Labor Relations 101

It's All In The Family: SEIU Paid Millions To Family Members Connected To Top Officials

Paul Pringle, of the Los Angeles Times, is reporting that The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has paid millions of dollars to individuals with family and personal connections to high ranking officials within SEIU, including SEIU president Andy Stern.  The U.S. Department of Labor, which tracks union spending, released the following information regarding SEIU's spending pattern:

The SEIU and its political affiliate contributed $3 million to America Votes, an advocacy organization that was headed by Cecile Richards, wife of an aide to SEIU President Andy Stern, at the time the payments were made.

Melissa Mullinax was an SEIU political director when the political consulting firm she held a 20%-to-25% stake in, The Edison Group, was paid more than $1 million, including expenses. In addition, the SEIU has spent about $41,000 on a graphic design company owned by Mullinax's husband, Jason Abbott.

The union paid about $520,000 to a consulting firm co-founded by Democratic Party and labor strategist Steve Rosenthal, the husband of another SEIU director, Eileen Kirlin. Rosenthal, a longtime friend of Stern, also headed America Coming Together, a get-out-the-vote nonprofit that received $23 million from the union.

Pamela Kieffer, wife of a third union director, David Kieffer, has received about $70,000 in consulting fees and in separate payments from a firm that provided recruitment services to SEIU.

SEIU 1199 Targets Home Health Care Aides

Jeffrey Krasner of the Boston Globe is reporting that Services Employees International Union Local 1199 (SEIU 1199) will likely win a National Labor Relations Board mail in ballot election today.  SEIU 1199, which claims to be the largest local union in the world, is seeking to represent 22,000 home healthcare workers across Massachusets for the purposes of collective basrgaining. Home health care aides are paid by the states Medicaid program, MassHealth.

If successful, then SEIU will have a significant advantage in organizing health care workers (i.e. nurses) across the board, if they are able to demonstrate they can negotiate higher wages and better benefits for home health care workers who tend to exist at the lower end of the income spectrum.

SEIU has also enlisted the aide of politicians and actors to support their mission.  Mayor Thomas M. Menino and state Senator Steven A. Tolman are expected to attend an SEIU event today at the Veronica B. Smith Senior Service Center in Brighton, Mass. SEIU will release the results of the vote today.  State Senator Tolman sponsored a bill last month that allowed home health workers to unionize.

Ben Affleck, an actor in films such as "Armageddon," "Gigli," and "Hollywoodland," recently endorsed SEIU's plans to organize health care workers and hospitals. 

SEIU is also asking hospitals to give up their organizing-campaign rights under the National Labor Relations Act  and to embrace the "third way of organizing" approach advocated by SEIU director Andy Stern.  This approach would make organizing much easier for the union because the secret ballot elections occur much earlier than what is allowed under traditional rules.

UAW Members Still Uncertain About Contract...

CNNMoney.com is reporting that union members are still undecided about the tentative contract between the UAW and Chrysler, LLC.

"Six locals unions representing more than 11,000 workers have turned down the landmark pact, while five locals representing about 8,200 workers have said "yes."  It's nearly impossible to keep a running total because most local unon officials give out only percentages and not the number of people who voted."

The UAW has launched a massive public relations campaign aimed at encouraging members to approve the contract.  It is believed that at least 45,000 have yet to vote on the contract.

The international body of the UAW have stated that the vote will pass by at least 50 percent of the vote, although there are some within the union that believe this to be incorrect due to the large number of local unions that have voted against the deal.

There are two reasons why UAW members are concerned about this contract proposal...

1) The contract language allows for a lower-tier wage scale for new hires (around $14 per hour vs.
    roughly $18 an hour prior to the new contract)

2) The vehicle guarantees (i.e. job security) for factories that run for the life of the contract are less
    than those negotiated into the General Motors contract one month ago.

If the contract is not approved by the members than the UAW could return to the bargaining table, or call for a re-vote. 

Chrysler Strike Vote Looming

The United Autoworkers (UAW) have given Chrysler 24 hours to decide whether or not they are willing to give job and product guarantees similar to what UAW negotiated with General Motors.

Phil LeBeau of cnbc.com is reporting that Chrysler is unwilling to make these guarantees due to the fact that they lack the product pipeline to producing certain products at certain assembly plants.

Chrysler also wants (possibly needs) to retain the capacity to downsize staff based on the present and future needs of their business cycle.  Chrysler just recently laid off 1500 salaried staff.

During negotiations with General Motors, the UAW successfully lobbied GM to infuse cash into the VEBA (Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association) fund which the union will operate in order to provide health related benefits to the union rank and file.  Chrysler, on the other hand, is not as willing to invest their money into the VEBA largely because it does not have capital reserves similar to GM.  Infusing capital to the tune of $35 billion (which is what GM invested in the VEBA) limits the amount of cash on hand Chrysler will have for the future.

Consider that Chrysler is now owned by Cerebus Capital Management, a private equity firm.  The bottom line for Cerebus is money.  Also consider that Chrysler is set to launch a new line of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly automobiles that car insiders are describing as the "future of the automotive industry."  Chrysler simply wants the ability to be as financially agile as possible. 

Although a strike would hurt Chrysler, the reality is that they are likely willing to shoulder any short term losses if it means they will retain the right to operate with as few restrictions as possible.

SEIU...Corporate America's New Best Friend?

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and Sal Roselli, president of the United Healthcare Workers West, are having a hard time seeing eye to eye.

