March 31, 2010. Day 8 of the civil trial against NUHW, Sal Rossilli, Joan Emslie, Barbara Lewis, among others for their actions to try to sabotage our union.
Debbie Schneider, Deputy Trustee, testified about the challenges that the trustees faced when the trusteeship happened at 2 pm on January 27, 2009. The defendants announced the formation of the new union, NUHW, the next day on January 28, 2009. Within the first week NUHW was out getting decertification petitions signed.
Ms. Schneider said that 110 UHW employees had resigned from their positions. Calls, emails and overnight letters were sent out to all employees telling them of their obligation to return all UHW property and asking them to come to a meeting three days after the trusteeship. 300 out of 400 showed up at the appointed place to return what they had. Of the people who resigned, memos were sent out in their final paychecks again asking them to return any UHW records, files, or property. Final, legal routes had to be taken to get more property returned.
Ryan Jurgensen, security guard at the Sacramento office, testified that on or about January 30, 2010 more than 20 boxes were being removed from that office as well as computer equipment. One person came by and removed a Public Address system stating it belonged to him.
We have rested our case. So now the defense will present their case.
The first witness who took the stand was Sal Rosselli, ex-president of UHW and the interim president of NUHW. (notice anything different? NO…me neither.) He testified that he was only looking out for the members and making sure that they were protected when he was questioned about violations of the constitution and by-laws of SEIU. When asked if he was concerned about trusteeship in the spring of 2007, he stated no he was not concerned due to UHW being such a large union. SEIU couldn’t just come in and take over.
Judge William Alsup had to remind Mr. Rosselli to answer the questions yes or no and not go into the fight between Andy Stern and himself. There was a letter sent to Andy Stern from the UHW E-board to schedule a disaffiliate vote. This was approved by the E-board at their meeting on January 9, 2009. On January 10, 2009 there was a steward and activist meeting where Sal told members about the letter while he was chairing the meeting. He then testified that he stepped down as the President of UHW and spoke as a rank-and-file member. On January 14, 2009 Sal received a response that the request for a disaffiliation vote had been rejected. In a video that NUHW’s lawyers played in court, Sal was giving a speech on the day of trusteeship, stating it was time “turn the page” with a new union that they would control.”
Rosselli stated that members had been having conversations with him for some time who just wanted to leave SEIU. Sal stated that when he left he left everything behind including personal items. After an order by Judge Alsup demanding the return of UHW property in April 2009, Sal stated that it became clear to him that it included his hand-written notebooks as well. He then turned in 6 boxes of UHW materials.
On cross examination, our attorney, Gary Kohlman, let Rosselli have it. He asked about the 30 contracts that were terminated by Mark Kipfer, who had received instructions to do so by John Vellardita. Rosselli claimed that the bargaining team knew of the contract terminations. He also admitted that members that were staying in the union halls over night were being paid by the E-board prior to the trusteeship.
Kohlman asked if at 2:01 pm on January 27, 2009 SEIU had the legal right to enter the buildings, and whether Rosselli had made any effort to make transition go smoothly with staff. Rosselli responded, I didn’t nee to tell my staff what to do they knew what had to be done. Rosselli claims that the first time he heard of the Shakers and Makers secret group was in this trial.
Can’t wait to get your feed back from today’s blog.
Sorry I wasn’t able to be in court Monday and Tuesday. Judge Alsup is a bit picky about coughing in his courtroom.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Day 5 of Civil Trial against Sal Rosselli, John Vellardita, Gabe Kristal, Glenn Goldstein and others. March 26, 2010.
Leon Chow, a UHW Director in homecare, returned to stand to finish his cross examination by the defendants’ lawyer Daniel Siegel. Leon testified about several meetings of the Shakers and Movers, a secret group that was creating an off-the-books database.
On January 8, 2009 defendant Sal Rosselli informed a group of senior leaders that the disaffiliation petition would have to be done by rank and file members, that is would not be proper for elected officers and staff to work on this. At a UHW Executive Board meeting the next day, Rosselli, John Borsos, and lawyer Jonathan Siegel spoke of decertification attempts in other locals, using the examples to tell the board how they could decertify SEIU-UHW without saying so directly.
