-By Warner Todd Huston
Accusations are flying thick as bats in the night sky between the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) and their affiliated union, the United HealthCare Workers-West (UHW-W-W), over claims made by the SEIU that the UHW-W misappropriated $6 million in member’s dues money. But, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the SEIU is really just trying to put a stake in the heart of the internal uprising that members of the UHW-W have implemented inside the SEIU by launching harassment lawsuits that seem to have little merit.
The UHW-W, as it happens, is captained by Sal Roselli, president Andy Stern’s chief rival for control of the SEIU. Supposedly the UHW-W used some of this $6 million to pay for a speech by that same Sal Roselli, the man that just so happens to be challenging SEIU president Andy Stern in the upcoming SEIU convention in Puerto Rico in the beginning of June. Roselli has been attacking Stern for his campaign of top down leadership and for his penchant for manufacturing the ouster of local leaders that don’t sign on to Stern’s policies. Many are claiming that this is just an underhanded effort by Stern to destroy his chief rival just before the SEIU convention.
In this case, some are also saying that Stern has launched this lawsuit as a first step to declaring the UHW-W’s leadership defective so that he can place his own appointed guys in power as trustees over the union while the “problems” are ironed out. In this way, Stern’s critics say, he can better assure that the UHW-W will acquiesce to his policies and another rebellious affiliate will be silenced before the convention.
The SEIU, however, maintains that the UHW-W segmented out millions of dollars without accounting for having done so to the union membership. If the SEIU is vindicated in this charge, it is an explosive one, indeed.
The SEIU press release about this actions says in part:
“The highest ranking UHW-W officers used millions of dollars in members’ dues money to run a shadow operation off the books and they intentionally deceived their own members and the federal government about how the money would be used,” said SEIU spokesperson Andrew McDonald. “It is unacceptable for a handful of people to control nearly 40 percent of a local union’s assets with no accountability to the members, no financial safeguards, no protections against fraud, and none of oversight required by law.”EIU local union United Healthcare Workers-West is advancing a program calling for increased union member democracy in other SEIU local unions and our national union.
The lawsuit also accuses the UHW-W of establishing a “well-financed entity with access to a ready source of funds beyond the reach of SEIU’s auditing, oversight and trustee powers.”
UHW-W representative, Noel Rabinowitz, says that Stern’s lawsuit is only an “act of retaliation designed to smear UHW leaders and squelch our dissent, without offering any new information.” Rabinowitz went on to say that, “the lawsuit is frivolous as the remedy it seeks is already set in motion.”
For his part, Sal Roselli replied with a press release of his own.
In recent months United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and its allies inside SEIU have launched a campaign, in the face of constant threats and retaliation, to reform our International Union.
The most recent act of retaliation is their announcement today of plans to sue UHW leaders. UHW’s elected executive board members created the education fund in question in full compliance with the law, and appropriately released all of the details of its actions. Last week, the fund’s board decided to dissolve the fund and return its resources to UHW. UHW notified SEIU yesterday of this action.
Further reports seem to show that the largest amount of this $6 million was never spent and still resides in union coffers.
Some members of the UHW-W are claiming that this new lawsuit is just retaliation for the one filed by UHW-W members against the SEIU on April 4th. Roselli’s associates filed suit claiming that the SEIU interfered with delegate elections in violation of federal labor law when president Stern made an unannounced visit to local 1021 and arranged for things to go his way.
What ever has happened with these funds at the UHW-W, it is obvious that SEIU president Stern has unleashed the long knives and has engaged in a ruthless campaign to stifle dissent against him. With as much passion and hard feelings as have been fanned during this internal fight, it’s hard to assume that everything will even be solved at the SEIU convention in June.
(Some coverage with some interesting replies posted can be seen at Open Left.)
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston