All is not well in SEIU at Kaiser Permanente facilities in California. In recent weeks, more than 75 shop stewards resigned their positions and announced their support for the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) in an upcoming election among 43,500 Kaiser workers.  Mass resignations came in the wake of a series of SEIU mass firings and purges of its own elected stewards and bargaining committees.

Although Andy Stern is retired as president of SEIU, the union remains in utter disarray. Since the Andy Stern takeover of the once-respected union, a cloud of mistrust has descended over union affairs at Kaiser Permanente. There is bitterness and animosity among employees who, not so long ago, were friendly co-workers in a single union.

Why are hospital workers, once united, fighting among themselves? What has gone wrong at SEIU in California and Washington?           

What It Was Like Before the Stern Takeover

The hostilities in our labor union today are new. A few years ago, our union was united. In those days, before the Stern takeover, our union was united. Relationships were warm and civil. Differences were tolerated. No one was removed or purged for holding a wrong opinion. No one was vilified for disagreements with leadership. We all believed, and our faith was vindicated by victory, that union clout comes from active membership, not from big shots with money in Washington.

Think back a little. Recall union life prior to the Andy Stern takeover of SEIU, prior to Washington’s intervention in our California locals. If you worked at a Kaiser facility ten years ago, you may remember the camaraderie and solidarity that prevailed among us. The MAs, LVNs, the lab technicians, the secretaries, operators, the environmental service personnel, the X-ray technologists—all of us were proud to work together in a noble enterprise—the fostering and saving of human life.

Our 150,000-member local, then called UHW-West (now it is called NUHW, the name that will appear on the ballot) was large and strong. Its elected leader, Sal Rosselli, a champion of bottom-up democratic unionism, was popular, and highly respected throughout the labor movement. In his early years, Sal worked with Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker. He served two years in the Peace Corps. He became president of the highly successful union Local 250. Sal led thousands of health care employees in a march across the Golden Gate Bridge under the banner: “Healthcare Is a Human Right.” Sal was always one of us. Sal combined nuts-and-bolts organizing skills with democratic vision, and he taught us that democracy is a mighty force, that democratic unions have tremendous clout.

It was Sal’s team (now called NUHW) that won the historic 5-year contract with Kaiser in 2005, a contract still considered the gold standard in the hospital industry. The contract provided employment and income security, statewide seniority, a second “defined contribution” plan, fully paid healthcare for workers and their families, a real voice in staffing and patient care. It also ended the two-tiered wage system in Northern California.

Autocratic Purges Changed Everything

When Stern took over SEIU in Washington, after he instituted absentee rule of California locals, everything began to change—for the worse. Stern was an autocrat. He repudiated the principles of democratic unionism espoused by Sal. For Stern, power comes from the top down, and union locals are mere pawns to be moved around like chess pieces. He forced some locals to merge, and he also tried to split unions that were united. His confusing, arbitrary directives from 3,000 miles away had one common trait: defiance of the wishes of local membership. And when Stern met resistance from California local unions, he became vindictive. Not really a surprise. Power politics is nothing if not ruthless. In response to rank-and-file activism and input, SEIU’s Washington office launched mass removals and purges, so massive that SEIU began to resemble a Moscow Politburo cleaning house. 

Throughout California, business reps, elected stewards, dedicated union activists that served us for years, were fired and vilified. Shop stewards are the soul of a union. Their work is hard and often tedious. They file grievances, attend long meetings into the night, negotiate with managers, reconcile differences among employees, and build internal unity during contract campaigns. Stewards serve but don’t get paid. In the Stern blitz, (reminiscent of a McCarthy era in labor), stewards were removed from Hayward, Orange County, Bellflower, Roseville, Stockton, Sacramento, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, the Call Center, Woodland Hills, Santa Clara, and more. The threats have not ended. The removals were swift and vindictive, sowing fear and confusion. The message from the politburo was obvious: anyone who agrees with Sal and democratic unionism will face reprisals. Loyalty oaths were imposed on workers across the state.

As if to flout its unlicensed power, Washington fired Sal Rosselli shortly after he was re-elected by a landslide by his own membership. Sal was the most persistent champion of membership democracy in the nation.

SEIU’s Washington clique put the California local into “trusteeship,” dismantling the most successful union in the California hospital industry—UHW (now NUHW). Washington seized local offices, evicted the members, brought in cops against our own workers, seized the assets, assets that are now being used to pay big money for robocalls, slick mailers, paid lobbyists flown in from out of state. One hundred members of the union’s elected Executive Board were fired. Washington proceeded to break up bargaining teams, elective organizations that make our union strong.

Juan Gonzalez, the widely read columnist for the New York Daily News, called the Stern blitz “a stunning assault on democracy within his own union.” He was right.

Even CBS commented on Stern’s “top-down management style,” his “aggressive, hard-driving tactics.” CBS called Stern one of the most “polarizing leaders in labor.” Here CBS was right.

Rarely have so few caused so much damage and pain to so many employees in so short a time.

The SEIU slash-and-burn campaign crippled our local unions and jeopardized the benefits in our 5-year contract, the contract negotiated by Sal and many of the current staff members of NUHW. SEIU is losing clout because a disunited union is a weak union.

We Want Our Democratic Union Back

The time has come to take a stand. We want our democratic union back, the union that kept us united, the union that draws massive clout from an active membership. We want our elected stewards, who were dismissed by fiat, restored to their positions, so that they can defend the benefits that they fought for and achieved on our behalf. Those who crafted and codified the five-year contract are the most able to protect and extend its benefits. At the same time, the tiny clique that disunited us, that overthrew our contract-builders, are the most likely to squander our historic achievements.

We want to restore stability to our union and workplace. We want to heal rifts and recreate an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect. We want to restore membership control of our destiny.

The coming election will test our commitment to democracy. Union democracy is fundamental to real union power.

Nor is the upcoming election a choice between lesser evils. On the contrary, NUHW is a beacon of hope in our faltering economy.

Not only did NUHW win the best and most comprehensive hospital contract in California Kaiser’s history, the contract whose benefits we all take for granted today, it also became the model of membership-powered unionism, earning the admiration of other unions throughout the U.S.

We are lucky that such dedicated, experienced organizers are ready to serve us when we vote for NUHW.

Co-signers:

Beverly Griffith, EVS,

Odell Hunter, EVS,

Sandy Mims, Telecommunications Operator

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland, CA

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