Leaders of healthcare workers union are relieved of duty
Officers of the Oakland local United Healthcare Workers West in California were removed by the union's parent company the Service Employees International Union yesterday as the local was placed in trusteeship. SEIU replaced UHW leadership with two executive vice presidents of its own, Eliseo Medina and Dave Regan. As the news spread, rumblings from UHW's 150,000 membership suggested that the rank-and-file have a negative view of the takeover and may attempt to decertify SEIU. Tension had been building between the UHW and SEIU over disagreements ? particularly disagreements surrounding SEIU's desire to merge UHW home health aides with two other California unions in order to form one local run by SEIU. Yesterday's takeover was the culmination of those tensions and SEIU accusations that UHW was mismanaging and inappropriately hiding funds to undermine SEIU. SEIU went ahead with trusteeship proceedings despite former Labor Secretary Ray Marshall's recommendation otherwise in a report released last week. The action is already meeting heavy resistance from UHW membership.
See "Leaders of healthcare workers union are relieved of duty", Evelyn Larrubia, Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2009