The Republican Lawyer Blog : SEIU

SEIU's Debt Problem

Matt Suermann — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:46:00 GMT

In today’s Washington Times RNLA Member, and former Bush Administration official, F. Vincent Vernuccio, outlines the financial mess that Andy Stern is leaving the SEIU in as he leaves his leadership post in Obama’s favorite union.

Purple may be the official color of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), but Andy Stern is leaving the union deep in the red. Last week, he surprised the labor community by announcing his resignation as president of SEIU. Mr. Stern has claimed victories in helping pass health care legislation and getting President Obama elected, but his impact within his own organization shows gaping budget deficits and massive underfunding of pensions.

SEIU has seen its liabilities skyrocket during the past decade. The union's liabilities totaled $7,625,832 in 2000. By 2009, they had increased almost by a factor of 16, to $120,893,259. Meanwhile, SEIU's assets barely tripled, growing from $66,632,631 in 2000 to $187,664,763 in 2009. A significant portion of SEIU's current assets are from IOUs from hard-up locals.

Even more ironic is the shape that the SEIU’s pension funds are in and the rough shape that they are currently in.

SEIU's pensions are in even worse shape. Both of SEIU's two national pension plans, the SEIU National Industry Pension Fund and the Pension Plan for Employees of the SEIU, issued critical-status letters last year. The Pension Protection Act requires any pension fund that is funded below 65 percent of what it needs to pay its obligations to inform its beneficiaries of the deficit.

Even worse is the connection between the union and the Obama Administration, with several high ranking SEIU officials now enjoying prime positions within the Obama White House. While the employee pensions are floundering, the goals of the SEIU have taken on a very political tone recently.

While SEIU's pension plans were failing and its liabilities growing, Mr. Stern seemed more concerned with electoral politics than with the internal workings of the union. Indeed, politics can account for much of SEIU's lavish spending in recent years. "We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama - $60.7 million to be exact - and we're proud of it," he boasted to the Las Vegas Sun last year. In all, under Mr. Stern, SEIU spent more than $85 million to elect President Obama and give Democrats control of Congress. What has been Mr. Stern's reward?

Be sure to check out the entire Op Ed in the Washington Times.

Working Families Party Threatens Wavering Dems.

Justin Riemer — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:22:00 GMT

Politico reports that New York's Working Families Party (WFP) has announced that the party "will deny its endorsement to any member of Congress who votes 'no' on health care legislation." WFP is ACORN's (now New York Communities for Change) unofficial political arm in New York State. (Among numerous other close ties to ACORN, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis was the founding Co-Chair of the party.) Recently, City Hall reported that Lewis had quietly stepped down as the state Co-Chair of the party.

Working Families Party is in hot water for potential illegal in-kind contributions that Data and Field Services, a company controlled by the WFP, allegedly made to a Democratic City Council candidate for providing campaign management and services to the candidate's campaign. A recent piece at Human Events notes that the case "has drawn interest from both the Staten Island District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney for New York." Please click here for more on the WFP's recent troubles.

Smith notes that WFP's threat should be taken seriously:

New York is home to several moderate Democrats who are sitting on the fence on health care, and the party has in the past provided the margin of victory to some of those Democrats. Upstate Reps. Scott Murphy, Mike Arcuri, and Bill Owens, and Staten Island Rep. Michael McMahon, are all reportedly undecided or leaning against the bill.

The party's ballot line was the margin of victory for both Owens and Murphy last year, and a protest candidate to the left in a general election this fall would be a serious blow to a number of New York Democrats facing difficult races.

The Service Employees International Union, a Working Families Party constituent, has also threatened to drop its support for McMahon if he votes against health care reform.

This is not an enviable position to be in: Go against your constituents' wishes in moderate to conservative-leaning districts, vote for health care and risk getting voted out of office in November; or you can vote against the bill and have the Working Families Party (not to mention the SEIU) withdraw their support. Both options potentially cost you the election. A similar situation is playing itself out in Arkansas where Senator Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat, is facing a primary challenge from the left. She risks losing the support of the state's Democratic primary voters if she votes against health care and risks losing the General Election if she votes for it.

