU Reformers Challenge Union’s Direction at Puerto Rico Convention

— Mark Brenner

Carrying a message of union democracy, reformers left their mark on the 2008 Service Employees (SEIU) convention, which took place May 30 to June 4 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Opposition to SEIU top leaders’ plans to dramatically restructure the union coalesced around the newly formed caucus SEIU Members for Reform Today (SMART) and the large bloc of delegates from United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW), the 140,000-member California local at odds with the International since February.

Bucking the convention’s tight script and pep-rally atmosphere, reformers challenged key elements of but were unable to prevent their passage.

WHO’S AT THE TABLE?

One flash point was the coordination of national negotiations. Reformers attempted to amend the International’s proposal for dealing with designated “strategic employers” to ensure that elected rank-and-file members were a part of any national bargaining team.

Speaking to the assembled delegates, Maya Morris, a SMART leader and UHW executive board member, outlined several shortcomings of the Stern plan. “These proposals do not guarantee democratic decision-making,” she said. “They do not guarantee the right of rank-and-file members to participate at every level of contract negotiations. In fact, rank-and-file members are excluded at the highest level of contract negotiations and replaced with boards of appointed leaders and staff, mostly from Washington, D.C., rather than from local unions.”

Tony Aidukas, a sports rehab specialist at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs and UHW member, told delegates that his experience on the bargaining committee at Tenet Health Systems last year left much to be desired.

“We were placed in another room while national negotiators did the face-to-face negotiations with our employer,” Aidukas said. “They agreed to subcontract 12 percent of our work and we had to spend seven months at the table to reverse that tentative agreement. If members had been in the room that would never have occurred.”

Ultimately, delegates voted overwhelmingly to approve the package of Stern-backed changes addressing national bargaining and internal structure.

Paulette Forbes, a radiologic technologist at Brookdale Hospital and member of 1199 New York, captured the sentiment of many delegates. “I’m not going according to the paper that’s being distributed here, but based on the fact that I’ve been a rank-and-file member for the past 19 years,” she said. “I’ve seen real democracy taking place in this union. Our leadership cannot lead without us having a say. And that’s why we have given our leaders power of attorney to make certain decisions for us, because we have to work.”

For the next three days voting followed a similar pattern. Whenever a contested proposal emerged, whether the International’s plan to shift grievance handling to off-site call centers or rank-and-file appeals for stronger support of single-payer health care reform, large majorities of the delegates lined up behind the leadership.

DISMEMBERING UHW

The dispute between UHW and the International came to a head at the convention, centering on the fate of the 65,000 long-term home care workers currently part of UHW.

Just weeks before the convention, the International initiated a review of UHW’s long-term care jurisdiction. Following a heated debate, convention delegates approved a plan to create a single long-term care local in each state. This move will likely settle the outcome of the jurisdictional hearings and transfer the workers out of UHW.

“They think this is over,” said Ella Raiford, a 35-year member of UHW, reflecting on the convention vote. “But this is just the end of round one. If they put us in a different local and think we’re just going to go home and be quiet, they have another thing coming.”

On the last day of the convention, SMART delegates posed a final challenge to the Stern team, fielding a dozen individual candidates for seats on the executive board. Running individually, rather than as a slate, reformers forced a paper-ballot vote, allowing delegates to split their votes.

The tactic sent convention organizers scrambling, and pushed the convention’s final session well into the evening, denying officials the rousing finale they had planned.

SMART activists now face the daunting challenge of building a solid rank-and-file organization. “This is really just the beginning,” said Arturo Diaz, a member of Local 721 and a computer programmer for Los Angeles County. “What we really have to do now is organize, organize, organize. There are no short cuts. We have to do this one at a time, member to member, trying to convince people to move to action.”

UHW leaders have not given up their struggle to maintain a single union for health care workers in California. On June 14, the local held several “mega-meetings” to oppose state budget cuts proposed for home care services and promote its message of industrial unity. More than 7,000 members and supporters attended events in Sacramento, Fresno, and San Francisco.

Day 2 - Anna Burger, Politics and Accountability

Day 1 - Teachers meet with SEIU members