The SEIU’s persuasion of power appears to be wearing thin even within its own membership. Over the last several months, SEIU members have been asking questions about SEIU policies with respect to use of membership dues for politics, excessive executive compensation, member intimidation, misleading propaganda and election irregularities. A recent article exposes an SEIU training document (in place while Member Becker was that union’s Associate General Counsel) that encourages organizers to “steal, steal, steal.” Evidently, SEIU members in California feel this philosophy is being applied to its own membership. Mariam Noujaim a.k.a. “Mariam the Mighty” and Erica Soules are leading a group of  disgruntled SEIU members who are demanding the SEIU open its financial records so members can see how dues money is being spent through www.HelpSaveOurState.com. In fact, Erica took the fight national with an appearance on Fox Business News where she exposed the SEIU’s misuse of membership dues for political purposes.

These two ladies have also challenged recent raises the SEIU’s “big labor bosses” have bestowed upon themselves at a cost of $ 295,000 annually. Apparently, they feel overworked by these elected positions for which they voluntarily ran. They also challenged the SEIU’s strike fund, which had reportedly accumulated $10,000,000, when there was no provision for the SEIU to strike in the contract.  The  initiatives by these brave ladies, as well as the initiative led by member Ken Hamidi to allow members the choice to opt out of paying dues not germane to membership benefits (dubbed “Fair Share Fees”) have thrown a bright and unwelcome spot light on SEIU financial practices.

The SEIU  is no stranger to thuggery and doesn’t hesitate to use those tactics against anyone, including its own members. Much like they do during their Corporate Campaigns, the SEIU uses not only physical intimidation, but also psychological warfare through misrepresentation of the facts. Is this SEIU propaganda, lies or just carelessness? The SEIU also likes to distort the facts in addressing its own members on its labor television network.  These are all standard “playbook” tactics developed and used by the SEIU.

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The battle between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) started coming to a close at several northern California Kaiser Permanente offices and hospitals Monday. Tens of thousands of workers will vote between now and October 4 on which union, if any, will represent them. At stake are 44,000 members and an estimated $40 million in annual dues. The choices are SEIU, NUHW, and “no union.” The votes will be tallied starting on October 6.

In January, 2,000 health care workers in Los Angeles voted to quit SEIU and join NUHW by a margin of six to one. SEIU currently represents 150,000 health care workers in California.

Union power plays are nothing new, but this is about more than that. At the heart of the dispute between SEIU and NUHW is a conflict of visions over the future of unionism in the private sector. The North Bay Business Journal reports:

The contentious battle has reached new heights, with NUHW proponents saying their rival puts organizational power over individual workers while SEIU advocates claim NUHW and its supporters ultimately undermine organized labor and jeopardize workers’ collective bargaining power and the existing contract.

NUHW was formed in January 2009 by the former leaders of SEIU’s Oakland-based affiliate, after a bitter dispute with the SEIU national leadership. The breakup occurred after SEIU put its affiliate United Healthcare West (UHW) under trusteeship, throwing out 80 locally elected officers, accusing them of misuse of union funds.

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According to Ben Smith of Politico, Andy Stern, longtime President of the Service Employees International Union, is rumored to be resigning from his position. From the Politico post:

Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, one of America’s most prominent labor leaders, is set to resign, according to a member of the union’s board and another SEIU official.

The President of an SEIU local based in Seattle, Diane Sosne, broke the news to her staffers at 11:35 this morning, local time.

“Last night I received confirmation that Andy Stern is resigning as President of SEIU. He has not yet made a public announcement; we will share the details as we become aware of them,” Sosne wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.

Sosne offered no explanation for the move, but another SEIU official speculated that Stern had finally tired of the draining job.

Read the entire Politico post here.

Hmmmm…I’d speculate differently. Here are my top guesses:

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I don’t know about you, but my benefits are shrinking and my wages have been reduced for 2010. And I certainly won’t be seeing any major increase in my salary this year.  My employer is struggling in this economy.  I know it, I see the sales and operating numbers.  Amazingly, no one in our company has complained once about the state of their salaries and benefits.  And after a recent round of layoffs, we’re all working two and three people’s jobs, too.  But we get it, we’re all a team, and together we have to do what we can to pitch in and help cut costs during a rough patch in time.  That’s just how business works.

Every single friend, family member, and neighbor I know is in the exact same position.

That’s why so many of us are appalled at the behavior of some of the union bosses these days.  Even some of the most ardent union defenders I know (the few people who typically argue with me over union policy) have had enough with all the headlines like this:

“As National Bargaining for 100,000 Union Members at Kaiser Permanente Begins… SEIU-UHW Members Tell Kaiser: Keep Your Hands Off Our Healthcare Benefits”

And they have also had enough of behavior like this:

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SEIU has made a good living off the law of unintended consequences.  Or so the labor union would have you think. The reality is, there’s nothing unintended about the consequences they reap.  And when it comes to local, state and federal lawmaking, SEIU banks on the propensity of the American people to respond to emotion rather than logic, and orchestrated concern that becomes a popular mantra.  Even some SEIU members (those brave enough to say so) plead for the public to investigate the union’s true intentions. But if you’re just an average citizen disengaged from the issues, before you know it, you’re ignoring the consequences staring you right between the eyes.

This past September Lisa Snyder, a 35 year old Michigan mother,  made the news when she received a disturbing letter from the Michigan Department of Human Services.  In it, the letter warned her that she was in violation of the law.  Her offense?  Watching a handful of neighborhood kids  each morning for about 20 minutes as they waited at the end of her driveway for the school bus to arrive, with the blessing of their parents. State law in Michigan prohibits the home supervision of unrelated children for more than four weeks in a year without a child care provider license.  Turns out a neighbor had complained and the Michigan Department of Human Services, the watchdog for home child care licensing, intervened by sending the warning letter.  In Michigan, state employees for the DHS are represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union.  Coincidentally, the union that represents the state’s home child care workers?  Also the UAW.

AFSCME: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
FCC: Family child care   |   FNN: Family, friend and neighbor
” Building a Union of Family Child Care and FFN Providers”
by SEIU & AFSCME members to the National Women’s Law Center

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