Matt Smith of the San Francisco Weekly wrote that the United Healthcare Workers West alleged that Stern entered into a sweetheart deal with California Nursing Home companies that impairs, rather than empowers, workers and patients.

"At the heart of the nursing home alliance deal was a cold-blooded trade off, where the SEIU would use its California Democratic Party lobbying clout to remove quality-of-care requirements from legislation boosting Medi-Cal funding for nursing homes. Alliance labor contracts, meanwhile, severely limited workers' clout at the workplace."

The United Healthcare Workers West also do not agree with SEIU's "third way" of organizing which includes collaboration with employers as opposed to a more confrontational style of organizing.  Roselli contends that Stern's olive branch approach to corporate America will only serve to produce weak and ineffectual unions.

Stern's proposal to put Washington based national union representatives in charge of local contract bargaining has met with resistance from labor unions because it will curtail the autonomy upon which local unions have enjoyed for decades.

Love him or hate him one thing that you cannot take away from Stern is that he has a different vision for the labor movement.  The interesting thing, however, is that his vision is being challenged by the very people whom he champions...big labor.

Dana Corporation Settles With USW and UAW

Dana Corporation has announced that it has reached tentative agreements with the United Steel Workers and United Auto Makers unions.  The agreement will consist of:

"A settlement agreement with each of the United Steel Workers (USW) and the United Auto Workers (UAW), which will lower Dana's labor costs and replace the company's health care and long-term disability obligations for retirees and employees represented by these unions with Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trusts to which Dana will contribute in aggregate approximately $700 million in cash and approximately $80 million in common stock of the reorganized Dana."

It is being reported that these deals will substantially reduce heavy operating/labor costs and will allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy protection.  These agreements are subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court of the Southern District of New York, where the company's bankruptcy is pending and ratification by Dana's USW and UAW employees.

The settlement also includes four year extensions of Dana's collective bargaining agreements with all of its USW and UAW organized facilities and new agreements with recently organized facilities. These agreements will create a two-tier wage structure at a few of the U.S. facilities, including changes in disability benefits.

Dana believes that the new collective bargaining agreements will result in annual savings of more than $100 million.

Unions, Make Them An Offer They Can't Refuse

Rudi Keller posted an interesting article on the challenges Missouri's Labor Unions are facing.  Labor unions in Missouri, much like in other parts of the country, have been impacted by declining membership and a lack of industrial stability.  The hope for labor unions was that the government would pass the Employee Free Choice Act which would negate the power of the secret ballot election.  That initiative failed last week.  So, now labor is faced with the challenge of how to make themselves viable in an ever changing economy.  In light of Mr. Keller's article, I would like to offer a few suggestions which might help:

(1) Labor Unions Must Demonstrate Their Value. 

Labor unions need to be able to quantify how they help employees.  It is not enough to simply say "We will get you better wages; benefits; etc."  How do you plan on doing this?  How do you plan on making management offer up raises to employees, when management was not willing to do this before a union was voted in? False promises net inconsistent results. 

Listen Up! White Collar Employees Have Something to Say!

Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the 2002 bestseller "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, has a new mission in life.

In September, Ehrenreich created the United Professionals organization to support White Collar workers who have become vulnerable to the impact of downsizing, rightsizing and Wall Street pressures.

Considering that Ehrenreich received start-up capitol from the Service Employees International Union, the question has to be asked, "is the United Professionals organization a union for White Collar employees?"

"No. A union isn't appropriate for this group. We're talking about people in many different occupations who don't think much of or don't usually join unions...People who have joined want a voice for the jerked-around white-collar American who went to college, majored in something practical and then, wham, realizes he'll be a barista long after graduating or finds himself having been bumped out one too many times at age 50."

Ehrenreich's organization has lobbied the federal government on issues ranging from inexpensive health care to unemployment compensation.

Whether you want to label the United Professionals a union or not, the fact remains that they are making their collective voices heard throughout the halls of congress and beyond.

Gangmembers...The New Face of the Ironworkers Union?

Sam Quinone of the The Los Angeles Times has written an interesting article about the Ironworkers District 433, of La Palma, California.  The Ironworkers have discovered a new demographic to replenish its' shrinking labor base...South Central gang members.

In the past, admission into a building trade union such as the Ironworkers was predicated upon the endorsement of an established, unionized family member or knowing someone with influence. 

Over time, trade unions began recruiting in areas with dense minority populations, due to aging membership and nonunion competition.  Among those whom responded to these recruiting drives were gang members and men with criminal records.

Julio Salva, a former East Los Angeles gang member, entered the Ironworker's apprenticeship program four years ago after serving time in prison.  Silva is among a growing number of South Central Los Angeles gang members whom have joined building trade unions in the past decade. Sylva makes $29 an hour plus benefits.

Yet, building trades are discovering that this open approach to background screening may have potential consequences due to the fact that many sensitive work sites, including government buildings, shipyards, chemical and nuclear plants require extensive background checks.  Those checks screen specifically for illegal immigrants and ex-convicts.

The recruiting strategy of the Ironworkers may pave the path for gang members and convicted criminals to redeem themselves in the eyes of society, but the question remains what will be the long term impact of using gang members on the Ironworkers?  How will private and public companies react the first time gang violence erupts at a work site? 

The Ironworkers must also consider that these new members will potentially be the future leaders of the union.  WIll they have the capacity and/or resources to negotiate contracts; provide business leadership; ensure recruiting extends beyond South Central?  Interesting times ahead for the Ironworkers.