On January 28, 2009, the day after the trusteeship, Rosselli and about 30 staff and executive board members were all told at the Oakland Marriott that they were fired. Attorney Jonathan Siegel told the staff how to write up their resignation letters so that they would be able to draw their unemployment. Rosselli announced that they were going to start a new beginning and called it the NUHW (the NEW UHW). There was no talk of challenging the trusteeship and Rosselli stated that they had done nothing wrong.
Witness Eliseo Medina testified that he was sent out to California after the International Executive Board’s decision to create on long term care local in California. He was to meet with the 3 locals that had long term care in them (521, 6434 and UHW) and get the information needed to start the move to a new local. He received information from 521 and 6434. The meeting on January 15, 2009 with John Vellardita, Long Term Care Director from UHW, was a very hostile and UHW did not provide the required information.
Rasheda Anthony testified about the break in at the temporary office in Alameda. A group of workers lead by Vellardita, Gabe Kristal and Glenn Goldstein were outside chanting let us in. They managed to obtain entry in to the building where a security guard was put down on the floor. When Rasheda saw him he was in a fetal position trying to protect his head while being kicked. Rasheda stated that Goldstein tried to grab papers out of her hand and Kristal come up from behind her and pushed her over a table while she was fighting to protect confidential materials. This material had staff’s names, phone numbers, and hotel information. When the group left they were chanting “we’ll be back.” Rasheda was scared, confused and shaken by what had happened. There were also threatening fliers put under the hotel room doors after this event.
Jerry Bullock, owner of Bullock and Associates, was the security company that was hired by SEIU to help with the trusteeship. He also stated other events that created the need for increased security.
The defense had started the cross examination before we ended for the week. Not once have they tried to say that he was wrong!!
So I’d like to hear you feed back. How are you feeling about the trial? I’ll be waiting!!! Talk to everyone soon.
On January 8, 2009 defendant Sal Rosselli informed a group of senior leaders that the disaffiliation petition would have to be done by rank and file members, that is would not be proper for elected officers and staff to work on this. At a UHW Executive Board meeting the next day, Rosselli, John Borsos, and lawyer Jonathan Siegel spoke of decertification attempts in other locals, using the examples to tell the board how they could decertify SEIU-UHW without saying so directly.
On January 28, 2009, the day after the trusteeship, Rosselli and about 30 staff and executive board members were all told at the Oakland Marriott that they were fired. Attorney Jonathan Siegel told the staff how to write up their resignation letters so that they would be able to draw their unemployment. Rosselli announced that they were going to start a new beginning and called it the NUHW (the NEW UHW). There was no talk of challenging the trusteeship and Rosselli stated that they had done nothing wrong.
Witness Eliseo Medina testified that he was sent out to California after the International Executive Board’s decision to create on long term care local in California. He was to meet with the 3 locals that had long term care in them (521, 6434 and UHW) and get the information needed to start the move to a new local. He received information from 521 and 6434. The meeting on January 15, 2009 with John Vellardita, Long Term Care Director from UHW, was a very hostile and UHW did not provide the required information.
Rasheda Anthony testified about the break in at the temporary office in Alameda. A group of workers lead by Vellardita, Gabe Kristal and Glenn Goldstein were outside chanting let us in. They managed to obtain entry in to the building where a security guard was put down on the floor. When Rasheda saw him he was in a fetal position trying to protect his head while being kicked. Rasheda stated that Goldstein tried to grab papers out of her hand and Kristal come up from behind her and pushed her over a table while she was fighting to protect confidential materials. This material had staff’s names, phone numbers, and hotel information. When the group left they were chanting “we’ll be back.” Rasheda was scared, confused and shaken by what had happened. There were also threatening fliers put under the hotel room doors after this event.
