Over at the SF Bay Guardian, JB Powell has uncovered an interesting story regarding involvement of International SEIU leaders in local 1021's elections for delegates to the international convention.
Delegates selected by Local 1021, based in SF, will attend the union's international convention in June and will vote on a series of democratic reforms put forward by dissident labor leader Sal Rosselli. In recent weeks, Rosselli has clashed publicly with SEIU's international president Andy Stern over Stern's increasing consolidation of the 1.9 million-member labor organization.
And the emails appear to show a concerted effort by Stern's senior staff and local loyalists to ensure that the dissidents don't dominate the convention delegation.
Referring to themselves in the emails as the "Salsa Team," SEIU staffers discussed strategy and coordinated campaign activity for the delegate election with high-ranking union officials like Damita Davis-Howard, the president of Local 1021, and Josie Mooney, a special assistant to Stern, the emails show.
Critics charge that these activities violated Local 1021's Election Rules and Procedures - specifically Rule 18, which states, "While in the performance of their duties, union staff shall remain uninvolved and neutral in relation to candidate endorsements and all election activities." (SFBG 4/2/08)
The funny thing with SEIU is that you can tell a lot by those little union numbers. For example, Local 1021 means something. Specifically that they were ten locals and now they are one. These kinds of things breed some difference of opinion. It's only natural where you once had ten presidents, and now there's one. Well, the SF President wasn't such a fan:
But some union members think there's a serious problem here. In a written statement, Roxanne Sanchez, who was the president of the San Francisco local before it was merged with other Northern California locals to create 1021, accused Davis-Howard and the Salsa Team of "rigging the outcome" of the delegate election.
"This type of breach in ethical conduct - at such a high level - threatens the foundation of trust and confidence in our Union and in President Damita Davis-Howard's ability to hold fair elections," she said.
Sanchez informed us by phone that a formal complaint will be filed with the union's election committee by Friday.
Ahhhh, union politics. Combined with the CounterPunch article claiming that the International was trying to put UHW under receivorship, and we should see some interesting events leading up to the international convention this summer. |
