April 6, 2010, Day 12 of the Civil Trial of Sal Rosselli, John Borsos, John Vellardita, Glenn Goldstein, NUHW and others.
Closing agreements start the day off. Each side is allowed 2 hours.
Gary Kohlman addresses the jury in a very soft and pleasant voice. It’s about rules and consequences.
He reminds the jury of what these defendants are on trail for. And what they are accused of, removing property that belonged to UHW, sabotaging the union and the trusteeship, and creating a new union while still on the payroll for UHW.
Kohlman goes through the emails and documents that have been placed in evidence. He shows the jury where the evidence is that the defendants have done wrong.
He goes back to the plan that Barbara Lewis had made up, where she said she wanted to make the union “ungovernable,” and shows the emails to various defendants where many of those items were implemented. He shows charts from 2007 showing the early planning of the conspiracy with tasks to be completed and by who and when.
He reminded the jury that a NUHW staff list had been retrieved from Fred Seavey’s computer and was dated January 21, 2009, six days before the trusteeship.
Kohlman breaks down when each defendant comes in to the conspiracy.
Early conspiracy 2007: John Borsos, Glenn Goldstein, Mary Ruth Gross, Michael Krivosh, Daniel Martin, Sal Rosselli, Fred Seavey, John Vellardita, Paul Kumar, and Laura Kurre.
Spring 2008 Frenzy: Jorge Rodriguez, Phyllis Willett, Joan Emslie, Andrew Reid, and Emily Gordon added to the list.
Fall of 2008: Barbara Lewis, Gabe Kristal and Marti Garza added to the list
Creation of NUHW: Ralph Cornejo, Gail Buhler, Mark Kipfer, Freja Nelson, and Peter Tappeiner added to the list.
Ungovernable memo Implemented: Jason Johnson and Ian Selden added to the list.
Closing for the defense was Dan Siegel. He told the jury that the burden of proof was on the plaintiff for each defendant. He talked about how he wanted Andy Stein to be here. How if we were claiming that the union was left dysfunctional then who better to testify to that than Dave Regan. Why wasn’t he called to testify?
What he didn’t say was that he and the defense could have called those people himself!
Siegel showed E-board minutes from several board meetings and how various resolution were approved by the board.
EXCUSE ME BUT WHO RAN THE E-BOARD MEMBERS??
I DO BELIEVE THE E-BOARD AT THE END WERE JUST THE RUBBER STAMP FOR SAL ROSSELLI……
The rebuttal by Mr. Kohlman was much different than his closing statements. He was much louder and I must say the jury was a little surprised.
I watched the jurors more today. During Mr. Kohlman’s statements, they were taking notes and seemed to ready be in tune with what he was saying. When Mr. Siegel was speaking they only seemed to be writing down the exhibit numbers of various documents.
So the jury received their instructions before being escorted out to start their deliberation at 1:56. They will deliberate from 8 to 3 each day until they have reached a verdict on all the defendants.
So keep you eyes and ears open. We are now in stand-by mode until the jurors come back with their verdict.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Day 11 and the defense rests
April 5, 2010, Day 11 of the civil trial against Sal Rosselli, NUHW and others.
We resumed with cross examination of Barbara Lewis. A document was shown to her that listed the Kinko’s that they could use after the trusteeship. A receipt dated January 28, 2009 showed an amount of $41,871.71 paid to Kinko’s for decertification petitions. While testifying on the stand she stated it a trusteeship is a “sad moment.” Then there was a video clip shown where she is telling the members “it’s a great day for our union.” On an email from Barbara Lewis dated January 22, 2009 she advised everyone they were on 24-hour alert. They were to keep phones on them at all time and wouldn’t be getting any sleep. We are in code “Orange.”
Ok so which one was it – sad or happy? This is so much like all the defense case has been.
Witness John Borsos. As with so many others he couldn’t remember attending key meetings. He said it’s hard to remember because sometimes meetings would be scheduled and they would sometimes be canceled.
I had to cough and had to step out of the court room. But I was watching through the window when Judge Alsup went off on Borsos for something he was doing. Sorry I missed that one!!!!!
