SEIU reviews emergency aspects of UHW trusteeship in hearing; UHW Trustees move forward to stabilize local and protect members' gains put at risk by former president, officers

Los Angeles--As part of its Constitutional procedures that guarantee due process to leaders and members, the Service Employees International Union held a hearing to follow up on the emergency aspects of the trusteeship imposed at UHW last month.

The hearing, presided over by International Executive Board Member Marc Earls, was scheduled to review the additional grounds for trusteeship of UHW that came up after the original hearing, including:

• the refusal of Sal Rosselli and the former officers of UHW to cooperate with the democratic jurisdiction decision to unite long term care workers in California in one union and their use of UHW resources to interfere with that decision;
• the attempts of Sal Rosselli and the former officers of UHW to weaken UHW while they were still officers of the local by tolerating or even encouraging efforts to decertify UHW bargaining units and to deauthorize dues deductions.

Regardless of the outcome of today's hearing, UHW will remain in trusteeship because the former officers were found to have engaged in serious financial wrongdoing and attempts to subvert democracy by an outside hearing officer, former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall.

The hearing will not address the previous grounds for trusteeship that already passed constitutional muster; nor will the hearing review the recent NLRB decision to block decertification elections while it hears evidence on the attempts of Sal Rosselli and his new organization to weaken UHW by undermining contract protections.

At a time when 2 million Californians have lost jobs, it is of vital importance that SEIUېUHW members retain the full protection of their union," said Dave Regan, UHW Trustee. "It is unconscionable that the former officers of this union violated the trust of the members and took actions to jeopardize their hard-won contract gains. From day one, we have been reaching out to members and working together to build a transparent structure to make sure this local is accountable to the hardworking women and men who deserve the full benefits and protections of this union."

"As the Trustees of UHW, we have an obligation to the members to fix the problems we've uncovered at UHW, said UHW Trustee, Eliseo Medina. "In these fragile economic times, the strength and security of UHW is more important to workers' lives than ever. Our members need to know that we are out there each day working with them to secure good contracts, fight cutbacks in Sacramento, and prevent outside organizations from raiding our members or weakening our union."

Over the past month, the UHW Trustees have:

• Met and worked with UHW steward councils and leadership to ensure contracts and bargaining commitments continue to move forward to improve the lives of healthcare workers across California;
• Worked with UHW staff and members who have dedicated themselves to building UHW into a strong, democratic, member-driven local union;
• Worked to block serious cuts to the healthcare industry in California's budget, including the damaging IHSS cuts;
• Been in constant contact with the Obama Administration to make sure California can get as much federal stimulus aid as possible; and
• Worked to make sure UHW stays strong by working to block decertification efforts and making sure UHW members know the facts about their union.

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