When Alec MacGillis of the Washington Post noted last Wednesday that this is "an awkward moment for the SEIU," he alerted readers to a reality those following the labor movement have recognized for some time.

Andy Stern, President of SEIU, viewed as "a possible savior of labor" per MacGillis, has led SEIU into a pattern of activity that calls into question whether SEIU's leaders really believe in the principles they claim to stand for.

The simplest way to understand the gap between SEIU's words and its actions is to understand that, for Andy Stern, the consolidation of power has consistently trumped principle. While supporting Stern and SEIU once seemed like 'one stop shopping' for progressives looking to support workers, that support increasingly comes at the price of turning a blind eye to a troubling pattern of hypocrisy.

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"We are the union, the mighty mighty union!"

I hear the chants in my head.  When I need them, they come to me.

This line is especially true right now for the former members of United Healthcare Workers-West.   We are the union.  A week and a half ago, many of my sisters and brothers and I slept in our union hall, before the hostile takeover by our International, SEIU. As we held our hall, my sisters and I worked to maintain our union.  We fended off anyone SEIU sent to weasel their way in without warrants.  We planned how we'd move forward during an imminent occupation:  how we'd communicate with each other; how we would reach deep into our membership to take our union back.  

It occurred to me that night hunched over the bare desks in the communication department office, the union solidarity posters hanging behind me, that though we had been member leaders up to that point, stewards and activists for union democracy, something had changed.  This was a sort of matriculation, graduation day.  

This was not the sort of matriculation I wanted, but in this moment of crisis, while SEIU was preparing to take our hall, after they'd put us into trusteeship for refusing to go along with their undemocratic processes, in this moment when our staff, some of the smartest, most committed, best people I know, were told by SEIU to leave the Hall and were preparing for their "interviews" (interrogations), our elected officers had been fired for being too strong and too empowered, too unified.  In this dark and outrageous moment in the life of our union and the history of the labor movement, I sensed a quiet determination, a victory.

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{Tonight, Amy Thigpen, the author of this diary, and members of UHW are sleeping in their union halls across California due the threat of imminent seizure of those buildings by SEIU International, which instituted a takeover of UHW West today. Tonight, I'm posting this diary for Amy while we work on getting her and other members a mydd userid. -paul delehanty}

Last night I slept on the kind of carpet you don't really want to examine too closely.  It's splotched with decades of coffee stains and salsa and too many conversations still seem to hang in the stale air, but there I was, curled up on my air mattresses in the union hall in downtown Oakland, the home of United Healthcare Workers West, my union.   On my right my sister the Medical Assistant slept peacefully, on my left my sister the Call Center Representative, across my sister the Ultrasound Technician, and my sister the Optical Technician.  All of them healthcare workers, member leaders and officers in our union.  I realized that I loved this stale, stained room, with carpets held together by duct tape, I love the room because it holds the waking dreams of my sister and brothers in UHW-W.  The place may be held together by duct tape but we as a union are held together by something stronger.

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Widely-respected progressive columnist Juan Gonzalez nails SEIU's megalomaniac would-be dictator Andy Stern to the wall in a column in today's New York Daily News.

SEIU President Andy Stern is a threat to labor soul

SEIU President Andy Stern is pushing ahead with a plan despite several scandals.

Andy Stern, head of the nation's fastest-growing union and a chief proponent of labor reform, is about to reveal himself as a colossal scam artist.

Stern, president of the 2million-member Service Employees International Union, plans to kick off the new year with a stunning assault on democracy within his union.

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United Healthcare Workers West's rank-and-file leadership has filed a lawsuit against Andy Stern and Anna Burger for their campaign of systematically trying to silence the members ­of UHW who are spe­aking out against Stern and Burger's power ­grabs. The lawsuit notes several actions taken by Stern's inner circle--including threats of a politically motivated trusteeship and dismantling of UHW--which are intended to chill dissent within SEIU.  

UHW is the largest west coast local of SEIU. It has criticized Stern and his associates for undemocratic actions and corruption.

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