Jerry Bullock, owner of Bullock and Associates, was the security company that was hired by SEIU to help with the trusteeship. He also stated other events that created the need for increased security.
The defense had started the cross examination before we ended for the week. Not once have they tried to say that he was wrong!!
So I’d like to hear you feed back. How are you feeling about the trial? I’ll be waiting!!! Talk to everyone soon.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Day 4 of the NUHW Civil Trial
March 25, 2010 was Day 4 of the civil trial against our former union officials Sal Rosselli, John Borsos, John Vellardita and others.
We resumed today with the cross examination of Myriam Escamilla, who heads up our union’s Nursing Home Division, by defense attorney Dan Siegel. Mr. Siegel did his best to confuse her. She stood her ground.
Myriam’s testimony and a document trail showed that secret meetings were held beginning in 2007, and there were two tracks they were on:
This group of top leaders had orders from Rosselli and Vellardita that these meeting were to be kept secret.
Jennifer Castro, AA for the Home Care Division in Oakland, told about Steward Council meetings which also had activists invited. She explained how members were asked to fill out yellow cards so defendants could create lists of leaders and activists. She spoke about “mega-meetings” where staff were told to turn out hundreds of people.
A video was showed of Elizabeth Ortiz at the Sacramento “mega-meeting” telling members to get the yellow cards filled out. She was having it told in every language. Ms. Castro stated that she had left the Sacramento event when she received a call from Ortiz telling her to bring the cards back and give them to Marti Garza. She never saw the cards again, and she was told by Ortiz that she and Garza would be entering it into the union data base. Ms. Castro said the information was never entered.
Mr. Leon Chow, who is a director in the UHW Homecare Division, started his testimony today shortly before the end of court today.
Today was a very solemn day. I hope to have a better spirit in writing to you tomorrow. Please give me your feedback.
We resumed today with the cross examination of Myriam Escamilla, who heads up our union’s Nursing Home Division, by defense attorney Dan Siegel. Mr. Siegel did his best to confuse her. She stood her ground.
Myriam’s testimony and a document trail showed that secret meetings were held beginning in 2007, and there were two tracks they were on:
- One was work to with coalition and the press to get their support behind Sal Rosselli and the fight against SEIU.
- Two was to make sure they were able financially fight against trusteeship.
This group of top leaders had orders from Rosselli and Vellardita that these meeting were to be kept secret.
Jennifer Castro, AA for the Home Care Division in Oakland, told about Steward Council meetings which also had activists invited. She explained how members were asked to fill out yellow cards so defendants could create lists of leaders and activists. She spoke about “mega-meetings” where staff were told to turn out hundreds of people.
A video was showed of Elizabeth Ortiz at the Sacramento “mega-meeting” telling members to get the yellow cards filled out. She was having it told in every language. Ms. Castro stated that she had left the Sacramento event when she received a call from Ortiz telling her to bring the cards back and give them to Marti Garza. She never saw the cards again, and she was told by Ortiz that she and Garza would be entering it into the union data base. Ms. Castro said the information was never entered.
Mr. Leon Chow, who is a director in the UHW Homecare Division, started his testimony today shortly before the end of court today.
Today was a very solemn day. I hope to have a better spirit in writing to you tomorrow. Please give me your feedback.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Day 3 of the NUHW Civil Trial
Day 3 of the NUHW Civil Trial:
To start the day off, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup addressed some issues that we had with Mr. Dan Siegel, the lawyer for the defendants. There was concern that Mr. Siegel was violating some of the ground rules that had been set prior to the start of the trial. Ultimately, the judge reminded both sides That he was to keep his case inside the scope of the trial. Mr. Siegel was not to talk about differences of opinion between Andy Stern and Sal as this is not the issue.
Oriana Saportas testified about Santa Rosa organizing. She said after the trusteeship was announced Peter Tappeiner told her to copy files off the UHW computer system, go to Kinko’s and make copies of organizing lists, and purchase 4 boxes of copy paper and to charge it to the SEIU-UHW account. The lists were names, address, phone numbers, e-mails address and what level of support the person had for supporting the organizing.
