Labor Pains

Solidarity.

Solidarity.

To date, labor in Washington state has avoided the infighting that has weakened and distracted the national movement. So folks, please, keep the peace. We don’t need this fire spreading here. We’ve got more important things to do.

I think the Seattle-based local of UNITE HERE would disagree that Washington state has “avoided” the infighting. See ML King County Labor Council resolution –www.oneunitehere.org/clcpdf/MLKSeattle.pdf

I agree that we shouldn’t necessarily be fighting other people’s battles, but what is happening in other states and around the nation is impacting many of our fellow union members, and our agenda in Congress. I don’t see the harm in allowing someone to speak. We’re big girls and boys. We can make up our own minds.

Clearly, SEIU has no problem pre-emptively sharing its opinion about Sal Rosselli. (Everybody gets one guess where Josh got this “angry letter” from SEIU.) Why shouldn’t we have the same opportunity to hear the other side of the story?

This is about free speech. Last time I checked, unions supported that.

I think the Seattle-based local of UNITE HERE would disagree that Washington state has “avoided” the infighting. See ML King County Labor Council resolution –www.oneunitehere.org/clcpdf/MLKSeattle.pdf

I agree that we shouldn’t necessarily be fighting other people’s battles, but what is happening in other states and around the nation is impacting many of our fellow union members, and our agenda in Congress. I don’t see the harm in allowing someone to speak. We’re big girls and boys. We can make up our own minds.

Clearly, SEIU has no problem pre-emptively sharing its opinion about Sal Rosselli. (Everybody gets one guess where Josh got this “angry letter” from SEIU.) Why shouldn’t we have the same opportunity to hear the other side of the story?

This is about free speech. Last time I checked, unions supported that.

@3,

1) I was not told about the letter by SEIU, nor from anyone doing their bidding.

2) If by “other side of the story” on Rosselli you mean WSLC’s take on it—I quoted WSLC spokeswoman Kathy Cummings in the post.

@3,

1) I was not told about the letter by SEIU, nor from anyone doing their bidding.

2) If by “other side of the story” on Rosselli you mean WSLC’s take on it—I quoted WSLC spokeswoman Kathy Cummings in the post.

SEIU is aggressively trying to silence Sal Rosselli and anyone else affiliated with NUHW, which is a union formed by former SEIU-UHW members and staffers in the wake of SEIU International’s successful trusteeship and removal of the SEIU-UHW elected leadership.

Andy Stern and his minions are doing enormous damage to the labor movement with their “with us or against us” attitude toward NUHW. They have threatened elected officials with recall here in California for the “crime” of inviting Sal Rosselli to their events or for expressing anything but contempt toward NUHW. The international’s attitude has crippled SEIU’s political activism in California, which is especially troubling given the severe crisis this state is now facing. And their attitude has undermined support in Congress for the Employee Free Choice Act, as Andy Stern’s actions have given fuel to EFCA’s opponents.

SEIU is power-tripping big time on this, and doesn’t care one bit what they damage in the process.

SEIU is aggressively trying to silence Sal Rosselli and anyone else affiliated with NUHW, which is a union formed by former SEIU-UHW members and staffers in the wake of SEIU International’s successful trusteeship and removal of the SEIU-UHW elected leadership.

Andy Stern and his minions are doing enormous damage to the labor movement with their “with us or against us” attitude toward NUHW. They have threatened elected officials with recall here in California for the “crime” of inviting Sal Rosselli to their events or for expressing anything but contempt toward NUHW. The international’s attitude has crippled SEIU’s political activism in California, which is especially troubling given the severe crisis this state is now facing. And their attitude has undermined support in Congress for the Employee Free Choice Act, as Andy Stern’s actions have given fuel to EFCA’s opponents.

SEIU is power-tripping big time on this, and doesn’t care one bit what they damage in the process.

Describing Rosselli as “disgraced” is hardly a fair summary of the situation here. There’s been a gigantic shitstorm around different SEIU factions in California for a while now, with plenty of accusations in all directions. There’s some politics involved and some personality conflicts. (For muckracking details, check out perezstern.blogspot.com and adiosandy.blogspot.com.) Official pro-Roselli site at nuhw.org.

