SEIU: ‘One of the Pillars of the ACORN Family’

by Don Loos
For one of Big Labor’s most notorious organizing partners, ACORN, the “chickens have come home to roost” thanks to the James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles continuously unfolding ACORN exposé.  If you rely on MSNBC for your news, you may not have noticed ACORN’s very thin “community organizer” veneer being sanded away exposing the rotten termite-infested wood underneath.

Part of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now’s (ACORN) rotten core includes a very cozy relationship with Big Labor.  In fact, in many instances ACORN and Big Labor are one and the same.  In 2008, Big Labor funneled ACORN millions of dollars for so-called organizing activity.  But, that is only the tip of the Big Labor iceberg.

ACORN controls or significantly dominates several Big Labor unions and organizations.  ACORN created and controls SEIU 100 (Gulf Region) and SEIU 880 (a recently expanded SEIU mega-local that covers Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas).

ACORN founder S. Wade Rathke referred to mega-union SEIU 880 as “one of the pillars of the ACORN Family.”

Wade Rathke: SEIU Pillar ACORN Organization
Wade Rathke: “SEIU Local 880, one of the pillars of the ACORN family of organizations”

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern hand picked ACORN’s Rathke to direct SEIU’s nationwide organizing projects.

In addition to Rathke’s and ACORN’s SEIU involvement, Rathke controlled Louisiana HERE Local 100, was Secretary-Treasurer of a New Orleans based AFL-CIO labor organization, and served on the board of a hotel employees union organizing committee.

A search of financial disclosure reports (UnionReports.gov) filed with the U.S. Department of Labor for the years 2000 and 2006 disclosed the following positions that Rathke held in labor unions while he concurrently served as ACORN’s Chief Organizer:

Wade Rathke DOL Reported Union Positions (2000,2006)

Wade Rathke DOL Reported Union Positions (2000,2006)

ACORN’s connections extend to several other Big Labor funded organizations such as the Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN), Site Fighters, and Community Labor Organizing Center (CLOC).

An Inside Look

An internal ACORN memo disclosed by Michelle Malkin provides more insight into the ACORN-Big Labor collaboration:

WHICH CORPORATIONS? Local 100 was nurtured by ACORN, but I think US Labor law prevents ACORN from interfering in Local 100 affairs. And it is not clear that ACORN wants to bother with Local 100 anymore, except to collect money Local 100 has borrowed from ACORN affiliates (some $250,000). There are some Local 100 subsidiaries which ACORN probably doesn’t care about, e.g., some Baton Rouge Teachers organizations, a couple Texas organizations…. they are nonprofits set up to TRY to represent workers who are not allowed to organize themselves into collective bargaining units. I assume ACORN is ready to let these go to Local 100.

–L100. To what extent does the Local 100 Board and Local 100 members know about the perfidy of their Chief Organizer? Do they know how hokey their LM-2 filings are?

–DOL and Local 100. To what extent should ACORN monitor Local 100 activities and filings and report them to the DOL? Apparently a new election of Local 100 officers is due to happen in September 2008.

–Local 100’s debts. An initial review of Local 100’s LM-2’s suggests that Local 100 owes some $250,000 to ACORN affiliates. When will those debts be called in?

–CCI. [received union funds, provided bookkeeping for SEIU 880 in Chicago]  The point here is that if ACORN wants nothing to do with WR [Wade Rathke], then presumably CCI needs to terminate its contracts with any WR tainted organization. These conflict of interest issues are about to come to a head with CCI attorneys. So far our model has been “Well, in the past we wait to see if conflict can be worked out—THEN we worry.” In the past conflict has been resolved. In the present crisis the CCI lawyers may have to face these issues shortly. As an ethical if not a legal matter, the whole of CCI will have to face these issues also.

–WARN. [received union funds]  This corporation is WAL-MART ALLIANCE FOR REFORM NOW, INC., and its Board members are –Wade Rathke, 3810 Burgundy Street, New Orleans, LA, 70117; –Rick Smith, 1344 W Cass St, Tampa, FL, 33606; and –Tamecka Pierce, 6537 Chantry St, Orlando, FL, 32835. The corporate name somewhat resembles ACORN’s. If it is a membership organization I find it hard to believe it is anything more than laughable. However, it may have a lot of grant money from some people somewhere? Bottom line is I don’t know much about this, and I don’t know if ACORN should care, or how to find out if ACORN should care.

–Acorn Institute.  [received union funds]  I think this is clearly an ACORN corporation, but I have to observe that it seems to me that WR has been trying to fill it with shills. I think it is one of ACORN’s major 501c3s, and control of it needs to be monitored

–ACLOC. [received union funds]  I think control of this organization is up for grabs, but the more critical question is who gets business from SEIU and ACORN. One could almost give this to WR because it’s worthless without business—yet if ACORN gave it to him it would have to be under the condition that the ACORN name was deleted. By way of additional information, WR seems to have founded a “CLOC” in Florida a while back. Maybe ACORN should keep ACLOC and WR should see what he can do with CLOC.

