Andrew Stern

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a triumph of rhetoric over reality. In the name of expanding worker choice, this proposed federal legislation, stalled for the past couple years, effectively would eliminate secret-ballot elections for nonunion workers seeking to decide whether to join a union and would mandate government arbitration if collective bargaining following a successful "card check" fails to produce a settlement. EFCA is coercive to the benefit of organized labor, a fact that extends to finances. And unions, once having realized a dues windfall, will use a certain portion of that money to fund political activity of the sort that put the bill on the front burner in the first place. An ad hoc nonprofit group, the Workforce Fairness Institute, recently released a report estimating union-controlled political activism would exceed $1.75 billion, at minimum, in the initial decade.

Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, often has emphasized his commitment to building a lean, efficient organization. His union and unions generally, he argues, need to aggressively cut costs and generate revenues in every way possible. Yet the SEIU is a union in major financial trouble. Its pension plan is no exception. Several weeks ago, the Washington, D.C.-based SEIU National Industry Pension Fund (NIPF) revealed in an April 30 letter to union leadership that the pension plan was in "critical status," or the "red zone." This "Notice of Critical Status" stated as follows: "This is to inform you that on March 31, the Plan actuary certified to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and also to the Trustees, that the Plan is in critical status (the "red zone") for the plan year beginning January 1, 2009. Federal law requires that you receive this notice."

The widely anticipated break has come to pass:  The United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) has severed its ties to the Service Employees International Union.  And as SEIU officials at Washington, D.C. headquarters refuse to accept the decision by the 150,000-member California affiliate, the prospect of prolonged labor strife, possibly even violent, has become real.  Led by its longtime president, Sal Rosselli, the Oakland-based UHW announced on Wednesday, January 28 its formal secession from the parent organization and its intention to form a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers.  More than 100 local officers and board members approved the action.  The move occurred only one day after Stern had replaced its leadership, alleging misuse of union funds for political purposes and refusal to go along with a reorganization plan.

The insurrection by a major California affiliate of the Service Employees International Union against Washington, D.C. headquarters is getting closer by the month to an all-out confrontation.  The dissenting faction, known as United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and led by Sal Rosselli, for the last couple years has been openly critical of international President Andrew Stern and his top lieutenants for focusing on membership expansion at the expense of quality contracts.  On September 17, nearly 30 members of the Oakland, Calif.-based local took the battle to a new level, filing a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that accuses SEIU leaders of suppressing their rights.  The action, a retort to a failed action this spring by the parent union, seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.