Bigger between-the-lines news here is that the president of SEIU 1199NW did *not* sign. They are the health care local here in WA (Rosselli was the head of a health care local in California) and bucking the SEIU mothership on something like this is a big deal probably generating a lot of heat for them. Other big news is that Sergio Salinas of SEIU 6 *did* sign — he & high-profile asshole David Rolf have a history of disputes between them.

Other critical background is the fact that SEIU is raiding UNITE HERE unions across the country — a huge labor no-no. Also note that SEIU is not a member of the labor council, unlike most other unions in the state.

Anyway, thanks for covering this, but would be nice to talk to folks (other than official spokespeople with their own agendas) with some more labor background when reporting on this. The issues are tricky & intricate and not quickly distilled into a 1-sentence quote.

For what it’s worth, personally I think Rosselli is by far the more preferable option to Andy Stern’s model of the SEIU.

Describing Rosselli as “disgraced” is hardly a fair summary of the situation here. There’s been a gigantic shitstorm around different SEIU factions in California for a while now, with plenty of accusations in all directions. There’s some politics involved and some personality conflicts. (For muckracking details, check out perezstern.blogspot.com and adiosandy.blogspot.com.) Official pro-Roselli site at nuhw.org.

Bigger between-the-lines news here is that the president of SEIU 1199NW did *not* sign. They are the health care local here in WA (Rosselli was the head of a health care local in California) and bucking the SEIU mothership on something like this is a big deal probably generating a lot of heat for them. Other big news is that Sergio Salinas of SEIU 6 *did* sign — he & high-profile asshole David Rolf have a history of disputes between them.

Other critical background is the fact that SEIU is raiding UNITE HERE unions across the country — a huge labor no-no. Also note that SEIU is not a member of the labor council, unlike most other unions in the state.

Anyway, thanks for covering this, but would be nice to talk to folks (other than official spokespeople with their own agendas) with some more labor background when reporting on this. The issues are tricky & intricate and not quickly distilled into a 1-sentence quote.

For what it’s worth, personally I think Rosselli is by far the more preferable option to Andy Stern’s model of the SEIU.

Just seconding Fat-tailed’s point that Josh shouldn’t be parroting SEIU’s talking point that Sal is “disgraced” – that’s part of SEIU’s effort to discredit Sal and deny his and his supporters legitimacy. All of us who are not part of this dispute would do well to avoid repeating smears and spin.

Just seconding Fat-tailed’s point that Josh shouldn’t be parroting SEIU’s talking point that Sal is “disgraced” – that’s part of SEIU’s effort to discredit Sal and deny his and his supporters legitimacy. All of us who are not part of this dispute would do well to avoid repeating smears and spin.

@3 @4 The letter was sent out to the WinWin Network’s email list, so it’s in *many* people’s hands as of this afternoon at 12:53 PM.

@3 @4 The letter was sent out to the WinWin Network’s email list, so it’s in *many* people’s hands as of this afternoon at 12:53 PM.

Some Dude and Fat-Tailed,

Re: “Disgraced.” I wasn’t trying to parrot the SEIU’s spin, and I see your point.

I do think being put into trusteeship by the International is serious business, but I’ll take that out to make sure my post doesn’t get lost in off point speculations about my reporting.

Some Dude and Fat-Tailed,

Re: “Disgraced.” I wasn’t trying to parrot the SEIU’s spin, and I see your point.

I do think being put into trusteeship by the International is serious business, but I’ll take that out to make sure my post doesn’t get lost in off point speculations about my reporting.

@9 Valuable changes — good call Josh. As to the issue of Trusteeship by the International, it is serious business, but there’s also a loooong history of trusteeship being abused by domineering leaders to silence dissidents. The SEIU is not known for their commitment to internal democracy or their tolerance of dissent.

Not clear how giving underpublicized background about the internal disputes inside SEIU is an off-point speculation, but I’m glad you made the fix.

