Association for Union Democracy news & updates

Fight in Ohio between SEIU and California Nurses revives old issue: when employers welcome unions at the NLRB

By Herman Benson

An angry battle in Ohio between the Service Employees [SEIU] and the California Nurses Association [CNA] calls attention to a proposed new regulation by the National Labor Relations Board that would make it easy for consenting employers to accept, or even welcome, unionization without disturbing their workers with a hostile, confrontational campaign....No drawn-out battle, no hard feelings provoked, no enthusiasms inspired.

...In these parlous times, when unions fight to hold their own, when the need to organize the unorganized is so urgent, the new NLRB system seems like a union leader’s dream. Could anything be wrong?

On "democratic" centralism: Stern's illusion and democracy's nightmare

"...the problem is that Rosselli's critics go beyond denouncing him for criticizing. They would make his very right to criticize illicit. And, because they are armed with organizational power, they would resolve the dispute not simply by democratic decision but by suppression. The irony is that they wrap autocratic intentions in the flag of a democratic "majority"...

Nurses ask court to back rights in NYS Association

"...In a referendum poll last year members rejected a proposal to quit the AFL-CIO union by 2,312 to 1,533. Nevertheless in December, the NYSNA Board of Directors voted to disaffiliate, a decision which the complainants charge violated federal law and the union's own established policies. "The fact that NYSNA, a union, can be governed by persons who are not union members or who are the managers and supervisors of its union members, gives rise to the issues raised in this complaint...""

At the Teamsters Independent Review Board

"The board still has plenty of work to do. Its 150th report in December, stated that 85 calls had been received on its hot line since the previous report... Among the new cases, two members of Local 743 are charged with failing to appear for an examination before the IRB. This is the Chicago local whose secretary treasurer and three former employees had been indicted in September on criminal charges of stealing a union election..."

Healthcare leader raps Stern; quits SEIU board

"...In January last year, Rosselli criticized as "company unionism" a deal negotiated by Stern with California nursing homes. In January this year, Rosselli refused to participate in the election of officers of the 650,000-member SEIU California State Council, or to run for reelection as its president, accusing Stern of rigging the process to guarantee the success of his own handpicked choices. Now, as the SEIU convention looms in May, Rosselli's resignation ratchets the conflict up several notches."

Stern's threat to trustee west coast SEIU local poses danger to democracy in labor movement.

By Herman Benson "Andy Stern, international president of the Service Employees International Union threatens a trusteeship over the United Healthcare Workers-West and the removal of its president, Sal Rosselli. The reach of the imminent trusteeship is awesome: With 140,000 members, this local enrolls about one-tenth the total membership of the whole SEIU.... This conflict transcends any legitimate debate over policy. At stake is not who is right or wrong on critical issues, but whether it is even permissible or possible to have a genuinely free discussion."

Union Democracy Nerds needed

AUD is looking for volunteers to help migrate content to the new AUD website, which is in development. Familiarity with Drupal a plus, but not required. Contact Matt Noyes at info(at)uniondemocracy.org.

Hoffa soft on Obama and vice versa

From Benson's Union Democracy Blog "“Obama has indicated willingness to end federal oversight of the Teamsters.” So reported Robert Novak in the Chicago Sun-Times on February 24. ... Senator Obama proposes to lift the moral standards of the nation's politics. Could he begin by lowering standards for the Teamsters union?"

Carpenters Mystery

From the February 2008 issue of The $100 Plus Club News #109 By James McNamara "Local 157 is affiliated to the New York Carpenters District Council where corruption, and even murder, had been a problem for decades. A 1994 federal consent decree aimed to "rid the union of corruption-that is, the corruption that allows contractors to run 'cash jobs' that deprive carpenters of their benefits and fair pay... and that is used to and opens the door to organized crime." In 2002, the judge concluded that abuses continued; he modified the decree to permit the appointment of a court-approved independent investigator. But nothing seemed to work out..."

After twelve years: Where is that labor-intellectual alliance?

From Benson's Union Democracy Blog

"Andy Stern's appeal resonated among intellectuals, especially those who had criticized the labor movement precisely because they felt it had neglected the most oppressed. It was only natural that Stern would begin with the moral support of intellectuals who had responded to the early appeal from Sweeney, like those in SAWSJ. He could enroll in his campaign civil rights campaigners and students who had been active in a roster of worthy social causes. But it turned out that there are more things in the Stern-SEIU philosophy than enrolling the oppressed..."