National Nurses United

SEIU:FINAL 7/3/08 1:19 PM Page 10 Meet the New SEIU Service employee delegates adopt a program of initiatives that position the union to expand, but at the expense of member and RN representation and democracy. t its june convention in Puerto Rico, the Service Employees International Union provided ample reminders of why CNA/NNOC has challenged the policies and direction of SEIU under its current president Andy Stern and what is at stake for RNs A and patients. With the convention ringed by riot police to intimidate internal opposition and to confront teachers protesting an SEIU takeover attempt of an independent teachers' union in Puerto Rico, Stern pushed through a program to further disenfranchise his unions' members who have challenged the pro-corporate, employer-friendly SEIU tilt. Ending Workplace Representation the convention approved a host of decisions harmful to rankand-file workers. Chief among them, delegates adopted a plan to effectively end workplace representation. Labor representatives and shop stewards will be pulled away from SEIU facilities with members forced to phone warehouse call centers for help. The call centers typically combine a number of the newly merged large SEIU locals, making it increasingly difficult for those who answer the phones, reading from an HMO-style standardized protocol script, to address specific problems. SEIU could now be called the call center union. Southern California RNs who have already had nightmarish experiences with the pilot program report sometimes waiting months for assistance, especially follow-up support on grievances which, increasingly, members must file on their own. Eva Lozada, a homecare worker from Oakland, Calif. told the New York Times in June that "sometimes you can't get through to these centers. It's like talking to an A.T.M." While the resolution was being debated, a number of delegates voiced their concerns about these call centers, particularly ones that would field calls for multiple locals. "I never dreamed outsourcing 10 REGISTERED NURSE would be a good idea," said one delegate in a June 5 Daily Labor Report article. "We aren't a corporation." Shutting out members from bargaining a second strike against seiu members at the convention was defeat of a proposal to guarantee members have a seat at the bargaining table in negotiations with employers. SEIU has steadily been substituting staff for members in contract negotiations. The convention vote sends an unmistakable message that SEIU prefers to negotiate with employers in secret with the members silenced and shut out. And, where members are allowed in the room, they can face heavy restrictions, as in Las Vegas where RN bargaining team members were required to sign a loyalty oath to SEIU. Why disenfranchise members in bargaining? So staff can have more room to sign pacts as SEIU International did with its nursing home deal. In exchange for access to more dues units, SEIU gave California nursing home operators the "exclusive right" to set all pay rates, working conditions, speed up and reassign work, eliminate jobs at will, and outsource union work. SEIU also agreed to support legis- W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G JUNE 2008

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