"Saving Freedom From Vote Fraud" Highlights

Justin Riemer — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:50:00 GMT

The CPAC Session: "Saving Freedom from Vote Fraud" featured some of the leading figures in the fight for fair elections: RNLA Chairman David Norcross, Wall Street Journal's John Fund, ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief and RNLA Co-Chair Cleta Mitchell (who moderated the forum). The panel proved to be a lively discussion on ACORN, SEIU, and Democrats' efforts towards universal voter registration.

RNLA Chairman David Norcross warned of the dangers of ACORN and how the organization is intertwined with the SEIU. Specifically, Norcross pointed out that ACORN's efforts in the recent gubernatorial elections in his home state of New Jersey were minimal. Instead, the SEIU did most of the heavy lifting for former Governor Corzine. The point is one can't make clear distinctions between the two organizations or take comfort from the fact that ACORN has possibly scaled down it's voter registration and GOTV activities. The same people who want to steal elections are at work regardless of what organization they are officially identified with.

Norcross noted that this is part of the SEIU and ACORN's attempts to move the country to the left and to do it quickly. Attempting to steal elections and thwart the popular will is one step to help speed the process.

ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief had the CPAC crowd on its feet. She described her past experiences working with ACORN and how the organization engaged in a concerted effort to learn the provisional and absentee ballot laws in each of the 50 states in an effort to see where they could get away with mischief. Basically, they were looking for holes in the system that ACORN and other affiliated groups could exploit. Again, the common theme is that you can't get hung up on semantics: the official organization may not be ACORN, it could be the SEIU or America Votes, but the people involved are the same.

MonCrief also recounted ACORN's plans to recruit candidates for races at the local level and get them to climb the ranks to be governors, Secretaries of State, and Senators. She noted that they achieved their ultimate goal of the Presidency with the election of Barack Obama. (Obama worked for ACORN-affiliate Project Vote in his community organizing days.) In addition, the election of liberal, politically motivated Secretaries of State in states such as Ohio and Minnesota has removed a traditional check against voter fraud: a state's chief election official's nonideological treatment of the elections process.

Finally, John Fund highlighted the dangers associated with Congressional Democrats' plans for federally mandated universal voter registration. They use the ruse of pointing out examples like ACORN's voter registration fraud activities as evidence that our voter registration system is broken beyond repair. Rather than try to fix it, Democrats would rather just solve the problem by registering everyone.

To compile the voter registration lists the federal government would pull property records, drivers' licenses, tax records, and numerous other sources. This would create mass chaos caused by duplicate registrations, illegal aliens ending up on the rolls (some states allow illegal aliens to obtain drivers licenses), people being registered in multiple states (for example: if someone owns property in two states it's possible they would be registered in each), and problems with individuals using their middle names in some records and their first in others. There are numerous other scenarios for disaster and uncertainty in this situation and that's exactly the left's plan: cause chaos and exploit the system's vulnerabilities.

Cleta Mitchell ended the panel with two action items for CPAC attendees: 1. Visit your local voter registration office and get a list of those conducting voter registration drives. Get the names and google them to see if they are connected to ACORN, SEIU, or another left-wing organization. 2. Volunteer to be a poll watcher on Election Day.

Damage Control – SEIU Tries to Distance Itself from ACORN

Chris Berg — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:06:00 GMT

I believe that SEIU and ACORN have been wed together for so long it's nearly impossible for them to divorce. Stephen Spruiell has a great article in the National Review that sheds some light on that relationship.

But today, an article from the Houston Chronicle really caught my eye. SEIU has apparently revoked the charter of Local 100 - the ACORN founded and operated labor union.

