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.
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Mary, do you realize that resisting a trusteeship is absolutly legal.Our members asked the ELECTED leaders of our union to do this.That does not mean that this is always pretty but it was legal. The reason it was easy to form a new union so fast is because the MEMBERS asked for this and were already on board to get out of SEIU.
ReplyDeleteDon't you find it a bit unusual that many of the staff that originally were with the resistance are still working for SEIU in well paid positions. If SEIU thought they were criminals and traitors why did they keep them on and in some cases even promote them? Could it be that these people decided at the last minute that their paycheck was more important than doing the members will and live with the financial hardships of that. Maybe you should rethimk what integrity and principled behavior REALLY looks like.
My name is Denny Henriques and I’m a respiratory therapist at Sutter Delta Medical Center. I’ve been in the courtroom watching the trial since it began. You might want to see this article that came out today on BeyondChron: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=7959#more
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure which courtroom Mr. Finamore was sitting in last week, but I am reasonably sure that it is not the same one which I was in. In my courtroom, the defendants’ attorneys were being admonished to stay on task and stop trying to justify the reasons their clients were “noble” in their attempt to misappropriate members’ dues money. Let’s not forget that the education fund, used extensively to fund NUHW’s activities, was not built to supply Roselli and friends with laptops and cell phones – as was revealed by email correspondence from as early as 2007. Somewhere along the line I think Mr. Finamore missed Eliseo Medina’s testimony, particularly the statement that he’d “been around for 44 years, and I can tell you that you don’t form a new union in 24 hours.” Mr. Medina was referencing Roselli & Co.’s unlawful planning of NUHW’s formation, using dues money belonging to UHW members. Not only did NUHW steal our dues money by subverting our education fund, they went as far as to steal our membership files, ultimately hurting union members in their contract negotiations and grievances. Usually when information website, rather than a biased and misinformed website.a store opens up across from another store, they don’t start out by raiding their competitor’s merchandise. I would hope that BeyondChron would continue to create an
The "members" of NUHW did not vote to leave UHW and SEIU. Various stewards in CA counties were asked to sign a letter stating that they want to leave, that these stewards represented other members. This was the "survey" NUHW claimed to take. Two stewards were in Sonoma County. I know because I was one of them. Meeint with a rep at Starbucks in Sebastopol, I signed the letter, and he told me the game. Then the leaders of NUHW announced that through a democratic election, UHW members want a new union. There was no democratic election amongst members to leave SEIU UHW.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, marymagdalenforpresident (Karen Timmons, Sonoma County (IHSS) homecare worker and one time NUHW supporter) we were told: "There was no democratic election amongst members to leave SEIU UHW." Our job as homecare workers is to be pushed into Local 6434, where 99% of their members make less than we do. If you understand that $11.50 an hour is less that $9.00 an hour can you see why we wanted to get out of UHW before they forced us into this ghetto local?
ReplyDeleteSEIU is a violent organization run by thugs, criminals and embezzelers, and we have seen this clearly in their attempts to terrorize the workers at Kaiser Sunset into staying with SEIU, workers, that for the most part, want to join the NUHW.
ReplyDelete