SEIU Members for Democracy

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SEIU Members for Democracy connects rank and file groups across the country who are working for democratic change and grass roots leadership by and for workers. We seek a return to transparency, financial accountability, open debate, and one member, one vote self-governance, with term limits for all elected SEIU leaders.

One site, one voice, for a strong and democratic labor movement.

This site is a portal for SEIU and other union groups fighting for democratic labor reform. This site reports back on the democratic labor reform movement for the education of rank and file members.

Post-Convention Reports

Read reports from the 2008 SEIU International Convention at SEIUVoice.org: http://www.seiuvoice.org/ - includes video, blogging, and photos.

A video on The SEIU Puerto Rico International Convention, filmed and produced by Steve Zeltzer from the Labor Video Project. The video explores the centralization and restructuring of the SEIU, has a segment showing the videotaped attack on Puerto Rican teachers by "shock police" reportedly called in by SEIU leadership, and shows members discussing the historic 2008 SEIU International Executive Board election held without prepared delegate ballots. For more information or a copy of the program, please call the Labor Video Project at (415) 282-1908 or email: lvpsf@labornet.org

Solidarity with and Respect for other Union Members

Despite the recent Stern-supported convention resolution #318 which allows locals, officers, and members to be charged with "aiding other rival unions," a charge which might cause a loss of member (and local) voting rights within SEIU (see: http://www.seiuvoice.org/article.php?id=458), many SEIU members were appalled by SEIU's purported role in the treatment of Puerto Rican teachers and the dissolution of the FMPR around the 2008 SEIU International Convention.

In our opinion, SEIU brothers and sisters are free to take a stand on behalf of union democracy for all working people, without fear of intimidation. We have historically practiced this type of arm-in-arm solidarity at our labor councils for many years and have the right to free speech under federal law.

Interested in learning more? Read the leaflets (below) from the FMPR/Puerto Rican teachers and concerned SEIU members (documents which Andy Stern did not want convention delegates to see), then make up your own mind.

(Note: the five leaflet links below are large PDF files. You may have to download and save each of them to your computer in order to view or read them.)

Leaflet which the FMPR/Puerto Rican teachers offered to SEIU Convention Delegates: read page one; page two; page three; and page 4.

Convention leaflet from SEIU members in support of the FMPR/Puerto Rican teachers: read the document.

The SEIU IEB and Andy Stern have effectively removed our voting rights through SEIU mergers and trusteeships; we can't lose what we no longer have (per resolution #318). Indeed, some in the press have compared Stern's silence and suppression-at-all-costs paradigm within SEIU to the historical methods of organized crime, where allegiance, intimidation, submission, and payment for protection, take precedence over individual rights, legalities, and ethics.

Don't be fooled. Your constitutional rights don't go away just because you are a union member. SEIU International knows this, but they are counting on the fact that members may not ask questions or research federal law as it relates to these new restrictive SEIU International resolutions. See our your rights page for more information.

Support for Labor-Friendly Cadidates Comes from Empowered Members

We ask the courts and our SEIU-backed political leaders to support internal union democracy for SEIU members. Money and lobbying power may come from SEIU International, yet votes on national and local issues are cast by individual tax-paying members, who have a constitutional right to free speech and LMRDA rights to a fair vote and an uncensored voice in the governance of their union.

We ask our elected (and campaigning) local and national political leaders to take an ethical stand on the crisis in the SEIU. Support the democratic right of all working people to have their voices heard.

For more information on the Puerto Rican teachers and the alleged role of SEIU in their plight, see: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fmpr+&search_type=; http://blip.tv/file/952046; http://socialistworker.org/2008/06/04/seiu-conference-lockdown; http://mysite.verizon.net/vze2kxcd/fmprsupportcommitteenewyork/id17.html

News Feeds

See our Democracy4SEIU Bloglines Feeds for the latest local and national news on the crisis in SEIU: http://www.bloglines.com/public/Democracy4SEIU

Share Your Vision

If you are working for a return to democratic leadership within your SEIU local, we want to hear from you.