You know you're in trouble when SEIU tries to run away from you. As I read the article it really struck me that SEIU is taking a lot of money from their members, but the leadership doesn't think very highly of them. They consider them "an odd mix of workers." If I were a dues paying member, I'd want more for my money.

Labor leader stays on the job despite losing charter

The nameplate on Orell Fitzsimmons' desk still says Service Employees International Union.

The union's Web site address is still SEIU100.org. And the longtime Houston labor leader still says "us" when he is referring to the big international union.

For two decades, Fitzsimmons has been the voice of SEIU in Houston as he organized food service, janitorial and other public sector workers. That changed when the international union revoked Local 100's charter last month.

But Fitzsimmons hasn't gone away. The local union, which ACORN founder Wade Rathke launched and still oversees, has gone back to its roots.

The 4,000-member union, including 1,900 in Houston, is again called United Labor Unions Local 100, the name Rathke first used in 1980 when he expanded ACORN's community organizing model to public sector workers in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. ACORN is the national community organization that has drawn fire for alleged misbehavior by some employees, former officers and voter registration contractors.

Michelle Ringuette, director of external communications for SEIU in Washington, said Local 100 comprises an "odd mix of workers," including many public sector workers who don't have collective bargaining rights.

Ringuette also said the local isn't financially viable — a claim Fitzsimmons disputes.

If anything, he said, the new union — which has only one local — is in a stronger position because it doesn't have to pay monthly dues of $7.50 per member to the SEIU.

For a typical food service employee paying $18 a month in union dues, that left the local with only $10.50 a month from that member to cover union expenses.

See the full story here.

National Review on SEIU, ACORN and White House

Justin Riemer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:43:00 GMT

In recent weeks, we have blogged about the web of connections between ACORN, SEIU, and the White House. Chris Berg noted that SEIU President Andrew Stern has been the most frequent guest at the White House, appearing on average of about three times per month since Obama took office. A National Review piece out today probes these connections further. (There are also a few nice quotes of Chris.) On the links between SEIU and ACORN:

On the intimidation front, SEIU has worked with the radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The group once served as a valuable ally, but its reputation now lies in tatters thanks to a pair of amateur journalists who, costumed as pimp and hooker, filmed themselves obtaining advice from ACORN staffers on how best to shelter the proceeds of a child-prostitution ring from taxation.

SEIU did not sustain much damage from the scandal, even though, as a colleague of mine quipped, ACORN often acts as its paramilitary wing. SEIU's former political director, Patrick Gaspard, remains comfortably ensconced at the White House as political director — Obama's Karl Rove — and the connection does not appear to have hurt him.

The SEIU-ACORN link is deep and longstanding. At least one SEIU local, Chicago's Local 880, was organized by ACORN and run by it for 20 years. An SEIU official recently testified that the local had severed its ACORN ties, but Chris Berg, a former special assistant at the Office of Labor Management Standards, says, "I'm very skeptical." Keith Kelleher, who spent many years running ACORN in Chicago, is still the local's head organizer. "They've been wed together for so long, I don't think they can divorce," says Berg.

The bottom line on the relationship between SEIU and the White House:

"The most important thing to note about what SEIU is doing is that it's really become a lobbying arm for the president," Berg says. "Much like Organizing for America [the community-organizing group run by the Democratic National Committee], they are trying to drive bodies nationwide to lobby their congressmen and senators to try to implement the president's agenda." Seen in that light, it is entirely unsurprising that Stern's name should be the one that appears most frequently in White House visitor logs. Obama and Stern are working together to make America a more liberal place, and they want you to join them.