–ARC . [received union funds]  This used to be a key 501c3 feeder for labor projects. Right now the Board supposedly consists of Steve Bachmann and Mildred Edmond. And Dale Rathke and Cornelia have supposedly left this Board. ACORN should advise Wade Rathke that this corporation is going to be cleaned up, and should probably be closed down. Steve Bachmann is going to ensure that if WR wants to try any tricks with this corporati[o]n, then WR is going to find his Mumsy is going to be very VERY upset.

–SEXUAL HARASSMENT. Mitch Klein has filed a complaint against Chaco Rathke for harassment, and against Wade, Beth and Dine for retaliation. It is not clear that these items are subject to much negotiations, because they are matters of law. Depending upon what Alex Mora finds and recommends, ACORN will have to take whatever steps will pass muster with the EEOC, the DOL, and ultimately, the Courts. Another player in this play is EFC, because as landlord EFC must provide its tenants with safe environments, that don’t have its property managers engaging in sexual harassment, and that don’t allow its tenants to intimate other tenants. Again, much of this will turn on what Alex Mora finds, and generally what the law requires. ACORN has little room for negotiation or discretion here, but since it involves the Rathkes, its existence must be acknowledged and noted.  [Emphasis added]

(Note:  According to two conflict-of-interest reports filed at the U.S. Labor Department, ACORN’s SEIU 100 actually had a union position called “child of the chief organizer” listed.  Better view the reports now, because the Obama Labor Department is busy eliminating future conflict-of-interest reporting by union officers and employees.)

Big Labor – ACORN Organizing Partnership

From the early days of Saul Alinsky-styled union organizing, ACORN and Big Labor learned that forced unionism provides the financial fuel to perpetuate their organizational schemes and political clout.  ACORN and Big Labor have turned organizing into a numbers game; it is no longer about improving working conditions, as Randy Schaber’s and David Bego’s stories clearly illustrate that SEIU was not escalating pressure to improve working conditions.  The tactics that SEIU used border on sadism.

According to Vanessa Tait’s book, Poor workers’ unions: rebuilding labor from below, ACORN and Big Labor have grown more politically powerful and more militant together:

ACORN’s autonomous labor organizing projects – Unite Labor Unions (ULU) – were quite different.  Drawing on labor’s traditions, the ULU locals reached out to other unions and community groups to build solidarity around campaigns.

… In New York, workfare organizing lead to strong relationships between ACORN and some progressive unions such as CWA 1180, which worked with ACORN to gain permanent ballot status for the state’s Working Families Party.

… Networks of activists both inside and outside of mainstream labor spread this philosophy of new militant unionism.  By the late 80’s, organizers with social justice or community organizing experience had made headway inside local, regional , and national trade unions.  Experience with … ACORN was common … Mark Splain and Stewart Acuff, both community organizers with ties to ACORN who directed the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Department.

Ms. Tait describes in some length ACORN’s rise and its long intertwined relationship with the new more militant Big Labor movement.  And, she exposes Rathke acolytes Stewart Acuff and Mark Splain, who coordinate the AFL-CIO’s entire Organizing Department.

Further, according to Washington Times reporter S. A. Miller, ACORN operates mob-styled protection rackets:

ACORN provided liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from the targets of demonstrations through a mob-style “protection” racket.  ACORN called it the “muscle for the money” program, according to prepared testimony…

The “unofficial” program collected payments to organize protests. For example, the Service Employees International Union [SEIU] hired ACORN to harass the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm. Other paid protests targeted Sherwin-Williams, H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt and Money Mart, according to the testimony.

If you want first hand reports from the front lines of an SEIU ACORN-type campaign, listen to the National Right to Work Committee’s Interviews with two victims of separate multi-year card check unionization campaigns: Randy Schaber and David Bego.  They describe the “protection racket” in detail.

ACORN and Big Labor’s Ultimate Goal

Just prior to the BigGovernment.com ACORN exposé, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent five letters to Departments and Federal Agencies asking questions about ACORN’s illegal activities. Now, the Senate and House are voting to cutoff federal funds.

Because of what Tait referred to as the “new militant unionism,” American workers can expect to see more ACORN-orchestrated Big Labor organizing harassment campaigns in their neighborhood if the Card Check Forced Unionism (S 560) bill is passed as promised by President Obama (who likely has a very close relationship with ACORN and SEIU 880 from his Chicago “community organizing” days).

ACORN’s and Big Labor’s ultimate goal is to force more workers to pay labor union dues as a condition of employment.


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Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 7:30 am in ACORN, Economics | 241 Comments