The final witness for the defense was Eloise Reese-Burns. She is a worker at North American Long Term care facility. She is a NUHW supporter and stated that she knew about the contract extensions being canceled.
Defense rest….
In our rebuttal, they played a video clip of Elizabeth Ortega’s deposition where she admitted that she told Jennifer Castro to return to Sacramento and leave yellow cards and sign in sheets with Marti Garza.
Tomorrow we will hear closing arguments. Then Judge Alsup will give the jury their instructions. We will then be on stand-by until the jury delivers the verdict for all 26 defendets.
Stay tuned and be sure and give us your comments on the blog.
We resumed with cross examination of Barbara Lewis. A document was shown to her that listed the Kinko’s that they could use after the trusteeship. A receipt dated January 28, 2009 showed an amount of $41,871.71 paid to Kinko’s for decertification petitions. While testifying on the stand she stated it a trusteeship is a “sad moment.” Then there was a video clip shown where she is telling the members “it’s a great day for our union.” On an email from Barbara Lewis dated January 22, 2009 she advised everyone they were on 24-hour alert. They were to keep phones on them at all time and wouldn’t be getting any sleep. We are in code “Orange.”
Ok so which one was it – sad or happy? This is so much like all the defense case has been.
Witness John Borsos. As with so many others he couldn’t remember attending key meetings. He said it’s hard to remember because sometimes meetings would be scheduled and they would sometimes be canceled.
I had to cough and had to step out of the court room. But I was watching through the window when Judge Alsup went off on Borsos for something he was doing. Sorry I missed that one!!!!!
The final witness for the defense was Eloise Reese-Burns. She is a worker at North American Long Term care facility. She is a NUHW supporter and stated that she knew about the contract extensions being canceled.
Defense rest….
In our rebuttal, they played a video clip of Elizabeth Ortega’s deposition where she admitted that she told Jennifer Castro to return to Sacramento and leave yellow cards and sign in sheets with Marti Garza.
Tomorrow we will hear closing arguments. Then Judge Alsup will give the jury their instructions. We will then be on stand-by until the jury delivers the verdict for all 26 defendets.
Stay tuned and be sure and give us your comments on the blog.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day 10: 11 Defense Witnesses, But Still No Defense
April 2, 2010 Day 10 of Civil Trial against Sal Rosselli, Joan Emslie, John Vellardita, Ralph Cornejo, NUHW and others.
Where’s the defense case? I still haven’t seen much. The defense goes into every defendant who takes the stand about where they worked in the labor movement, where they were working on January 27, 2009 when the trusteeship happened, and where they are working now. We already know that they were all working for SEIU-UHW and they are working for NUHW now.
We started off with Joan Emslie on the stand. Defense attorney Siegel show her several E-board minutes and confirmed that yes they are the minutes of the E-board. She confirmed the resolution by the E-board for the PEF (Patient Education Fund.) She confirmed the notice from the IRS for the tax exempt status of the PEF. She confirmed the resolution for closing down the PEF. Then they showed the schedule of the expenses for the PEF. The total expenses were $121,825.42. On cross examination she testified that she was on the Board of the PEF, UHW secretary and treasurer and was now the NUHW secretary and treasurer. Edward Garvey was the media consultant for the PEF and was paid $28,259.80 for what he understood to be work fighting Andy Stern, not educating patients. There was a dispute between Garvey and the PEF.
The defense put 11 witnesses today. Per an agreement with the defense we were able to put Richard Rubio-Bowley on the stand. Because he is still in the hospital they showed an 8-minute video from his deposition to the jury. In his deposition, done on May 5, 2009, he stated that after dropping his daughter off in front of his house he then went around the corner to the side street to park as there was no parking in front of his home. When he got out of the car, he saw 2 men standing at the corner but didn’t know who they were. Then John Vellardita pulled up from the wrong side of the street next to Richard’s car. The 2 men from the corner, Gabe Kristal and Mario Santos, had also come down to where he was. Richard stated that he felt threatened.