Trouble in Paradise – ACORN Founder Calls Out SEIU

Chris Berg — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:29:00 GMT

While I was busy celebrating the electoral victories last week I didn't step back to think about how Wade Rathke would view them. Lucky for us, he took the time to blog about them. Much like Pelosi and Gibbs he insists the Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia have nothing to do with President Obama or America's frustration with his agenda. Instead Rathke blames the Republican victories on SEIU leadership and the fact that ACORN wasn't allowed to do what it does best, steal elections:

Rathke on SEIU:

"Unions need to listen to their members more and to political pros and consultants less. It's embarrassing to know that two huge NYC political players, SEIU and UFT/AFT, took a walk on this election. Their members didn't. Controller Thompson, the challenger, romped with African-Americans and voters making less than $100,000 both of which are heavily represented by those two unions. Had they not been twiddling thumbs on the sidelines, this race would have been even closer and might have sent a message against big money politics that could reverberate around the country."

Rathke on ACORN:

"What are the progressive forces going to do without the GOTV and registration work in the community which ACORN has indicated it is unlikely to play in 2010 and beyond? It was wild to read the pre-election right turnout scare tactics using ACORN as the boogieman. A DC spokesperson for ACORN said they were not even involved anywhere in this race in New Jersey, and despite all of the strum and dang, ACORN had no base or operations in the NY-23^rd race. Turnout was low and decidedly down among minorities and youth. The more one reads and studies this rightwing ideological attack the smarter and more effective it seems, if its main purpose was to help level the playing field by successfully pushing one of the players off the field."

Rathke on Obama:

"And, yes, none of this was about Obama, but all politics is local and the President will get the message."

Rathke's Big Winner:

"The Working Families Party of New York is once again a HUGE winner this election! WFP was vocal from the first blush against the 3^rd term effort and said so unabashedly. They refused Bloomberg access to their line, despite persistent pressure. Not having the WFP doing turnout hurt the Mayor, and having them do turnout for Thompson dramatically helped him bring the race close. Big, WOW, here with props for Danny Cantor and all of the WFP team!"

Isn't denial a beautiful thing? You can read Rathke's full post at his blog.

Beam Me Up – Maybe James Traficant Has the Healthcare Solution

Chris Berg — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:06:00 GMT

Pelosi-Care passed the House. I'm sure you've already checked out the RNLA paper on Healthcare Reform. SEIU is lobbying heavy for passage in the Senate, and ACORN has to sit this one out while they wrangle with their latest scandal. Who can save the day? How about former Congressman James "Beam Me Up" Traficant? I wonder why he's holding town hall meetings.

While not offering a specific plan, Traficant urged his audience to join forces with retirees from other companies as well as salaried workers to respond with a strong, unified and collective voice. The issue regarding Delphi retirees has been addressed but must be resolved, he said.

"If it's not a marriage, at least let it be a shotgun wedding. Join forces," Traficant said, referring to collaborating with former LTV Steel and other retirees.

The ousted 17th District congressman, who recently was released from federal prison after serving seven years for various corruption crimes, also implored the Delphi retirees to have clear goals and be strong and assertive when approaching their elected officials.

"Come together and work with Congress and push them to make you whole," he said.

Read the full article here.

ACORN Would Love to Be Part of This Fight

Chris Berg — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:12:00 GMT

Pelosi-Care has passed the House. As much as those words should scare you, the game isn't over yet.

All but one Republican voted against the Bill. The Republicans lead rallies, protests, brought in Jon Voight and John Ratzenberger. Representatives Bachmann and King really lead the charge. The public spoke up, but the Democrats in power continued to move the Bill forward.

Now the fight moves to the Senate. In the Senate one or two votes may have more of an impact on this legislation.

Democrats are aware that in many ways their electoral prospects and President Obama's opinion rating hinges on this measure. Look at what our friends at SEIU are doing about it. First they went after swing members, urging their union ranks to call and advocate for healthcare reform. When targeting specific members wasn't enough, they decided to target all male members of Congress:

We rigged our toll-free phone line to direct calls to male members of Congress. That's right - the men in Congress need to hear from us about how women are routinely discriminated against by insurance companies. Let's educate them on what women are facing every day: higher premiums, less coverage, and battles with insurers over "pre-existing conditions" like pregnancy and c-sections.

