The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup states: "In the Court's view, the defense actually laid before the jury considerable evidence of their motives - but the jury saw through it as a smokescreen. Accordingly, they have failed to present any basis for granting a new trial on this ground."

"First they tried to secretly undermine and harm the union members they were sworn to represent and protect. Then, when they got caught, they tried to weasel out paying for what they did to us," said Richard Cruz, a financial counselor at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.

In the April trial, the federal jury ordered the individual defendants to pay $854,150 in damages to the SEIU-UHW members they betrayed. The jury also ordered NUHW to pay $724,000. Since the trial, NUHW, Rosselli, and the 15 other defendants contended that the damages were less than half of the $1.57 million, but Judge Alsup rejected their arguments and ordered them to pay the full amount.

The April ruling against NUHW, Rosselli, and the others was the first of three in recent months confirming their efforts to undermine SEIU-UHW members and make the union "ungovernable."

In a separate ruling in May, Judge Alsup booted Rosselli and four of his top assistants off a $22 million union education fund that they illegally tried to maintain control of even after they were removed from office in SEIU-UHW. The order by Judge Alsup described the transaction through which Rosselli and his allies sought to maintain control of the fund as "drenched in self-dealing." The ruling means the fund will now once again be controlled by SEIU-UHW members, who negotiate employer contributions to finance job training and education.

And this month, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board - one of its highest ranking officials - found that while they were still in office in SEIU-UHW, Rosselli and the others:

• Deliberately failed to handle grievances and bargain contracts.
• Canceled contracts leaving members with no union protection.
• Stole and destroyed documents needed for grievances and bargaining.
• Moved millions in members' dues money into a private account they controlled.
• Threatened and intimidated SEIU-UHW staff and supporters.

In the two-week jury trial before Judge Alsup that led to the $1.57 million judgment, the evidence presented in court revealed among other things:

• Breach of responsibility to members: Rosselli and the other defendants' breach of responsibilities to members began with secret meetings as early as 2007 - years before the trusteeship - in which they strategized how they would smear SEIU, resist democratic decisions made by the International Union, and launch a new union using the resources of SEIU-UHW.




• Stolen lists: Rosselli and the other defendants developed secret databases and planned to set up computers to connect with the union server without the IT department knowing. They also established a private e-mail system to communicate about the conspiracy without being detected or leaving incriminating emails on the SEIU-UHW servers.




• Stolen and destroyed documents: The defendants secretly took and destroyed bargaining and grievance documents needed to protect members' rights and support their fight for raises, healthcare and other benefits.




• $3 million slush fund: Rosselli and the other defendants moved $3 million of SEIU-UHW members' money off the books into slush fund until they were caught by the International Union and forced to return what they hadn't spent.




• Violence and intimidation: Witnesses on both sides testified that Rosselli and his followers used violence and intimidation as part of their desperate attempt to hold onto power.




• Using members as shields: The defendants used members as a proxy for efforts to violate the SEIU-UHW and SEIU constitutions, such as drafting, circulating and promoting a union-disaffiliation petition at the same time they declared it a "bottom up, grassroots" effort. A Washington DC lawyer they retained specifically recommended that they hide and "launder" their activities through members.




• Making SEIU-UHW "ungovernable:" Defendant Barbara Lewis wrote a memo in the fall of 2008 about how to use members to "create an ungovernable situation" and sabotage their own union in order to make SEIU-UHW look bad just as they were starting their rival union. Many parts of the memo were carried out to the letter.




• Contract extensions canceled: Members were kept in the dark about critical decisions such as having their contract extensions severed by defendant John Vellardita days before the trusteeship - a move that left members without job protection in the midst of California's worst economic crisis in decades. They canceled the contracts so they could turn around and try to decertify the homes.

BACKGROUND ON THE CASE

Rosselli and other top officials were removed from office in SEIU-UHW on January 27, 2009, when the local was placed in trusteeship. They were found to have misused millions in members' dues money and violated members' democratic rights. The following day they formed a new organization called the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and immediately began trying to convince SEIU-UHW members to switch to their new group. So far, more than 95 percent of SEIU-UHW members have chosen to stay in their current union.

SEIU - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is the largest hospital and healthcare union in the western United States with more than 150,000 members. We unite every type of healthcare worker with a mission to achieve high-quality healthcare for all. SEIU-UHW is part of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's fastest-growing union. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.

Source: SEIU-UHW