Vote for Change at SEIU Local 521

Santa Clara County Chapter members:
VOTE FOR A WINNING TEAM IN 2009!

SEIU Local 521 Members for Democracy endorse:

Chair Person:
Vince Reyna

Vice-Chair:
Emma Davis, Anna Griffin, Delfina Morris, Edward Morillo

Deputy-Chair:
Elsa Venegas, Rosa Ramirez, Guadalupe Sandoval, Wren Bradley

APT:
Vince Reyna, MaryAnn Silva, Lydia Torrez, Scott Crisel, Evette Rodriguez, Dennis Boyd, Marlena-Elena Eichelberger, Cynthia Salazar, Linda Eskridge, Brian Hoctor, Samuel Avila

Clerical:
Elsa Venegas, Delia Herrera, Pat Clay, Ed Morillo, Diane Hageman, Muriel Frederick, Rosa M. Ramirez

Blue Collar:
Emma Davis, Rene Lewis, Guadalupe Sandoval, David Flores, Mary Ha’o, Richard Chavira

Eligibility Worker:
Delfina Morris

Find your voting location in the December 2008 Buffalo Bulletin, found at: Buffalo Bulletin Vol. 27, No15 - December 2008 on the site: http://www.seiu521.org/chapter/santaclara/Santa_Clara_County___Legacy_715.aspx

Vote on SEIU Local 521 Santa Clara County Chapter Bylaws

Please read the proposed Santa Clara County Chapter bylaws before you vote.

There are many changes that may affect your right to representation by your peers, including changes to valued steward roles, number of chief stewards and their service areas, the right of members to be governed by elected leadership, and the right of members to speak out or question paid union staff, or to support other union workers.

Please be an informed voter and protect our rights as union members before you vote "yes" on these new bylaws.

Learn more about your rights as union members at Democracy4SEIU.org: http://www.democracy4seiu.org/your_rights

See voting times on page 2 of the Buffalo bulletin: http://www.seiu521.org/Admin/Assets/AssetContent/252a5258-a599-4803-9c22-dd5c796f4333/546bfa9e-94e2-495f-9d30-54cc81f55e47/768247e8-a4c2-498f-82ea-4918581de039/1/BuffaloBulletinVol27-No11.pdf


From the SEIU Local 521 web site:

Vote on various dates, times and locations from Tuesday, October 14 to Thursday, October 23: Please read page 2 of the latest Buffalo Bulletin newsletter. SCCO Chapter Bylaws DRAFT

If you have any question for the bylaws please send an email to the bylaws team at bylawscommittee@seiu521.org .

They (bylaws) can be found online at: http://seiu521.org/chapter/list/Santa_Clara_County___Legacy_715.aspx

Planning Meeting - Day of Action for All California Public Workers

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

There will be a meeting hosted by Russel Kilday Hicks who is president of SFSU SEIU Local 2579 Chapter 305 to discuss the present situation of all public workers in California who face a dire economic assault. Also we will discuss how to take forward action on a resolution calling for a day of action for all California public workers that passed the San Francisco Labor Council and the State AFL-CIO.

CA Public Meeting
Saturday October 25, 2008 10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon
408 Burke Hall
http://www.sfsu.edu/~sfsumap/southeast.htm
California State University San Francisco
19th Ave & Holloway

Please come and let your fellow public worker brothers and sisters know about this.
In Solidarity,
Steve Zeltzer

Sunday, September 21, 2008 Reform SEIU meeting in San Francisco featuring Mike Parker of LaborNotes

~SEIU Local 6434 is being investigated for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of member's dues on country clubs and on companies owned by those close to the local's president.

~Massive mergers have left many members clueless about how their union works and under the management of appointed "leaders."

~Unfair elections in which normal members have no choice to run, as in SEIU Local 6434, or in which the current appointees illegally get help from the local's paid staff, as in SEIU Local 1021's SEIU convention delegate election.

SEIU MEMBERS DESERVE BETTER FROM THEIR UNION!

Come hear from long-time rank and file labor activist Mike Parker of LaborNotes speak of his experience in fighting for democracy, and let's start fighting for our own at this forum, debate, and planning session for union democracy within SEIU.

