LaborTalk for December 13, 2006
Stern Tells Bosses to Drop Health-Care Plans; Millions of Workers Could Lose Their Coverage
By Harry KelberAndy Stern, president of the 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union, has been encouraging employers to drop their health insurance plans for their workers. He says: “It is in the economic interest of American business, now competing globally, to end employer-based care.”
If the nation’s employers were to follow Stern’s advice, tens of millions of workers and their families, who get their health-care insurance through their jobs as employees, could lose their coverage, according to Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Health-care coverage, when paid for by the employer, has been regarded as a major benefit by union members, and they would offer fierce resistance to any attempt to deprive them of it. In many health plans, union members contribute significantly to their funding and operational costs
Ten SEIU Locals become One - Post Date: Saturday, Jan 13th, 2007 at 1:03 am
How did this new union come about?
SEIU members voted at the 2000 SEIU
convention to engage in a process across the country of reorganizing local union
jurisdictions to create stronger local unions by ensuring that they are large
enough to have the resources needed to represent workers effectively and to
focus locals in a single industry—in our case, public services. That vote was
reaffirmed by a vote of the members at the 2004 SEIU convention in San
Francisco. Hearings were held in California in March and April of 2006 where
hearing officers asked members throughout the state to give their opinions on
what structure would make our union stronger and produce bigger wins. The
hearing officers issued a decision which was adopted by the SEIU Executive Board
in June and approved by a margin of 88% in a vote of all affected members that
culminated on October 6, 2006.
United as one we can strengthen members’ voices in the workplace to solve problems, raise workplace standards, and improve their working lives. Workers across the region will be able to coordinate and support each other on common issues like wages, pensions, health care, retiree medical, and staffing. And we will be able to combine and share resources so that we can strengthen our communications and education programs, improve our technology systems, and help the many unrepresented workers join with us.
What difference will this make when dealing with problems at the
worksite?
The plan is to develop stronger worksite leaders/staff partnerships
so we can more effectively coordinate with members with similar problems,
develop strategies that work and take action. Having additional resources and
input from members will enable us to identify and examine what is and what isn’t
working.
Brothers and Sisters, there is evidence that the word regarding the fight
to
keep our own local is spreading. Some of you have been visiting the
website
without joining or leaving a message posted. That's okay, because the
word
is still being spread and the more our brothers and sisters hear about
it,
the better. Sooner or later, most of you will have to realize that
there
will come a moment of decision, when you can no longer stay "on the
fence".
That time may be approaching faster than we realize. The more our
brother
and sisters find out what's really going on, the more concerned they
become.
Would you believe that there are still brothers and sisters that are
still
not aware that their local is being taken away from them? It's
really
shocking! Especially when they get the news about what is being
attempted. I
am amazed when I ask them if they voted for the "consolidation".
They say;
"There was a vote?". That tells me everything I need to know about
the
legitimacy of what is happening. Brothers and sisters from other 347
MOU's
have expressed anger over their inability to fight back, but now there
ARE
ways to fight back. There are Opposition Documents being circulated that
can
make their way to the Employee Relations Board. This let's the
Employee
Relations Board know that there is an Opposition and this Opposition
needs
to be heard. For those of you who don't know; The Employee Relations
Board
is the one to approve of who is a recognized bargaining unit and who is
not.
If you do not have their approval, you cannot be a recognized
bargaining
unit for city employees. For those many of you who have already
signed this
document, thank you, your voice will be heard by the people who
need to hear
it. For those of you who have not, arrangements can be made to
distribute
and collect them, just leave a posted message on how we can
contact you and
make the necessary arrangements. It's not too late!
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/fightfor347/message/41
As we all know, SEIU is reorganizing it's locals in California, as it has already done all over the country. Many members of the Los Angeles based Local 347 are unhappy with this. "When you mess with our union, you mess with our jobs", is the message that is floating around various worksites. We feel that by creating larger unions, that the "local" is being taken out of the union and the ability to expect fair, responsive representation will be limited.
It is no secret that leaders among 347's membership are planning to fight back and preserve our Local. "We won't have our voices taken from us, and we won't go down without a fight." With our staff silenced by SEIU headquarters in Washington D.C. , it's now up to the members to fight for the Union. When several of our members met with SEIU President Andy Stern, they let him know that we were not given a choice in this matter. His message was clear: he does not believe in our members. He did not believe that we could accomplish his vision for SEIU without reorganizing.
What he failed to see was what we had accomplished as a local already. Rather than build on this, he wants to force us to become a much larger union that he feels will be stronger. Of course he didn't ask us about this. As a matter of fact, many of our members are not even aware this is happening.
Andy Stern and SEIU have underestimated us. The only way to preserve our Local and fight this reorganization is through "Union". This group is being set up for the members of Local 347 and all of it's affiliates. We also welcome all of our brothers and sisters in other locals who are being affected by this. Together, through "union", we hope to defeat this reorganization, which could jeopardize, our jobs, our benefits, retirements, and livelyhood. Our only chance is to UNITE.