You know ACORN would love to be part of this fight.

WSJ - Unions Were Tuesdays Biggest Loser

Chris Berg — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:41:00 GMT

We've been following the union agenda for a while, its ties to the Obama Administration, its employees who have received appointments. Today Michael Barone has a great piece in the Wall Street Journal explaining that the union agenda was Tuesday's biggest loser. Maybe Patrick Gaspard won't have a home with SEIU once Obama sends him on his way after all.

If you were watching television on Tuesday night as the election returns came in showing Republicans capturing the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, you probably missed seeing the biggest losers of the evening. You may have caught the concession speech of Creigh Deeds, who ran 12% behind Barack Obama's winning percentage of the vote in Virginia, and that of Jon Corzine who, after spending over $100 million of his own money on three campaigns, ran 13% behind Obama's winning percentage in New Jersey and got evicted from Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton.

But you missed seeing the guy who may have been the biggest loser of all—a man who according to recently released White House logs has been a guest in the White House 22 times since Barack Obama became president, more than any other single individual.

That man is Andy Stern, who has boasted that the Service Employees International Union, which he heads, ponied up something like $60 million for Barack Obama and other Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle. Altogether, Mr. Stern and other labor union leaders reportedly gave Democrats some $400 million last year.

This was, to borrow a word from Mr. Obama, an audacious gamble. Unions these days represent only 8% of private-sector employees (and that's counting General Motors and Chrysler as private sector) and some unions went into debt to make these contributions. Public employee unions of course are financed by taxpayers, who pay the salaries from which dues are extracted, but even so their resources are ultimately limited.

What have the unions gotten in return? Some not insignificant things. The Obama administration bludgeoned General Motors and Chrysler bondholders, in what I called an episode of "gangster government," and effectively turned over the two auto companies to the United Auto Workers. The building trades got project labor agreements—i.e., plenty of dues money flowing to their coffers—in the $787 billion stimulus package.

A lot of that stimulus money went as well to state and local governments. The goal was to spare public employee union members from the vicissitudes of the recession to which the rest of us are subject—and to keep that dues money flowing in.

But the union leaders have been frustrated on their No. 1 goal, the card check bill that would effectively abolish the secret ballot in unionization elections. A couple of bulky guys in varsity jackets visit your home and, um, persuade you to sign a card, and later the union—with the help of a mandatory arbitration clause—impose contracts on employees and rake in the dues money.

See the full article here.

Don’t Blame Me… I’m Just the President

Chris Berg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:10:00 GMT

If you don't believe me, the Washington Post has come to the same conclusion that I did. The Obama Administration is trying to insulate the President from two spectacular losses, and instead is trying to focus attention on New York 23. Let's see, two states that voted for Obama rejected Democrat Governor Candidates, one Congressional District in which the Republican Party was divided went to a Democrat. Which is more representative of America's feelings towards the President? Will it be hours or days before SEIU's own Patrick Gaspard is sent back to New York?

President Obama's top advisers closed ranks around their boss Wednesday, declaring themselves unconcerned by Tuesday night's Democratic losses as they attempted to insulate the president from any political damage to his reputation and his legislative agenda.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the president viewed the Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races as referenda on local issues that reflect little on his policies in Washington.

"People went to the polls and voted on local issues not to either register support for or opposition to the president," Gibbs said. Asked whether moderate lawmakers might view the results differently, and worry about casting tough votes on Obama's priorities, Gibbs said no.

"I don't think they will and I'm not concerned," he said.

The coordinated White House response came as the Washington spin machine began coalescing around a very different message: that the Democratic losses – especially among independents – might be a leading indicator of trouble for Obama in 2010.

Independents, who were crucial to the president's election campaign, swung dramatically to Republicans in both state contests. If that pattern holds a year from now, Democratic lawmakers in swing districts could find themselves on the losing side of a reelection fight.