@9 Valuable changes — good call Josh. As to the issue of Trusteeship by the International, it is serious business, but there’s also a loooong history of trusteeship being abused by domineering leaders to silence dissidents. The SEIU is not known for their commitment to internal democracy or their tolerance of dissent.

Not clear how giving underpublicized background about the internal disputes inside SEIU is an off-point speculation, but I’m glad you made the fix.

@10,

I meant speculation that I was carrying water for SEIU. (There was a comment earlier implying that SEIU leaked the letter to me. They did not.)

Anyway, happy to make the change.

@10,

I meant speculation that I was carrying water for SEIU. (There was a comment earlier implying that SEIU leaked the letter to me. They did not.)

Anyway, happy to make the change.

Josh I’m glad that you reported this.

But I think the bigger labor news today is the inauguration of WSLC’s new series, “Outside the Echo Chamber.”

Countering the uncritical business reporting in this state, the WSLC is producing a series of reports that are somewhere between advocacy journalism and public affairs research. It seems like a new step for the labor movement. In the process, they’re demolishing the shoddy intellectual foundation for corporate liberals in the Democratic Party who think promoting living wage jobs right now will hurt our economy.

Its first report shows that, contrary to right-wing scare tactics about taxes and unions, a number of indicators show that WA state is “business friendly.”

http://www.wslc.org/reports/Outside-EC1.htm

Josh I’m glad that you reported this.

But I think the bigger labor news today is the inauguration of WSLC’s new series, “Outside the Echo Chamber.”

Countering the uncritical business reporting in this state, the WSLC is producing a series of reports that are somewhere between advocacy journalism and public affairs research. It seems like a new step for the labor movement. In the process, they’re demolishing the shoddy intellectual foundation for corporate liberals in the Democratic Party who think promoting living wage jobs right now will hurt our economy.

Its first report shows that, contrary to right-wing scare tactics about taxes and unions, a number of indicators show that WA state is “business friendly.”

http://www.wslc.org/reports/Outside-EC1.htm

So why didn’t Diane Sosne (president of SEIU 1199NW) sign the letter? I think that’s an important part of the story here Josh.

So why didn’t Diane Sosne (president of SEIU 1199NW) sign the letter? I think that’s an important part of the story here Josh.

@4:

I didn’t suggest you of doing SEIU’s bidding, Josh. I was just pointing out that somebody seems real interested in publicizing this letter, which takes some pre-emptive swipes at Mr. Rosselli. Given that few, if any, of your readers even knew he was invited to speak in Washington.

The fact that this letter between labor leaders is being widely circulated suggests to me that a deliberate attempt is being made to undermine Mr. Rosselli’s credibility before he even gets here. SEIU would be the logical choice to do so, wouldn’t they?

@4:

I didn’t suggest you of doing SEIU’s bidding, Josh. I was just pointing out that somebody seems real interested in publicizing this letter, which takes some pre-emptive swipes at Mr. Rosselli. Given that few, if any, of your readers even knew he was invited to speak in Washington.

The fact that this letter between labor leaders is being widely circulated suggests to me that a deliberate attempt is being made to undermine Mr. Rosselli’s credibility before he even gets here. SEIU would be the logical choice to do so, wouldn’t they?

I’m also interested in the missing SEIU 1199 NW signature of support. 1199NW SHOULD have more investement in this fight than Sergio Salinas. Salinas is the President of the smallest SEIU Local in Washington. 1199NW is currently going through a merger not unlike the one Rosselli opposed…I think this is worth further exploring.

My best guess… Salinas is doing Andy Stern’s bidding after recently being appointed to the SEIU Internationl Executive Board.

I’m also interested in the missing SEIU 1199 NW signature of support. 1199NW SHOULD have more investement in this fight than Sergio Salinas. Salinas is the President of the smallest SEIU Local in Washington. 1199NW is currently going through a merger not unlike the one Rosselli opposed…I think this is worth further exploring.

My best guess… Salinas is doing Andy Stern’s bidding after recently being appointed to the SEIU Internationl Executive Board.

To date, labor in Washington state has avoided the infighting that has weakened and distracted the national movement. So folks, please, keep the peace. We don't need this fire spreading here. We've got more important things to do.