This is a decent article from the SF Weekly about SEIU's agreement with California nursing
homes.
For those with no time to read, here's how it goes down. SEIU enters into an agreement with nursing home chains. The deal goes like this:
SEIU agrees to lobby on behalf of nursing homes for increased subsidies for nursing homes/care from the state, caps on lawsuit damages (tort reform) stemming from ill treatment in nursing homes, and opposition to laws that would tie increased subsidies to improvements in patient care.
In exchange, SEIU is allowed to organize a certain number of nursing homes in the chain without employer opposition. According to the article, the number of homes they get to organize is based on their success in passing/stopping legislation.
Additionally, the homes that SEIU does organize have a pre-written "template agreements" for a contract. This contract specifies that the union cannot bargain for increased staffing levels, increases/changes to benefits, or job conditions. There is specific language that bars the union from attempting to bargain wages that would put the employer at an "economic disadvantage." In other words, unionized employees will be paid the same rate as non-unionized employees. Employees are also forbidden from reporting on conditions within the homes, unless required to do so by law.
I don't know about you all, but there is no fucking way this looks like unionism to me. There are apparently some people within SEIU that oppose these sort of agreements, but I think that all of us who are repelled by this sort of agreement have to speak out about SEIU. They cannot be allowed to become the future of labor because they are good at publicity and because they can get huge with garbage deals like this. The Teamsters did the same thing and we are still fucked because of it. We must work to oppose it. Being anti-SEIU might somehow be anti-union, but it is pro-worker.
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4 comments:
Jesus. That agreement looks more like a mob protection racket than anything even remotely resembling a union agreement. SEIU gets their dues, private nursing homes get to squeeze the state for more funding, and patients and workers get fucked.
When was the last time we said "Fuck Andy Stern?" Not recently enough for my taste.
i agree fuck SEIU!!! all they worry about is advancing their own careers and their individual goals...and collecting their union dues and PAC to fund their ambitions!!!
yeah... i know this is an older post...but, look at where SEIU has come over the past year.. they have sold our more workers... yes, seiu organizes and that is critical but they fuck those they represent... all in the name of COPE, and buying andy stern a cabinet post. FUCK ANDY STERN, ANNA BERGER, AND ALL OF SEIU!!! They don't give a damn about the folks they represent...
I worked for SEIU as a union organizer for a few months. SEIU is such a bullshit organization, I love organized labor, but my god SEIU is far from the conventional "organized labor" They have no problem treating actual SEIU employees like shit, under paying them, threatening them with their jobs if they dont work long hours without OT b/c the "members cant afford to pay you OT"
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