Denny Henriques from Sutter Delta testified how he was he was told NOT to engage with SEIU and to start collecting decertification cards. He collected cards and returned them to Sue Finley, he testified. Jennie Edney from Kaiser Vallejo testified to the same situation – that she collected cards after the trusteeship and using UHW lists but then turned her collected cards in to Ralph Cornejo.
Mary Kay Henry, SEIU International executive vice president, was on the stand and was walked through the timeline of the events leading up to the trusteeship. In the International Constitution and By-Laws there is a 7 member rule. Mr. Siegel wanted to know if she thought it was fair that 7 out of 150,000 members could stop a disaffiliation vote, and wasn’t that anti-democratic. Mr. Siegel thought that was a pretty good point until UHW attorney Gary Kohlman pointed out to the jury that the same rule was in the UHW Constitution and By-Laws that the local wrote under Rosselli.
Myriam Escamilla, current UHW Nursing Home Division director, was our final witness for today and she had the fireworks going off. She talked about a select group which had e-mails from Michael Krivosh about how they had time frames to have certain things done by. This included having the data base stored elsewhere and finding funding for after the trusteeship (the so-called Patient Education Fund with $3 million of our dues money). They were told to set up personal e-mail addresses and to forward their UHW emails there and to give those addresses to Mr. Krivosh.
So tomorrow Myriam will be cross examined by Mr. Siegel. So be sure and check back to see how the fireworks are going. Let me hear your feedback and questions.
To start the day off, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup addressed some issues that we had with Mr. Dan Siegel, the lawyer for the defendants. There was concern that Mr. Siegel was violating some of the ground rules that had been set prior to the start of the trial. Ultimately, the judge reminded both sides That he was to keep his case inside the scope of the trial. Mr. Siegel was not to talk about differences of opinion between Andy Stern and Sal as this is not the issue.
Oriana Saportas testified about Santa Rosa organizing. She said after the trusteeship was announced Peter Tappeiner told her to copy files off the UHW computer system, go to Kinko’s and make copies of organizing lists, and purchase 4 boxes of copy paper and to charge it to the SEIU-UHW account. The lists were names, address, phone numbers, e-mails address and what level of support the person had for supporting the organizing.
Denny Henriques from Sutter Delta testified how he was he was told NOT to engage with SEIU and to start collecting decertification cards. He collected cards and returned them to Sue Finley, he testified. Jennie Edney from Kaiser Vallejo testified to the same situation – that she collected cards after the trusteeship and using UHW lists but then turned her collected cards in to Ralph Cornejo.
Mary Kay Henry, SEIU International executive vice president, was on the stand and was walked through the timeline of the events leading up to the trusteeship. In the International Constitution and By-Laws there is a 7 member rule. Mr. Siegel wanted to know if she thought it was fair that 7 out of 150,000 members could stop a disaffiliation vote, and wasn’t that anti-democratic. Mr. Siegel thought that was a pretty good point until UHW attorney Gary Kohlman pointed out to the jury that the same rule was in the UHW Constitution and By-Laws that the local wrote under Rosselli.
Myriam Escamilla, current UHW Nursing Home Division director, was our final witness for today and she had the fireworks going off. She talked about a select group which had e-mails from Michael Krivosh about how they had time frames to have certain things done by. This included having the data base stored elsewhere and finding funding for after the trusteeship (the so-called Patient Education Fund with $3 million of our dues money). They were told to set up personal e-mail addresses and to forward their UHW emails there and to give those addresses to Mr. Krivosh.
So tomorrow Myriam will be cross examined by Mr. Siegel. So be sure and check back to see how the fireworks are going. Let me hear your feedback and questions.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Opening statements at trial
It's time for the game faces to come on in the trial over SEIU's lawsuit against Sal Rosselli and the other former officials of our union!
