KPFA Concerned Listener Supporter & David Bacon Censors Out SEIU Corporate Unionism

You rail on about SEIU supposedly "selling out," but offer no alternative plan for doing things better. In case you haven't noticed, unions and the working class in general have been getting our (what's left of them) collective behinds kicked. SEIU is one of the few unions in America (if not the only one) that is growing, and uses what power it can muster to leverage the best deals we can get. Just like collective bargaining, you get the best deal you can get with the power you have at the moment, then live on to fight another day. Your holier-than-thou idealism doesn't achieve a thing for the working class. Get real, SEIU is the best thing going in the labor-movement at the moment. Unless you're actually doing it better, stop whining and help organize some non-union workplaces.

The article doesn't denounce the Union (SEIU ) as a whole but the top leadership , especially Andrew Stern . Stern, a ex-Maoist who in his 20's and 30's used to correctly denounce both capitalism and Union officials who give ''sweetheart '' contracts to corporations and Govt. admistrations , now says that class struggle is a ''antiquated European concept '' and gave Nursing home owners contracts that deprieves members of even the basic right to file greviences !
MANY rank and members are fed up . In San Francisco a rank and file group became so disgusted that they attempted to de cert from SEIU and reaffilate with the Public Employees Union , a small California Union. That effort failed and the brothers and sisters were unjustly suspended from the Union.
In our view that de-cert was a bad mistake but it was grossly hyprocritical for the SEIU leaders to label it '' Union busting ''. The SEIU tops have often used de-certs as a tactic in raiding other unions .
Bacon is certainly worthly of praise for publizing Labor struggles and is one of the rare full time Labor journalists in the US.
But he also has a history of not supporting rank and file Union democracy . That's a fundamental contradiction . You can't have a strong labor movement in which the rank and file doesn't have a real role in decision making . The same goes for Pacifica . You can't be a true alternative to corporate media and run it like Clear channel mgmt. !

It is no accident that David Bacon's defender "Reality Check" is interested in doing damage control for corporate unionist SEIU Pres Andy Stern by ignoring the fight inside the SEIU and also Stern's power grab in California. When Stern rigs elections to kick out another SEIU leader and then cuts a deal with union buster Schwartzenegger to keep the insurance industry in healthcare "Reality Check" says it's ok and "Labor Dude" Bacon ignores it in his radio show.
"Reality Check" should check out the statement of CNA head Rose Ann DeMoro to get a real "reality check" on the antics of Andy Stern and the SEIU leadership.


http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/demoro062507.htm

CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER

California Nurses’ DeMoro Says SEIU on the Side of the Bosses
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 27, June 25, 2007

Michael Moore has made a great movie.

Sicko.

Everyone should see it.

And take the kids.

The movie’s message in a nutshell – we need single payer.

In the United States.

Now.

But Senate Democrats are trying to co-opt the message.

On Capitol Hill today, SEIU held a rally for a couple of hundred health care workers.

The group was addressed by six Senators.

None support single payer.

Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) – does not support single payer.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) – does not support single payer.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) – does not support single payer.

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) – does not support single payer.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) – does not support single payer.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) – does not support single payer.

We asked Dawn Lee, a spokesperson for SEIU, whether SEIU supported HR 676 – the single payer bill in the House.

She said SEIU takes no position on that bill.

SEIU – does not support single payer.

At the SEIU rally, all spoke in favor of “universal health care.”

That is code for – keep the insurance companies in the game.

Single payer would take them out.

Martese Chism was at a similar rally in Chicago last month.

Chism is a registered nurse at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

She also sits on the board of the California Nurses Association (CNA).

CNA is pro-single payer.

Chism was attending an SEIU rally in Chicago in support of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s “universal health care” bill that would keep the insurance companies in the game.

Chism says that the SEIU members who gathered for the rally were being actively misled by SEIU.

“SEIU members are being led to believe that universal health care means free health care for all – single payer,” Chism told Corporate Crime Reporter. “But it doesn’t mean that. It means keeping the insurance companies in the game. I had to leave because I couldn’t take it anymore. The insurance companies and SEIU are misleading people.”

CNA executive director Rose Ann DeMoro is a touch less subtle.

“Rather than being on the side of the workers, SEIU continues to be on the side of the bosses,” DeMoro told Corporate Crime Reporter. “And it’s a disgrace.”

“And the problem is that SEIU is giving cover to these Senators – it makes them look like they are accomplishing something when in fact they are accomplishing nothing. These legislators are gutless, and the SEIU is giving them cover.”

DeMoro is using the movie Sicko to generate public support for single payer around the country.

Unfortunately, the powers that be in the Democratic Party are working – with SEIU and other unions – to undermine public support for single payer.

And soon, Michael Moore too will have to choose.

Between single payer – and the corporate Democratic Party’s candidate for President.

That candidate will be – if past is prologue – opposed to single payer.

And the question will remain, as always – which side are you on?