Witness #2 John Vellardita took the stand next. He stated that about 100 long-term care contracts were up in 2008 and they had completed 40 new contracts by the end of the year. He said that in January 2009 there were still 60 open contracts, 30 of which were tied up with other issues. Vellardita testified that he told Mark Kipfer to terminate 30 contracts extensions so that the other homes get the message. But it’s obvious they were terminated to NUHW could come back and decertify them
He said the he had heard that Richard Rubio-Bowley had been to the Winslow bargaining and that they (John Vellardita, Mario Santos, and Gabe Kristal) had just innocently gone by his house to talk with him. John stated that he had been at the break-in at the Alameda SEIU office on January 20, 2009 (as Beverley Griffin has testified yesterday). Vellardita testified that “coincidentally” both he and Gabe Kristal had reported that their laptops were stolen on January 21, 2009.
He agreed that he had sent out an email asking the secret group (Shakers and Makers) to get and use personal emails, the reasoning for this was because SEIU had placed 2 monitors in UHW and that the group didn’t want them to know what they were doing. Exactly.
Witness #3 Gloria Watkins, and witness #4 Jonathan Weitz had nothing much to talk about.
Witness #5 Ralph Cornejo on cross examination had to admit to having an office set up for the PEF inside his home. He stated that there was a set up for two phone lines and a line for a computer, but that equipment was never installed, even though earlier testimony showed that phones were put in. On January 27, 2009 there was an email sent out to Kaiser to activate their phone lists to resist the trusteeship. On January 27, 2009 he obtained a 4,000-pagae list of Kaiser members with their personal information.
Witness #6 Paul Kumar, former UHW director of government affairs. The defense showed activity reports from December 2008 through January 2009 to where he hadn’t listed any of the secret meeting on them. EXCUSE ME BUT WOULD YOU LIST SECRET MEETINGS ON YOUR ACTIVITY REPORT????? He admitted that a draft scrip to Long-Term care workers was written by him for the automated, pre-recorded call to go out after the trusteeship. Nursing home worker Ruby Guzman said in “robo” call to reject SEIU and throw Stern out.
Witness #7 Emily Ryan testified that she was at the Oakland union hall on January 27, 2009 and had spent 3 nights there. When asked why she stayed she stated they had stayed to morn the lose of their union and that they wouldn’t leave unless there was a court order making them.
Witness #8 Marti Garza talked about the yellow cards that were gathered at the January 24, 2009 mega meeting. He stated that he looked at them and that he assumed Jennifer Castro had taken them back to the Oakland office to enter them. He denied that Castro was ordered back to Sacramento to hand off the cards, which were never seen again, according to earlier testimony.
Witness #9 Michael Krivosh, organizer, was asked by Glenn Goldstein to attend a meeting on April 15, 2007 to help figure out a plan to keep long-term care workers in the UHW. Michael testified about a draft of goals in an email attachment with agenda. In the meeting was John Vellardita, Glenn Goldstein, Myriam Escamilla and him. Another email with revised notes, email from Sal Rosselli to meet in the office on Friday at 4 pm. At the all-staff meeting on May 11 & 12, 2007 trusteeship did arise. All these emails about protecting UHW assets and planning a legal defense strategy, strategy for Long Term Care, charts to make decisions by a certain date, what prep to do for possible trusteeship…the list just keeps going. Everything he admits to doing. He said yes that he was at the LA office and handed the members who were staying there the deed to the building, then stood at the gate in the evening there at the LA office.
Witness # 11 Barbara Lewis, talked about a memo that had been retrieved from a flash drive that she had turned back to UHW. She stated it was just her thoughts and she had never done anything with it. But on fliers and emails that she was questioned about everything kept going back to this memo. The memo was the structure and when you look at the emails and events everything in the structure was played out.
Ok can’t wait to hear from you. I will be back in the court room on Monday.
Where’s the defense case? I still haven’t seen much. The defense goes into every defendant who takes the stand about where they worked in the labor movement, where they were working on January 27, 2009 when the trusteeship happened, and where they are working now. We already know that they were all working for SEIU-UHW and they are working for NUHW now.