Opening statements began with our attorney, Gary Kohlman. Let me tell you they were great. They showed timelines when the old leadership started defying not only our Constitution and By-laws but also the International Constitution and By-laws. The following items are what our attorneys are going to prove at this trial.
1. While being paid their salaries from UHW they were working on their own agenda to start their own Union and used UHW resourced to get it done. During the trail today there was a statement about the Colcord Case in 2006 in which Dan Martin said in a deposition: "You'd have to be an idiot to believe you could start a new union is one day".
2. To gain advantage over our Union they removed documents, member lists (our personal information like addresses, phone numbers and our place of employment), files of member issues and grievances. They were sabotaging our union and leaving it unmanageable. As witness Nancy Herrera-Barett stated on the stand, she heard Jason Johnson telling someone to clean out the office right down to the paper clips. Which included a computer and printer.
So when the defense attorney, Dan Siegel was presenting their opening statement it was a circus. Judge Alsup had already ruled that this was NOT ABOUT THE TRUSTEESHIP. Mr. Siegel could not stay on track, he talked about everything but the real issues.
So stay tuned it's just begun. Let me hear what you have to say.
Bye for now.
Opening statements began with our attorney, Gary Kohlman. Let me tell you they were great. They showed timelines when the old leadership started defying not only our Constitution and By-laws but also the International Constitution and By-laws. The following items are what our attorneys are going to prove at this trial.
1. While being paid their salaries from UHW they were working on their own agenda to start their own Union and used UHW resourced to get it done. During the trail today there was a statement about the Colcord Case in 2006 in which Dan Martin said in a deposition: "You'd have to be an idiot to believe you could start a new union is one day".
2. To gain advantage over our Union they removed documents, member lists (our personal information like addresses, phone numbers and our place of employment), files of member issues and grievances. They were sabotaging our union and leaving it unmanageable. As witness Nancy Herrera-Barett stated on the stand, she heard Jason Johnson telling someone to clean out the office right down to the paper clips. Which included a computer and printer.
So when the defense attorney, Dan Siegel was presenting their opening statement it was a circus. Judge Alsup had already ruled that this was NOT ABOUT THE TRUSTEESHIP. Mr. Siegel could not stay on track, he talked about everything but the real issues.
So stay tuned it's just begun. Let me hear what you have to say.
Bye for now.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Jury selected in trial
SEIU-UHW was in court today to begin the Civil Trial against our union’s old leadership. I must say that the tension was not as bad as I had expected.
Today was about the jury selection. The jury is composed of 10 people, 9 men and 1 woman. Opening statements will begin tomorrow morning. The trial is expected to last for two weeks. The verdict is not as a whole group, but there will be a verdict for each defendant named in the civil suit.
Get ready as tomorrow we will be off and running to get the information back to you from the courtroom. Can’t wait to hear from you so stay in touch.
Today was about the jury selection. The jury is composed of 10 people, 9 men and 1 woman. Opening statements will begin tomorrow morning. The trial is expected to last for two weeks. The verdict is not as a whole group, but there will be a verdict for each defendant named in the civil suit.
Get ready as tomorrow we will be off and running to get the information back to you from the courtroom. Can’t wait to hear from you so stay in touch.
Friday, March 19, 2010
I have my eye on justice
Hi, I’m Mary a homecare worker in Contra Costa County. The civil trail against our old leadership will begin on Monday March 22. I’m proud to be one of the trial reporters.
I am looking forward to letting SEIU-UHW members and the public know what is happening in the court room. As a home care worker we have had to fight not only the old leadership but at the county and state level. Let’s learn what they will have to say about destroying property that belonged to OUR UNION, taking our personal information. It should be a very interesting time. So be sure to check the blog and give us your feed back. Talk to you soon…..
I am looking forward to letting SEIU-UHW members and the public know what is happening in the court room. As a home care worker we have had to fight not only the old leadership but at the county and state level. Let’s learn what they will have to say about destroying property that belonged to OUR UNION, taking our personal information. It should be a very interesting time. So be sure to check the blog and give us your feed back. Talk to you soon…..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)