RED DAVE
29th April 2010, 03:27
Sweeping victory for SEIU reformers
IN A stunning upset, union reformers in Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 swept to victory in their local's first-ever elections--an outcome that will rattle the top leaders of the 2 million-member union.
The reformers in Local 1021 were expected to do well given the Northern California local's poor performance in defending jobs and public services, and local officials' seeming inability to resist concessions.
Even so, the reform slate, calling itself Change 1021, surpassed everyone's expectations by winning 26 of the 28 positions it contested. The reform slate won all the officer positions, most of the local's industry and committee chairs, and secured a majority on the executive board.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the state, reformers in SEIU Local 521 captured a number of seats on the local's executive board after an uphill fight. The Voices of the Members slate had to battle an army of paid union staff. The reformers were unsuccessful in winning any of the officers' positions, but their gains, coming alongside the win in Local 1021, signal growing dissatisfaction with the SEIU's bureaucratic methods.
Further south, the newly elected president of SEIU Local 221 suddenly resigned in the midst of an ongoing Department of Labor investigation into the local's recent disputed election.
Former Local 221 President Sharon-Frances Moore, who headed the local's incumbent machine, had defeated a reform slate in July 2009. The opposition, calling itself Reform 221, has challenged the fairness of the election and speculated that Moore's decision to resign "for personal reasons" after less than six months in office suggests that the Labor Department probe uncovered election and/or ethical irregularities.
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ALL THREE of these locals are newly created "mega-locals" --a product of a radical reconstructing of the SEIU in California.(more in this link)
http://socialistworker.org/2010/03/09/sweeping-victory-for-seiu-reformers
(This info was communicated to me by redasheville)
RED DAVE
IN A stunning upset, union reformers in Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 swept to victory in their local's first-ever elections--an outcome that will rattle the top leaders of the 2 million-member union.
The reformers in Local 1021 were expected to do well given the Northern California local's poor performance in defending jobs and public services, and local officials' seeming inability to resist concessions.
Even so, the reform slate, calling itself Change 1021, surpassed everyone's expectations by winning 26 of the 28 positions it contested. The reform slate won all the officer positions, most of the local's industry and committee chairs, and secured a majority on the executive board.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the state, reformers in SEIU Local 521 captured a number of seats on the local's executive board after an uphill fight. The Voices of the Members slate had to battle an army of paid union staff. The reformers were unsuccessful in winning any of the officers' positions, but their gains, coming alongside the win in Local 1021, signal growing dissatisfaction with the SEIU's bureaucratic methods.
Further south, the newly elected president of SEIU Local 221 suddenly resigned in the midst of an ongoing Department of Labor investigation into the local's recent disputed election.
Former Local 221 President Sharon-Frances Moore, who headed the local's incumbent machine, had defeated a reform slate in July 2009. The opposition, calling itself Reform 221, has challenged the fairness of the election and speculated that Moore's decision to resign "for personal reasons" after less than six months in office suggests that the Labor Department probe uncovered election and/or ethical irregularities.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ALL THREE of these locals are newly created "mega-locals" --a product of a radical reconstructing of the SEIU in California.(more in this link)
http://socialistworker.org/2010/03/09/sweeping-victory-for-seiu-reformers
(This info was communicated to me by redasheville)
RED DAVE