We started off with Joan Emslie on the stand. Defense attorney Siegel show her several E-board minutes and confirmed that yes they are the minutes of the E-board. She confirmed the resolution by the E-board for the PEF (Patient Education Fund.) She confirmed the notice from the IRS for the tax exempt status of the PEF. She confirmed the resolution for closing down the PEF. Then they showed the schedule of the expenses for the PEF. The total expenses were $121,825.42. On cross examination she testified that she was on the Board of the PEF, UHW secretary and treasurer and was now the NUHW secretary and treasurer. Edward Garvey was the media consultant for the PEF and was paid $28,259.80 for what he understood to be work fighting Andy Stern, not educating patients. There was a dispute between Garvey and the PEF.
The defense put 11 witnesses today. Per an agreement with the defense we were able to put Richard Rubio-Bowley on the stand. Because he is still in the hospital they showed an 8-minute video from his deposition to the jury. In his deposition, done on May 5, 2009, he stated that after dropping his daughter off in front of his house he then went around the corner to the side street to park as there was no parking in front of his home. When he got out of the car, he saw 2 men standing at the corner but didn’t know who they were. Then John Vellardita pulled up from the wrong side of the street next to Richard’s car. The 2 men from the corner, Gabe Kristal and Mario Santos, had also come down to where he was. Richard stated that he felt threatened.
Witness #2 John Vellardita took the stand next. He stated that about 100 long-term care contracts were up in 2008 and they had completed 40 new contracts by the end of the year. He said that in January 2009 there were still 60 open contracts, 30 of which were tied up with other issues. Vellardita testified that he told Mark Kipfer to terminate 30 contracts extensions so that the other homes get the message. But it’s obvious they were terminated to NUHW could come back and decertify them
He said the he had heard that Richard Rubio-Bowley had been to the Winslow bargaining and that they (John Vellardita, Mario Santos, and Gabe Kristal) had just innocently gone by his house to talk with him. John stated that he had been at the break-in at the Alameda SEIU office on January 20, 2009 (as Beverley Griffin has testified yesterday). Vellardita testified that “coincidentally” both he and Gabe Kristal had reported that their laptops were stolen on January 21, 2009.
He agreed that he had sent out an email asking the secret group (Shakers and Makers) to get and use personal emails, the reasoning for this was because SEIU had placed 2 monitors in UHW and that the group didn’t want them to know what they were doing. Exactly.
Witness #3 Gloria Watkins, and witness #4 Jonathan Weitz had nothing much to talk about.
Witness #5 Ralph Cornejo on cross examination had to admit to having an office set up for the PEF inside his home. He stated that there was a set up for two phone lines and a line for a computer, but that equipment was never installed, even though earlier testimony showed that phones were put in. On January 27, 2009 there was an email sent out to Kaiser to activate their phone lists to resist the trusteeship. On January 27, 2009 he obtained a 4,000-pagae list of Kaiser members with their personal information.
Witness #6 Paul Kumar, former UHW director of government affairs. The defense showed activity reports from December 2008 through January 2009 to where he hadn’t listed any of the secret meeting on them. EXCUSE ME BUT WOULD YOU LIST SECRET MEETINGS ON YOUR ACTIVITY REPORT????? He admitted that a draft scrip to Long-Term care workers was written by him for the automated, pre-recorded call to go out after the trusteeship. Nursing home worker Ruby Guzman said in “robo” call to reject SEIU and throw Stern out.
Witness #7 Emily Ryan testified that she was at the Oakland union hall on January 27, 2009 and had spent 3 nights there. When asked why she stayed she stated they had stayed to morn the lose of their union and that they wouldn’t leave unless there was a court order making them.
Witness #8 Marti Garza talked about the yellow cards that were gathered at the January 24, 2009 mega meeting. He stated that he looked at them and that he assumed Jennifer Castro had taken them back to the Oakland office to enter them. He denied that Castro was ordered back to Sacramento to hand off the cards, which were never seen again, according to earlier testimony.
