ADVISORY: SEIU Sued For Intimidation - Alioto Available for Interview

LAW OFFICES OF
MAYOR JOSEPH L. ALIOTO
AND
‡ANGELA ALIOTO
700 MONTGOMERY STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94111
(415) 434-8700 • FAX (415) 438-4638

N E W S R E L E A S E CONTACT: Sara Norman
Embargoed for release until a.m. Feb. 22, 2011 202/577-8714
norman.sl [at] gmail.com


SEIU is Sued Under State Civil Rights Statutes for a Concerted Campaign of Harassment and Intimidation Against Calif. Labor Activists
Former SEIU President Andy Stern and current national president Mary Kay Henry named in filing that details a pattern of violent threats and strong-arm tactics against members
Hispanics who opposed SEIU’s actions threatened with deportation
San Francisco – This morning, San Francisco civil rights lawyer Angela Alioto filed a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), California’s largest union, and some of its top leaders for a “policy and practice of utilizing physical intimidation against those in the labor movement who they consider to be enemies.” Named in the complaint as defendants are former national president Andy Stern and SEIU’s current leader Mary Kay Henry as well as the appointed head of the union’s Northern California affiliate Dave Regan.

“The officers of SEIU forgot what business they were in,” said Alioto. “Instead of bringing democracy to the workplace they acted as tyrants and have in a concerted fashion used threats and intimidation to crush opposing views. In the United States of America, and under the laws of California, these actions are illegal.”

Under California’s Bane Act and Ralph Act, intimidation campaigns and threats of violence against individuals because of their political beliefs or position in a labor dispute is illegal and those harmed are entitled to monetary awards. The suit filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco paints a picture of a union that over the past three years has operated more as a “thug-ocracy” than a democracy. Among the actions described in the legal documents:
“An Ass-Whipping They Will Never Forget”
SEIU “repeatedly utilized discriminatory campaigns based upon national origin and ancestry.” In a home health care election in Fresno held in June 2009, Regan instructed 1,000 SEIU staff to “give them [NUHW supporters and union dissidents] an ass-whipping they will never forget” and to drive a stake through their hearts.” According to the filing, Reagan backed up his rhetoric, ordering SEIU agents to tell Hispanic home health care workers that if they voted for the reform ticket instead of SEIU, ICE would be called and the workers deported.
Physical Intimidation: Turning Calif. Hospitals Into War Zones
According to the complaint, “at the direction and upon the orders of Defendant Regan… [and] Stern and Henry in their official capacities, employees of Defendant SEIU were directed to physically intimidate Plaintiffs by getting “in their faces [i.e., get physically close while uttering threats of harm].” Such threats of harm were often accompanied by battering. On more than 20 documented occasions in San Jose, Sacramento, Baldwin Park, Los Angeles and other Calif. locations, large numbers of SEIU staff and campaigners turned hospitals, in particular Kaiser Permanente facilities, into de facto war zones where they screamed and physically assaulted the plaintiffs as well as famed labor activist Delores Huerta while they campaigned for a rival union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). In Modesto, on a visit to a Kaiser facility in the summer of 2010, several SEIU agents yelled at Huerta, “Go back to the fields where you belong.”
In October of 2009 attendees at a San Francisco fundraiser in support of NUHW were confronted by menacing SEIU operatives. The following month in Los Angeles, supporters at a similar event were pelted with eggs and bottles of water. That same year, SEIU agents in Anaheim assaulted NUHW President Sal Rosselli at a public park. The meeting that Rosselli was leading was forced to disband.
Direct Threats and Character Assassination Against Perceived “Enemies”
As recently as the evening of Jan.21, 2011, according to the complaint, SEIU operative Jonathan Bernhardt made telephone calls to NUHW supporter Daniel Ray where he threatened, “You and Sal Rosselli are going to be f…d up on Monday.” Followed by “Hey Daniel, it’s Jonathan from SEIU. I did it again you piece of s… I’m gonna f… you up. Any place, any time, anywhere. The next time I see you, I am going to f… you up.”
Union Resources Used to Harass Critics and Labor Activists with Opposing Views
Under Regan’s direction, in April 2008, an academic conference of union reformers in Dearborn, Mich. was broken up by 150 to 200 SEIU agents, many of them with bandanas covering their face or wearing masks. Mary Kay Henry later described these actions as “open debate.”
Also, in April of 2008, at union expense, SEIU paid to have live calls made to tens of thousands of Calif. SEIU members falsely claiming that union leaders and Plaintiffs Sal Rosselli, John Borsos and Ralph Cornejo had engaged in unethical conduct. This was part of a SEIU disinformation campaign, falsely accusing on multiple occasions the plaintiffs Roselli, Borsos and Cornejo of “stealing three million dollars.”
During the SEIU national convention held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the Summer of 2008, the union paid to have a private security service and armed security perform surveillance on Calif. delegates who had raised questions about the union’s policies and ethical practices and specifically the plaintiffs in the complaint.
“Stern, Henry and Their Paid Operatives Crossed a Line.”
“SEIU’s leaders don’t have to like everyone in their union or the labor movement, they don’t have to accept their ideas or agree with their politics, but they’re not allowed to harass, intimidate, batter and threaten people they don’t like,” said Alioto. “Stern, Henry and their paid operatives crossed a line. This is a very important case. If SEIU is allowed to literally push around and threaten members whose views they don’t like or members who opt to join another organization with impunity -- workers are really hostages.”
The Law Offices of Mayor Joseph L. Alioto and Angela Alioto P.L.C have successfully fought several workplace discrimination and breach of contract lawsuits, and specialize in civil rights and employment law. Angela Alioto also served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1988 to 1997. She is one of the Daily Journal's Top Women Litigators, and has also been a finalist for the San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the year award. Alioto has a thorough background in politics and litigation, and has been a champion of workers rights over the course of her distinguished twenty-eight year legal career.