SEIU Places UHW in TrusteeshipRandy Shawbyline‚ Jan. 28‚ 2009Charging Sal Rosselli and UHW’s leadership with “financial malpractice and efforts to subvert democracy,” SEIU President Andy Stern placed UHW--its third largest local-- in trusteeship yesterday. Stern’s action comes a day after UHW announced it was rejecting SEIU’s conditions for avoiding trusteeship. Stern based his decision on three independent grounds, all of which derive from SEIU’s fundamental dispute with UHW over the transfer of 65,000 UHW members to a new statewide longterm care local. UHW members overwhelmingly rejected SEIU’s insistence that the local accept the transfer of these workers, and this refusal was among the grounds cited by Stern for imposing the trusteeship. The climax to the long running SEIU-UHW disputes comes as the nation’s progressives are energized by Barack Obama’s presidency, and opportunities for progressive change and long overdue labor law reform have never been greater. No wonder UHW President Sal Rosselli termed the long running dispute with his parent union as “tragic,” while Stern described his imposing of a trusteeship as “an end to a sad chapter.” |