Send us a link to your reform Web site or blog
Send us photos of your reform events
Share your YouTube video links

Not an SEIU local? We also want to hear from our brothers and sisters who are working for democracy in other unions!

Members are the Foundation of a Strong Union

Do you have a voice in how your dues money is being spent?

Are you notified about Executive Board, bylaws, and other meetings so you can observe or attend?

Do you have access to board minutes and motions so you know how your union is being run?

Is there a fair voting process at your union with mail ballots so all can participate?

Do organizers and union managers support members who are advocating for democratic union principles?

Are members informed that 'lost time' is subtracted from their retirement years of service?

Are retirees (and those who have been injured on the job) treated with respect?

Does a majority vote by members take place before major changes occur at your union?

If your answer is 'no' to any of these questions, we invite you to view our reform links page to see how other SEIU members are working for democractic reform across the nation. Our labor files page looks at reformists and events in other unions.

We support non-violent change and want our union leaders to be examples of the best that democratic unionization has to offer.

"When people are involved in something constructive, trying to bring about change, they tend to be less violent than those who are not engaged in rebuilding or in anything creative. Non-violence forces one to be creative; it forces any leader to go to the people and get them involved so that they can come forth with new ideas. I think that once people understand the strength of non-violence— the force it generates, the love it creates, the response that it brings from the total community—they will not be willing to abandon it easily."

-Cesar Chavez

We Believe in Clean Union Operations

We endorse the elimination of bullying union tactics, and support constructive, issues-based discussions at all levels of our many labor organizations.

We support the right of all organized and unorganized workers to have a fair deal and a fair vote on their future and rights in the workplace, without manipulations, backroom deals, or any other form of coercion.

We support SEIU's membership in our labor councils since we believe we are truly "stronger together" when allied with our brothers and sisters from other labor organizations and associations.

Like S.M.A.R.T. and SEIUVoice, we believe in grass roots union elections (and procedural votes) through mail balloting, to strengthen our union and empower our membership.

Voting by mail guarantees that every SEIU-represented rank and file member has an equal opportunity to participate in all phases of union self-governance, locally, statewide, and nationally.

Members Come First

Our focus, like S.M.A.R.T. and SEIUVoice, is on the rights of retirees, disabled workers, and other dues-paying members who have been recently represented by SEIU at the bargaining table.

These workers deserve a fair deal and a voice in the operation of their own union. Once empowered, our current rank and file members can offer the same benefits and victories to non-unionized workers, if invited to do so.

We believe that "corporate unionism," secret back room deals, and bullying tactics are weakening the labor movement by disenfranchising workers, by minimizing their right to free speech and fair negotiations, and ultimately, by repelling potential union members who are appalled by these tactics.

For this reason we applaud Sal Rosselli's recent move towards "social unionism" at UHW-West, which offers a more grass roots, member-driven approach to democratic unionization. (See SEIUVoice.org for more information.)

Who Governs SEIU?

In keeping with these ethics, we believe that SEIU's paid staff should not be offered SEIU union membership.

This practice creates a serious conflict of interest during internal union elections and procedural votes.

This practice also creates a setting for increased union election violations under the LMRDA, as paid union staff are encouraged by their managers to campaign and vote in elections where their employers are running as union candidates, or indirectly attempting to manipulate rank and filers' committees and steward councils.

We believe that only SEIU ranks and filers who have recently been represented by SEIU at the bargaining table, should be allowed to direct union strategies and vote on the operations, spending, and governance of their union.

Likewise, paid SEIU staff should not be standing in for SEIU-represented rank and filers on our boards, on our committees, or at our union forums and conventions.

Whose Voice are We Hearing When the SEIU Speaks?

SEIU paid staff are distributing viewpoints and public responses which do not reflect the interests or opinions of many dues-paying members.

SEIU should not be signing dues-payer's signatures to documents which have, in truth, been written solely by SEIU paid staff members.

democracy4seiu@gmail.com

SEIU Members for Democracy

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