California Attorney General Jerry Brown-Ever Vigilant in the War on Crime
Most people outside the State of California may not even be aware that former Governor Jerry Brown, who was known as "Governor Moonbeam"-with good reason, is still around California politics. Not only is he still around, he may take another run at the governorship in the next election.
After a stint as Mayor of Oakland, where he presided over an exploding murder rate, Brown has most recently been serving as California's Attorney General. If you have a hard time envisioning Jerry as a crime-fighter, you can't be blamed. As Attorney General, Brown's focus has been primarily on chasing down every last corporate polluter and providing even more disincentives for businesses to remain in the state. Violent criminals? Illegal alien street gangs? Forget it. Jerry has a larger vision.
Part of that vision is apparently using the position of Attorney General as a pulpit from which to push unionization on companies in the state. There is no better example than the 5-year-old battle involving the St Joseph Health System, a Catholic-run group of 14 hospitals under the management of Catholic nuns.
Currently, union activists are attempting to organize the workers of the hospital system. Guess who they have on their side? That's right, none other than the Attorney General himself. Not only that, but Brown has even chosen to personally appear at union rallies with other figures such as actor Ed Begley Jr. to call for "justice" for St Joseph workers.
In today's Orange County Register editorial, the paper points out that one union, Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers-West (SEIU)is even attempting to circumvent minor steps in the process-like having workers vote to decide if they even want to be unionized-to gain unionization over all 14 hospitals. The sisters claim that they are open to a "fair union election with secret ballots", but, according to the Register, SEIU wants "an exclusive mass organizing agreement with the health system that we (St Joseph) believe limits employee and employer rights..."
In late July, a week-long rally was held by United Health Care Workers organizers in front of the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St Josephs of Orange. None other than the Attorney General was there, and this is what he had to say:
"Union organizing is organizing for the well being and the common good. St Joseph, you have your work cut out for you to turn these hearts around and bring this union into convergence and alignment at the Motherhouse". (No, he didn't say anything about bringing the stars into convergence and alignment.)
My question is why is the Attorney General of California even involving himself in this questionable movement? Doesn't he have better things to do in a state already riddled with violent crime from illegal alien gangs and countless other elements? Shouldn't he be looking into the Sanctuary City policies of places like LA and San Francisco that are leading to the murders on city streets of innocent Americans? How about the blatant corruption of state political figures in Sacramento like Don Perata and Fabian Nunez? I guess not.
Instead, this bizarre political figure from a by-gone era devotes his efforts to enforcing his own social agenda-which often has nothing to do with the duties of his office.
Did I say by-gone era? I take that back.
Your description of St. Joseph Health System employees’ proposal for a fair election process is wildly inaccurate. You claim that employees seek to form a union by circumventing a secret-ballot election process. Let me correct the record. Employees have consistently proposed that St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) negotiate a set of mutually agreeable and enforceable fair ground rules by which secret-ballot union elections can be conducted. This approach is consistent with the Catholic Church. In 1999, a subcommittee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recommended that Catholic hospitals across the U.S. negotiate fair election ground rules in order to ensure that hospitals’ practices are consistent with Catholic teaching (see the USCCB’s document entitled “A Fair and Just Workplace: Principles and Practices for Catholic Health Care”).
ReplyDeleteEstablishing fair election ground rules is also the policy of the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, where two SJHS hospitals are located. And for years, this fair approach has been in use at California’s largest hospital systems, including Catholic Healthcare West, Kaiser Permanente, Daughters of Charity Health System, HCA and Tenet Healthcare. It’s notable that for-profit giants like HCA and Tenet Healthcare have adopted this sensible approach, while SJHS has refused to do so.
Are fair election ground rules really necessary at St. Joseph facilities? Sadly, they are. St. Joseph is waging an aggressive campaign to prevent its employees from having the right to freely choose whether or not to form a union. SJHS has targeted, interrogated, silenced and even fired employees who merely seek to exercise their rights to form a union. For example, after a four-month investigation, the federal government last week charged one SJHS hospital in Orange County with widespread violations of federal labor law, including interrogating employees, spying on union supporters, and physically blocking employees from distributing their union newsletter to co-workers outside their hospital (to see the government’s 11-page filing on this matter, go to www.voiceatsaintjoes.org). Public records indicate that SJHS has spent millions of dollars to hire outside consultants who specialize in preventing workers from forming unions.
During the past 10 months alone, every one of SJHS’s hospitals in Southern California has faced actions by the federal government for labor-law violations. At one hospital, SJHS officials committed such severe violations of federal labor law that federal officials were forced to throw out the results of a tainted election eight months ago. According to a federal judge who investigated the issue, SJHS’s violations included illegally restricting employees’ free speech rights and threatening workers with loss of wages and benefits if they voted for the union. At the same hospital, SJHS managers illegally fired employees because of their support for unionization, according to a federal judge.
SJHS employee’s proposal to establish fair ground rules has won broad support among Catholic leaders. The National Coalition of American Nuns and even former members of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange (the order that runs SJHS) have endorsed this approach. As have many clergy. Hopefully, the women religious who run SJHS will consult their legacy of good works and sit down to negotiate fair and enforceable ground rules for secret-ballot elections at their hospitals.
Mr Seavey,
ReplyDeleteI gathered from the language in your response that you are a union guy, which a google search on your name seems to bear out (limited entries). I think you should have attached your title to your name.
Two points: My remarks were based on what I read in the OC Register. Do I know the minute details of the dispute? Of course not. Am I a union supporter? No. I think people should have the right to work without being forced or intimidated into joining a union. I have never belonged to a union and would leave any job before joining a union. Why? I don't like intimidation, and I don't like the idea of my money going to a union that turns around and gives it to parties and causes I don't agree with.
But you missed my thesis. My point was that I don't see why jerry Brown, our Attorney General, is involving himself in this issue when there are so many crime issues crying out for his attention.
You quote "federal violations" that SJHS has committed. If that is the case, then the feds can take appropraite measures. Similarly, if Atty Gen Brown determines there are state violations, he can take action above and beyond traveling to Orange to give speeches.
I have followed this guy's career for decades, and I am fully aware that he is a lefty-and thus aligns himself with unions. I just think he has better things to do as AG.