The trusteeship has been an extremely challenging time for all of us as members of SEIU-UHW. Leading up to the trusteeship we lived through two years of chaos and disruption organized by the former leaders. And for the last 18 months, we've lived with the division and commotion that the former officials of our union have created in many of our workplaces after they formed a new organization, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).
Nobody likes the fact that we are in trusteeship, but we needed the trusteeship to straighten out the financial irregularities and anti-democratic activities of former President Sal Rosselli and the other former officials of our union.
Despite the intense efforts by Mr. Rosselli and the others to weaken and sabotage our union - for which they were found guilty in federal court and ordered to pay $1.57 million in damages - we have made great strides in the past year-and-a-half. We have won more than 80 contracts that protect and increase wages and benefits. We have turned back efforts to gut home care services and jobs. And we have helped elect candidates to political office who will stand up for working people. Additionally, more than 94 percent of members who have been threatened by NUHW's attempts to decertify our union have chosen to stay united in SEIU-UHW, more than 72,000 members.
We can be proud of what we have accomplished given the activities of Mr. Rosselli and the other former officials of our union that included misusing millions of our dues, stealing and destroying grievance and bargaining records needed to protect members, removing $3 million from our strike fund, and outright canceling members' contracts.
But there is still more work to be done. Despite our progress, we have not yet overcome all of the negative effects left behind by the former leaders' undemocratic activities and their continued attempts to destabilize our collective bargaining relationships and put us at risk in the workplace. That's why Trustee Dave Regan sent a letter July 16 to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry requesting that the trusteeship continue for a while longer.
President Henry agreed with our assessment and set a time frame calling for us to emerge from trusteeship no later than March 2011. In the meantime, we will focus our energies on winning the Kaiser and other decertification elections, ensuring a fair state budget for home care workers and other SEIU-UHW members, and winning our campaign to protect home care wages in Fresno County from major cuts.
In the coming months we will provide information to all members on putting new local union bylaws to a rank-and-file vote and preparing for an election of new officers and an executive board so we can emerge from trusteeship as a stronger and more democratic union than ever before.
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