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1. Billboard Outside RNC in Milwaukee Calls Teamsters ‘Two-Faced’

   Posted on Jul 09, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   Today, the Center for Union Facts (CUF) announced a set of billboards that are posted outside major inroads to the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The billboards call Teamsters President Sean O’Brien and his union “Two-Faced.”

   The billboards call out the Teamsters for requesting a speaking slot at the RNC in a spirit of bipartisanship, when a Union Facts analysis shows 99 percent of the union’s political advocacy spending has historically gone to the left.

   “One speaking engagement doesn’t change the facts,” said CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello. “Ninety-nine percent of the Teamsters’ advocacy dollars go to left-wing causes and workers whose dues fund this partisan posturing aren’t being fooled.”
   
   The billboard will run from now through the end of the convention and comes on the heels of CUF’s recent report exposing a history of one-sided donations within the union.

   Highlights from the report include:

   • 99 percent of the union’s political advocacy spending went to left-leaning organizations and initiatives.
   • Teamsters spent over $9 million on left-leaning advocacy.
   • The union sent over $2.5 million to the DNC and aligned organizations.

   The report and billboard are a part of CUF’s ongoing education campaign to ensure the public and union members have access to transparent information regarding union spending.

   Categories: Teamsters

2. NEW REPORT: Teamsters Spent Over $9 Million on Left-Leaning Advocacy Between 2019-2022

   Posted on Jun 20, 2024 by Admin

   Today, the Center for Union Facts (CUF) released a new report on how the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union used member dues to fund its largely one-sided political agenda.

   The data comes on the heels of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien requesting speaking slots at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions this summer in an effort to portray a bipartisan union.
   
   CUF examined the Teamsters’ LM-2 financial filings from 2019 – 2022 with the Office of Labor and Management Standards (OLMS) to offer a transparent look into the union’s financial priorities and how it spends members’ dues dollars. The full report is available here.

   Highlights from the report include:

   • 99 percent of the union’s advocacy spending went to left-leaning organizations and initiatives. 
   • Teamsters spent over $9 million on left-leaning advocacy;
   • Teamsters sent over $2.5 million to the DNC and aligned organizations;
   • Teamsters sent over $4 million to Berlin Rosen, LTD and Catalist, LLC – PR firms that frequently work with unions and advocates on the left, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Fight For $15, and Planned Parenthood;
   • Almost $2 million was sent to the economic left, including the Economic Policies Institute, Jobs with Justice, and the National Employment Law Project.

   The report is part of CUF’s ongoing education effort to ensure the public and union members have access to transparent information regarding union spending. 

   Categories: Teamsters

3. SEIU-UHW’s Anti-Israel Leadership

   Posted on Jun 19, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   Leadership at the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) has been under fire for allegations of toxic work culture and sexual misconduct. But it looks like the union’s issues also extend to anti-Israel rhetoric from its top ranks.

   Recently discovered material on the union’s leadership and its staff suggest the large SEIU local carries significant anti-Israel sentiment. Discovered material ranges from reposting anti-Israel conspiracies to signing a petition that laments the world’s only Jewish state as the “genocidal entity known as Israel.”

   SEIU-UHW Division Director Chokri BenSaid – who has been accused of sexual misconduct – is the most prominent anti-Israel activist at the union. In March 2024, BenSaid reposted an anti-Israel conspiracy theory on his Facebook account claiming that Israel is occupying the entire world. 

   

   Previously, BenSaid failed to issue a social media response to the slaughter of Israeli’s on Oct. 7, 2023, but was quick to call out Israel’s response to the attack by labeling it a “terrorist” country. 

   

   BenSaid is unfortunately not the only anti-Israel advocate at the SEIU-UHW. Executive Board Member Gabriel Montoya has also shared his radical views on the issue. 

   Montoya took part in a protest at the SEIU’s convention in May, where raucous protesters accused Vice President Kamala Harris of “funding genocide.”

   

   Montoya even spread a false conspiracy theory that Jesus was a Palestinian, not a Jew. 

   

   Just days prior, Montoya posted the anti-Israel slogan, “From the river to the sea!!!”

   

   In addition to BenSaid and Montoya, at least 12 SEIU-UHW staff signed on to a movement called “Purple Up 4 Palestine.” The group supports Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and refers to the country as the “genocidal entity known as Israel”

   Purple Up 4 Palestine also referred to Hamas terrorists as “Palestinians fighting genocide” and claimed that any allegations of “sexual abuse” against the terrorist group had been debunked and were racist. 