Sunday, September 21, 2008
1-3 p.m.
253 Hyde Street at Eddy
San Francisco, CA
(Parking in front)

Despite what we have been taught, unions are not supposed to be this way. Unions are supposed to be run by their members democratically. We are supposed to decide what happens with our dues money. Democracy is not an extra. The alternative is the corruption we see here (and reported recently in the LA Times and other labor news sources.) Democracy is the way members gain a sense of ownership over their union by building real strength in real numbers through participation.

Mike Parker is on the Labor Notes Policy Committee and has long been an active leader in the union reform movement. He is the coauthor of Democracy is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up. Mike, a UAW electrician, has been an active member of New Directions in the United Auto Workers and has worked closely with Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

Sponsored by S.M.A.R.T. and SEIU Local 1021 members for union reform.

Support UHW at Northern California hearings on September 26-27th

During the past several months, there has been an ongoing national struggle within SEIU regarding the direction of the union.

Many in SEIU have grave concerns that in recent years, SEIU’s leadership in Washington, D.C. has drifted away from the membership, forgetting that we are the ones who make our union strong. Dozens of mergers have been imposed with limited, if any member involvement or democratic procedures, elected leaders have been replaced with appointed ones. Constitutional changes have given the president and international union’s executive board unprecedented powers to force coordinated bargaining, appoint our bargaining teams, and settle our contracts.

SEIU’s largest local union in California, the United Health Care Workers – West (UHW), has led the fight to return member control to SEIU. Because of this leadership, UHW is now the target of retaliatory attacks by SEIU International President Andy Stern. UHW is being threatened with a trusteeship that would strip UHW of its elected leaders and put SEIU’s appointed trustee in charge of the 150,000-member local.

While much of the current dispute between SEIU and UHW does not immediately or directly affect members of SEIU Local 1000, UHW’s leadership in defending member rights and challenging the consolidation of power within SEIU will ultimately affect all SEIU members across the country. If SEIU is allowed to silence a very large locals like UHW, efforts at reform will be effectively snuffed out.

Please join us in showing support for our fellow SEIU members from UHW by attending the trusteeship hearing scheduled for September 26 – 27, 2008 to be held in Northern California. Unfortunately, SEIU is not releasing a lot of information in advance but we wanted to give you the dates and general location now so you can mark it on your calendar. Please consider taking Friday (Sep 26) off.

Please reply back if you are interested in attending the hearing so that we have a good head count of CSEUnited supporters who will present. Remember, if they take ONE of us on, they take ALL of us on. For more information about this struggle within SEIU, visit our website at: www.cseunited.org

SEIU Members file charges against Stern and Burger

The charges against SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger stem from their involvement in a campaign of retaliation against UHW that is designed to silence the voices of members and elected union leaders who have opposed Stern and Burger's policies, and intimidate those who might also speak out.

The charges, filed under Article XVII, Section 1 of the SEIU Constitution, outline a series of inappropriate actions taken by Stern and Burger, including collaborating with anti-union employers to undermine UHW's contract bargaining, spreading lies and propaganda about UHW's leadership to SEIU members both within UHW and throughout the International Union, and imposing an unjustified and oppressive "monitorship" over UHW as a prelude to an unlawful trusteeship.

More details about the retaliatory campaign against UHW can be found at: http://seiuvoice.org/article.php?id=548

Cover letter regarding the charges: http://s3.amazonaws.com/seiuvoice.org/downloads/charges_cover_letter_9-14-08.pdf

Summary of charges: http://s3.amazonaws.com/seiuvoice.org/downloads/charges_summary_9-14-08.pdf

Full list of charges: http://s3.amazonaws.com/seiuvoice.org/downloads/charges_9-14-08.pdf

UHW Marches for SEIU reforms, justice, in San Jose

September 5 & 6, 2008:The UHW-West Leadership Conference in San Jose, CA marshalls union members in a fight for the union's mission and principles.

The UHW-w Leadership Conference is always educational, inspiring and fun, but this year, a fight against SEIU to restore union democracy added a more militant tone to the event. SEIU's response to opposition from member unions is more typical of a dictatorship than a democracy: SEIU is threatening to place UHW-w in trusteeship, dismiss our elected union officials, and appoint SEIU cronies in their stead.

For full post and photos of the San Jose march, see: http://dillingertoons.dillwood.org/inthestreets/090608SJ_UHWrally/090608uhwrallypg1.htm