Witness #9 Michael Krivosh, organizer, was asked by Glenn Goldstein to attend a meeting on April 15, 2007 to help figure out a plan to keep long-term care workers in the UHW. Michael testified about a draft of goals in an email attachment with agenda. In the meeting was John Vellardita, Glenn Goldstein, Myriam Escamilla and him. Another email with revised notes, email from Sal Rosselli to meet in the office on Friday at 4 pm. At the all-staff meeting on May 11 & 12, 2007 trusteeship did arise. All these emails about protecting UHW assets and planning a legal defense strategy, strategy for Long Term Care, charts to make decisions by a certain date, what prep to do for possible trusteeship…the list just keeps going. Everything he admits to doing. He said yes that he was at the LA office and handed the members who were staying there the deed to the building, then stood at the gate in the evening there at the LA office.
Witness # 11 Barbara Lewis, talked about a memo that had been retrieved from a flash drive that she had turned back to UHW. She stated it was just her thoughts and she had never done anything with it. But on fliers and emails that she was questioned about everything kept going back to this memo. The memo was the structure and when you look at the emails and events everything in the structure was played out.
Ok can’t wait to hear from you. I will be back in the court room on Monday.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Day 9 of NUHW trial: Where Is the Defense Case?
April 1, 2010, Day 9 of the Civil Trial of NUHW, Sal Rosselli, Joan Emslie, Daniel Martin, Andrew Reid and others.
WHERE IS THE DEFENSE CASE?
Cross examination of Sal Rosselli continued today. They showed the ending of a video that only part of was shown to the jury yesterday. In it, Sal’s comment was now it’s time for the next steps. Then we saw a video of the mega-meeting on January 24, 2009. John Borsos is speaking to members and telling them they can stop paying dues, can stop paying into the union’s COPE political action fund, and possibly form a new union if the trusteeship happened.
As always Sal wants to do his speeches and the judge had to remind him to answer the questions. He is good at saying “I don’t recall, can you repeat the question,” etc. He never seems to be able to answer a direct question with a simple yes or no. I wonder why???
On February 5, 2008, Sal acknowledged that $2 million was transferred from UHW to the PEF (patent education fund). A document was shown to him of the money transfer and Kohlman asked if it was true that he didn’t consult with anyone else before this transfer. Sal at first said he wasn’t sure, then admitted to consulting with Jorge Rodriguez and Joan Emslie. They began looking for office spaces, setting up legal assistance, paying staff and also phones for staff on February 21, 2008. Sal was asked about an email from Dan Martin, called special project update. The memo said three sites had been found in the north and they were working on L.A. sites. They were buying Blackberries. A computer was set up at Dan Martin’s home by an outside consultant and was set up without UHW’s IT department knowing about it.
The office sites that they had obtained prior to the trusteeship became NUHW offices on January 28, 2009. An email from Jorge Rodriguez to Sal dated April 16, 2009 was entered in to evidence. It had an attachment with a list of more than 20,000 Kaiser members. Sal claimed he never opened the email and told Jorge that they couldn’t have that and forwarded it to the international. (???).
When asked his problem remembering emails and documents with his name on them, he said he gets hundreds of email a day, and has meetings scheduled every 15 minutes with staff in the offices so he can’t remember. He said there was lots of email he didn’t personally read and many times on letters an electronic signature was used so he might not see them before they go out. He implied that he didn’t know everything that was going on. I got the impression that he was trying to take the blame off of himself and put the blame on Jorge Rodriguez and Dan Martin on several issues. Can’t wait to hear what they have to say when they take the stand.
Witness #2, Jonathan Siegel, an attorney for NUHW who was hired by Sal and staff while they were still employed by UHW. Yes, he is the brother of the defense attorney Dan Siegel. After the testimony today by Jonathan, he was either lied to about everything or he just played DUMB. He did transfer back to UHW the $200,000 that was left in him trust account. I guess that makes sense since the money didn’t belong to him.
Witness #3 Andrew Reid said he was asked by leaders to see if his co-workers would be willing to stay at night in the offices back in March 2008 so that SEIU couldn’t enter the offices. (Excuse me didn’t Sal say they weren’t concerned back in the early part of 2008)? There was an email telling ABC Security not to let SEIU representatives in the buildings.