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/fightfor347/
Welcome to the Unit 11 Members Discussion Group.
We are members of the
California State Employees Association CSEA), affiliated with the SEIU as Local
1000, who are not satisfied with the lack of service Unit 11 members are
receiving from our union.
We are tired of CSEA & SEIU constantly
fighting amongst themselves at our expense.
The bottom line is CSEA/SEIU is supposed to be working for us, watching out for it's members best interests, fighting for us when we have been wronged. CSEA/SEIU seems to have forgotten this.
This is a forum to discuss the merits of decertifying Unit 11 from CSEA/SEIU and finding representation with another union.
NOTE: We are not funded nor supported by the California State Employees Association
The Local 615 dues percentage deduction is 2.5% of gross wages. Gross wages are defined as total compensation which includes vacation time, sick time, overtime, bonuses or shift differentials. Dues are not deducted from vacation cash advances.
Weekly Deductions
Category of Worker
Amount of Weekly dues deduction
Earning less than $213 per week
$ 6.02
Earning between $214 and $289 per week
$ 6.69
Earning between $290 and $432 per week
2.5% of gross weekly earnings
Earning more than $433 per week
$12.23
Monthly Deductions
| Category of Worker | Amount of Monthly dues deduction |
| Earning less than $923 per month | $26.00 |
| Earning between $924 and $1,252 per month | $29.00 |
| Earning between $1,253 and $1,872 per month | 2.5% of gross monthly earnings |
| Earning more than $1,873 per month | $53.00 |
INITIATION FEE
The initiation fee is three times (3X) the minimum dues taken in three monthly installments and deducted concurrently with regular dues deductions. This is a one-time, lifetime deduction.
| Earning less than $923 per month | $78.00 |
| Earning more than $924 per month | $90.00 |
March 12, 2007
Dear SEIU Local 1985 Member:
As you may have heard, Local 1985 has been placed in an emergency trusteeship by the International Union to protect Local 1985 members and ensure you have the best possible representation. The action was taken because of reliable reports that Local 1985 was experiencing a serious financial crisis and lack of adequate financial controls. I have been appointed by the SEIU International President as the Trustee of Local 1985.
What this means is that the officers and board members of Local 1985 have been suspended pending an internal union hearing. A specific date has not yet been set, but the hearing will be open to all Local 1985 members, and the hearing officer’s findings will be made available to Local 1985 members. As the Trustee, I will be running the affairs of the local on a day-to-day basis, along with Joe Buckley, who has been appointed deputy trustee.
What Is Corporate Unionism?
If union members want to maintain their rights for the dues they pay into their labor organization, they will have to be aware of the symptoms of corporate unionism and learn how to fight it.
If labor leaders act as though they own the union and can do as they please with it, that's corporate unionism.
If they can spend the union's money freely on whatever they choose without the approval of the membership or the obligation to issue a financial report, that's corporate unionism.
If they control negotiations with employers and make decisions about the terms of a contract, while denying any input from their members or allowing discussion and a fair vote on the final settlement, that's corporate unionism.
If they suppress all criticism of their policies and actions and allow no voice for members with dissenting opinions, that's corporate unionism
If they become remote and inaccessible to their union members and develop life-styles and attitudes that are closer to that of the employers, that's corporate unionism.
And if their prime objective is to get elected and re-elected until they are ready to retire, without developing new leaders that are capable of fighting for the needs of the members, that's corporate unionism
In the developing corporate culture, a union is only as strong as its leaders, not its members.
http://www.laboreducator.org/andystern.htm
Stern's NUP Plan to Reform Labor Follows Corporate Model and Flops — Article 2 - November 16, 2006
LaborTalk: AFL-CIO Leaders Fail to Denounce Stern on Health Care
and Pensions - December 6, 2006
Read Column
Stern Tells Bosses to Drop Health-Care Plans; Millions of Workers Could Lose Their Coverage - December 13, 2006 Read Column
When the labor contract for 250 employees at Cabrillo College expires in June, they may end up negotiating a new one as an independent union.
In recent weeks, Cabrillo's classified employees voted overwhelmingly, more than four-to-one, to initiate the process of leaving their national union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
The move comes after the Santa Cruz area branch of SEIU which represented Cabrillo workers, Local 415, merged with four other regional locals in January to create Local 521, which is based in San Jose. Some have embraced the consolidation.
Cabrillo employees pay 1.255 percent of their gross pay to SEIU for representation.
Members of the Cabrillo chapter are collecting statement cards in support of decertifying SEIU as their union. If enough are collected, the state's Public Employment Relations Board will conduct a mail ballot to determine the course of action.
http://www.mcpost.com/article.php?id=703&PHPSESSID=f734ea696fae40b27ae9d87f5dd949e9