   Statement from Purple Up 4 Palestine:

   “We are also recommending a NO vote to Resolutions #106 & #205. The member-led Resolution #201 takes into account the decades of colonization, occupation, & resistance – while the other resolutions erase history, conflate the colonizer with the colonized, and even repeat debunked, racist claims that Palestinians fighting genocide are sexual abusers.”

   The objectionable language the group took offense to? 

   Resolution #106:

   “We condemn the horrific attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023 that killed over 1,200 Israelis and others, abducted 240 people, and included unconscionable acts of sexual violence and other atrocities.”

   

    

   Categories: SEIU

4. New Report Exposes SEIU-UHW Controversial Leadership

   Posted on Jun 13, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   

   A new report by the Center for Union Facts (CUF) dives into years of allegations against the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers (SEIU-UHW). The allegations include but are not limited to sexual harassment at the hands of union leadership and a toxic work environment.

   “SEIU-UHW claims to represent the best interest of healthcare workers. But a closer look into the union suggests it’s anything but a healthy work environment,” said CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello. “In fact, allegations of a toxic culture filled with bullying and harassment speak to a sickness that’s spreading from the very top of the union. The SEIU’s newest President April Verrett has a duty to weed out bad actors at her union, starting with SEIU-UHW.” 

   “The analysis is part of CUF’s ongoing national education campaign regarding the SEIU. This campaign includes a website UnhealthyUHW.com where information from this report and other details on SEIU-UHW spending can be found. It also features several videos that highlight concerns from real SEIU members about their union. You can see some of the videos here and here.”

   The full report is available here. 

   Highlights from the report include:
   

   • Multiple accusations of sexual harassment conducted by union leadership and subsequent alleged retaliation against the accusers
   • Dave Regan (President) has a checkered history, including being accused of assaulting a process server, charged with resisting arrest, and allegedly pushing a California lawmaker
   • Leadership has been accused of fostering an anti-union work environment
   • Over 1 million workers have levied over 500 unfair labor practice complaints against the union

   The report comes as the international SEIU transitions to new leadership under President April Verrett, who has her own controversial history of union busting allegations. 

   Categories: SEIU

5. UAW Federal Corruption Monitor Launches Investigation Into Shawn Fain

   Posted on Jun 12, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   The recent corruption scandal at the UAW put two former union presidents and several other high-ranking officials behind bars. Now, an independent federal monitor serves as a corruption watchdog for the UAW. His latest report revealed some disturbing allegations against the UAW’s new “reform” president, Shawn Fain.

   In February, the UAW removed secretary-treasurer Margaret Mock from a number of assignments. The monitor’s report revealed Mock alleged her removal was “improperly instigated in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to authorize certain expenditures of funds at the request of and/or for the benefit of those in the President’s Office.” 

   Several months later, this pattern allegedly repeated itself with UAW Vice President Rich Boyer.

   Boyer was removed from his position as head of the Stellantis department in May, charged with “dereliction of duty” in the face of recent layoffs of UAW members at Stellantis. 

   The monitor’s report, however, tells a different side of the story:

   “Shortly thereafter, the Monitor received allegations from the Vice President and other Union staff that the explanation in the President’s memorandum was pretextual and false, and that the President removed the Vice President’s assignment as retaliation against him for, among other things, refusing to engage in acts of financial misconduct to benefit others.”

   The monitor also reports that the union has undermined his investigation into these charges.

   According to the report: 

   “The Monitor has attempted for months to garner the Union’s cooperation in gathering the information needed to conduct a full investigation, but the Union has effectively slow-rolled the Monitor’s access to requested documents…

   …As of the date of this Report, more than three months after the Monitor’s initial document request, the Union has produced a very small portion (approximately 2,600 documents) of the current potentially relevant pool of approximately 116,000—and with more than 80% of those documents only produced on June 6, 2024, days before the issuance of this Report.” 

   The current investigation is ongoing, and the accuracy of the charges brought by Mock and Boyer remain to be seen. But we should know soon enough – the monitor notes that he may seek intervention by the Court if this “slow-rolling” isn’t resolved within the next few weeks. 

   Categories: UAW

6. Record UAW Contracts = Record UAW Layoffs

   Posted on Jun 06, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   In 2023, the UAW went on strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers – and brought home what it called a “record contract.” 