Witness #6 Beverly Griffith, said she became an employee of NUHW as of today. But in federal reporting forms she is listed as an NUHW employees and earned $10,000 in 2009. Hmmm. She testified she was a leader of 50-60 people who broke in at the Alameda SEIU office. The security guard told them they could not enter but they pushed their way in and knocked the security guard to the ground. She first said they were there 5-10 minutes then later said 10-15 minutes. She testified that Glenn Goldstein and Gabe Kristal were present, but she doesn’t remember if John Vellardita was there.
Witness #7 Joan Emslie took the stand just before stopping for the day. So we’ll hear more from her tomorrow.
Don’t forget to give me your comments. See you tomorrow.
WHERE IS THE DEFENSE CASE?
Cross examination of Sal Rosselli continued today. They showed the ending of a video that only part of was shown to the jury yesterday. In it, Sal’s comment was now it’s time for the next steps. Then we saw a video of the mega-meeting on January 24, 2009. John Borsos is speaking to members and telling them they can stop paying dues, can stop paying into the union’s COPE political action fund, and possibly form a new union if the trusteeship happened.
As always Sal wants to do his speeches and the judge had to remind him to answer the questions. He is good at saying “I don’t recall, can you repeat the question,” etc. He never seems to be able to answer a direct question with a simple yes or no. I wonder why???
On February 5, 2008, Sal acknowledged that $2 million was transferred from UHW to the PEF (patent education fund). A document was shown to him of the money transfer and Kohlman asked if it was true that he didn’t consult with anyone else before this transfer. Sal at first said he wasn’t sure, then admitted to consulting with Jorge Rodriguez and Joan Emslie. They began looking for office spaces, setting up legal assistance, paying staff and also phones for staff on February 21, 2008. Sal was asked about an email from Dan Martin, called special project update. The memo said three sites had been found in the north and they were working on L.A. sites. They were buying Blackberries. A computer was set up at Dan Martin’s home by an outside consultant and was set up without UHW’s IT department knowing about it.
The office sites that they had obtained prior to the trusteeship became NUHW offices on January 28, 2009. An email from Jorge Rodriguez to Sal dated April 16, 2009 was entered in to evidence. It had an attachment with a list of more than 20,000 Kaiser members. Sal claimed he never opened the email and told Jorge that they couldn’t have that and forwarded it to the international. (???).
When asked his problem remembering emails and documents with his name on them, he said he gets hundreds of email a day, and has meetings scheduled every 15 minutes with staff in the offices so he can’t remember. He said there was lots of email he didn’t personally read and many times on letters an electronic signature was used so he might not see them before they go out. He implied that he didn’t know everything that was going on. I got the impression that he was trying to take the blame off of himself and put the blame on Jorge Rodriguez and Dan Martin on several issues. Can’t wait to hear what they have to say when they take the stand.
Witness #2, Jonathan Siegel, an attorney for NUHW who was hired by Sal and staff while they were still employed by UHW. Yes, he is the brother of the defense attorney Dan Siegel. After the testimony today by Jonathan, he was either lied to about everything or he just played DUMB. He did transfer back to UHW the $200,000 that was left in him trust account. I guess that makes sense since the money didn’t belong to him.
Witness #3 Andrew Reid said he was asked by leaders to see if his co-workers would be willing to stay at night in the offices back in March 2008 so that SEIU couldn’t enter the offices. (Excuse me didn’t Sal say they weren’t concerned back in the early part of 2008)? There was an email telling ABC Security not to let SEIU representatives in the buildings.
Witness #6 Beverly Griffith, said she became an employee of NUHW as of today. But in federal reporting forms she is listed as an NUHW employees and earned $10,000 in 2009. Hmmm. She testified she was a leader of 50-60 people who broke in at the Alameda SEIU office. The security guard told them they could not enter but they pushed their way in and knocked the security guard to the ground. She first said they were there 5-10 minutes then later said 10-15 minutes. She testified that Glenn Goldstein and Gabe Kristal were present, but she doesn’t remember if John Vellardita was there.
Witness #7 Joan Emslie took the stand just before stopping for the day. So we’ll hear more from her tomorrow.
Don’t forget to give me your comments. See you tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Day 8 of the NUHW Civil Trial
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.
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.
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.
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