Features » April 9, 2008

Dissent in the Ranks (cont’d)

In a memo to the international, the UHW executive board worried that this centralization will come “at the expense of proven local organizing efforts.” It also questioned whether the international’s track record justifies further concentrating resources and strategy.

Both sides claim the democratic high ground. The international argues that local union leaders will be involved in formulating the national strategy, which they will then implement. Rosselli argues that the members must have a voice and vote in organizing and collective bargaining strategies, not simply out of principle but because such participation strengthens the union. He questions how open the debate will be among national leaders, when Stern appointed two-thirds of the executive board (some of who, including Rosselli, were then elected by members).

“[The international leaders] don’t know what they’re doing because they have a lack of trust and appreciation of workers,” Rosselli says. “They really believe that they’re smarter than workers, better than workers. The battle going on is between those who believe the collective power … can be better used by a few people in Washington, D.C., as opposed to those who believe in bottom-up democracy.”

The international union claims that Rosselli has withdrawn from the union’s democratic process, but Rosselli says he resigned after he was increasingly excluded from key positions and meetings. In his resignation letter, Rosselli criticized Stern for eliminating the Catholic Healthcare West Unity Council and appointing a union consultant to replace Rosselli as the negotiating lead on the eve of crucial hospital talks. He also accused the international union of negotiating behind his back with the California Nursing Home Alliance and barring UHW members and staff from direct negotiations with the employers, even though they represent three-fourths of Alliance union employees.

Last November, Stern also reorganized SEIU’s California state council to oust Rosselli. As council president, Rosselli had opposed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s health insurance plan, which Stern supported. Then in January, the international announced new hearings on reorganization of California’s healthcare locals that would remove the 65,000 nursing home and home care workers from UHW. UHW countered with a vote supervised by an outside mediator firm in which 40 percent of home care and 70 percent of nursing home workers voted and nearly unanimously chose to stay with UHW.

New controversy erupted in mid-March, when the California Nurses Association (CNA) leafleted against SEIU days before an election slated for nine Catholic Healthcare Partners hospitals in Ohio. Over a three-year period, SEIU had worked for a neutrality agreement that reportedly barred both workers and management from talking about the union at the hospitals.

“I think CNA’s actions are despicable,” says Rosselli. He describes his “rollercoaster” ride of alternating conflict and cooperation with CNA. “We’ve seen this happen with our Catholic Healthcare West and our Tenet [Health Corp.] campaigns. It’s unprincipled, a huge mistake.”

But the international claims that Rosselli met with CNA president Rose Ann DeMoro days before the Ohio vote. UHW administrative vice president John Borsos says there was no meeting, aside from both leaders being at the same AFL-CIO reception in southern California.

Stern cited the CNA clash among other “allegations” of impropriety in a March 24 letter designed to set the stage for a possible trusteeship of UHW. Borsos describes the charges as “bogus,” a “political” move with no legal foundation.

Rosselli says he has no plans to challenge Stern for president at the convention, but UHW will offer resolutions to strengthen union democracy and coordination between locals and the international. Despite signs of dissatisfaction, a fledgling opposition movement is still weak. Few local leaders have criticized the international union, which has organized an extensive campaign against Rosselli, according to an ex-SEIU official who requested anonymity. The UHW may do well simply to hold on to what it has now in the face of the international’s full-bore attack.

The issues in the debate are hardly limited to SEIU. Many unions struggle to strike a proper balance between local initiative and national strategy. Pervasive tensions exist between how union democracy is practiced and the labor movement’s claims that workers should have a stronger voice. The best unions struggle with how to increase both their numbers and their power.

And even if Congress passes the Employee Free Choice Act, unions will still need to fight for employer neutrality. While unions may have to make trade-offs for such agreements, highly restrictive deals with employers are no substitute for organizing and educating workers.

A renewed labor movement needs imaginative leaders, smart strategies, coordinated efforts and progressive values. But the future of SEIU and the labor movement ultimately requires keeping faith with its members.

“We shouldn’t start the debate with how do we centralize power,” says Jerome Brown. “The central issue ought to be how do we build a 21st century union with members having the democratic right to run it, to strike or not to strike. Members have a right to make decisions. They may be right or wrong, crazy or brilliant. But that isn’t the test. It’s their decision, their job and their union.”