   Well the contract broke records alright, it seems to have caused a record number of layoffs. 

   Since the end of the strike in November 2023, over 20,000 UAW members at Big Three facilities have experienced layoffs. 

   

   Mapped out, the numbers are staggering. Thousands of employees missed paychecks or were forced to find new jobs across five states as automakers cut shifts and pared back production. A 25 percent pay raise sounds good in theory, but if Ford cuts a third of its 150 Lighting shifts at the Rouge to cover that expense, then the auto workers affected may be worse off than they were before the new contract. 

   Although no automaker has escaped unscathed, the blow has fallen hardest on UAW members at Stellantis. Since the UAW and Stellantis came to the new contract agreement, over 1,300 UAW members at the company have permanently lost their jobs, alongside thousands more temporarily laid off as the company tries to control rising labor costs. 

   Here’s what an expert on the automotive industry had to say about the situation: 

   “Marick Masters, a professor emeritus of business at Wayne State University and a UAW expert, said it’s not surprising that Stellantis has sought to cut costs including by trimming its workforce, to make up for the higher labor costs of the new UAW contract. ‘Anybody that didn’t anticipate this coming was being a little bit naive about the realities of business,’ Masters said.”

   Going forward, perhaps Shawn Fain should spend less time on fawning press interviews, and more time actually representing the UAW’s current members. About 20,000 of them sound like they could use it. 

   Categories: UAW

7. NYT FULL-PAGE AD: Is Shawn Fain America’s Latest Election Denier?

   Posted on May 30, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   

   UAW President Shawn Fain loves to talk about “democracy” – until it doesn’t go his way. 

   In a recent secret ballot vote, workers rejected the UAW at the Mercedes-Benz Alabama plant. But the UAW is disputing the results of its double digit loss. Despite around 90% of eligible workers participating in the union election (for reference, only around 66% of eligible voters voted in our last presidential election) and losing by a 12-point margin, the UAW is calling for a new vote. 

   It’s an ironic twist for a UAW administration that claims to represent a more democratic new direction.

   In reality, union activists admit they likely had less support at the plant than they publicly claimed: 

   “But in conversations with organizers over the past month who didn’t want to be identified, the concept of a supermajority seemed elusive.”

   Others note that the UAW made several strategic errors in the campaign, and the union lost momentum as it closed in on the vote:

   “In the closing days of our campaign and while being an observer for the election, I noticed very few were still wearing the union hats, buttons, and bracelets that they were so proudly wearing just a couple months prior.” – Jeremy Kimbrell, UAW organizer 

   When workers change their minds on a union, it isn’t cause for a new vote. That’s just losing an election, fair and square. 

   In response to this rejection of workplace democracy, the Center for Union Facts took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling out Shawn Fain’s efforts to overturn election results he doesn’t like. You can see the full ad here. 

   Let’s just hope the National Labor Relations Board respects the will of the voters more than the UAW does. 

   Categories: UAW

8. Bloated Budgets and Sagging Membership

   Posted on May 09, 2024 by LaborPains.org Team

   The United Auto Workers (UAW) hit two records last year – the lowest number of active members since the great recession and the highest amount of money spent on staff salaries in that same time period.

   A careful analysis of the UAW’s most recent financial filings with the Department of Labor reveals that the union spent over $86 million on gross salary disbursements to its officers and employees in 2023, while its membership fell to the lowest level since 2009. 

   

   Laid out on a graph, the numbers are jarring. Today the UAW has over 500 staff members and officers receiving six-figure salaries. Some six-figure-earning union officers even pay their executive assistants six-figure salaries.

   Salary is only part of the story for the UAW’s spending spree. The union’s overall expenses have grown to the nine-figure sum of over $470 million – the highest number digitally recorded by the Department of Labor. This includes millions of dollars spent on lawyers, public relations consultants, and luxury hotels. Last year, the national headquarters even spent $70,000 on a golf outing. 

   This data puts the UAW’s current organizing campaign into a new perspective. With membership declining and salaries exploding, the union needs new members to pay into the system fast. It takes the dues payments of an estimated 80,000 autoworkers to support those staffers and officers alone, which is tough to do with the Big Three laying off workers left and right. Without new paychecks to siphon dues from, those 500+ union staffers making six figures might need to get real jobs. 

   Categories: UAW