* * *

White House officials rejected what they said was overhyped conclusions about the impact on Obama of losing the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, and instead sought to focus attention on the Democratic victory in New York's 23rd congressional district.

See the full article here.

SEIU’s Man in the White House Has a Bad Day

Chris Berg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:28:00 GMT

This can't be a good day for SEIU's man in the White House Patrick Gaspard. Gaspard serves as Obama's Political Director. He previously filled that role over at SEIU.

Think about those who have previously worked in the office of political affairs, Ed Rollins, Lee Atwater, and Ken Mehlman. I'm not sure Gaspard lives up to his predecessors.

Though the Washington Post wrote a glowing puff piece on Gaspard earlier this week, last night's election results show he hasn't been terribly effective.

He was the heavy hand that tried to persuade former Governor Doug Wilder to endorse Creigh Deeds. He failed.

The leaks from within the White House criticizing Deeds and his campaign had to have come from somewhere, and I don't think there's any way they could not have passed his desk.

In New Jersey Obama and Jon Corzine stood side by side. This was a state Obama had won by 15 points. Corzine lost, I'm sure it's just a matter of hours before we see news stories surfacing that "unnamed" White House staffers were never satisfied with Corzine or the operation he ran. It seems political affairs is really just becoming an operation to insulate the President from his party's failures.

Lest we forget Gaspard is also the one who clumsily tried to interfere with the New York Governor's race requesting Paterson drop out.

He seems to have had one victory, persuading Dede Scozzafava to endorse Bill Owens. Will Gaspard be at the helm going into the 2010 cycle? I wouldn't bet on it.

Is New Jersey Recount Bound? WSJ Says Watch Out For Absentee Ballot Fraud

Chris Berg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:21:00 GMT

John Fund at the Wall Street Journal has an interesting article out today regarding the race for New Jersey Governor. We've already reported on the questionable absentee ballot applications. Fund looks at this in the greater context of the efforts of SEIU and ACORN to impact the election. He also touches on some of the material that is contained in his latest book.

The race for governor in New Jersey is so close in final polls that it may well end up in a recount -- the 1981 election did and was decided by less than 1,800 votes. If there is a recount, you can bet disputes about absentee ballots will loom large. Moreover, if serious allegations of fraud emerge, you can also expect less-than-vigorous investigation by the Obama Justice Department -- which showed just how seriously it takes such allegations when it walked away from an open-and-shut voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia earlier this year.

Plenty of reasons exist for suspecting absentee fraud may play a significant role in tomorrow's Garden State contests. Groups associated with Acorn in neighboring Pennsylvania and New York appear to have moved into the state. An independent candidate for mayor in Camden has already leveled charges that voter fraud is occurring in his city. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party in New Jersey is taking advantage of a new loosely written vote-by-mail law to pressure county clerks not to vigorously use signature checks to evaluate the authenticity of absentee ballots, the only verification procedure allowed.

The state has received a flood of 180,000 absentee ballot requests. On some 3,000 forms the signature doesn't match the one on file with county clerks. Yet citing concerns that voters would be disenfranchised, Democratic Party lawyer Paul Josephson wrote New Jersey's secretary of state asking her "to instruct County Clerks not to deny applications on the basis of signature comparison alone." Mr. Josephson maintained that county clerks "may be overworked and are likely not trained in handwriting analysis" and insisted that voters with suspect applications should be allowed to cast provisional ballots. Those ballots, of course, would then provide a pool of votes that would be subject to litigation in any recount, with the occupant of New Jersey's highest office determined by Florida 2000-style scrutiny of ballot applications.

Absentee voter fraud is in danger of becoming a hardy perennial in New Jersey.

See the full article here.

Longtime ACORN Target is Bankrupt

Chris Berg — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Today's Wall Street Journal had an interesting article that mentioned the effect of the General Growth Property (GGP) bankruptcy. GGP had long been a target of ACORN and SEIU. They stood out, because they fought back against ACORN's "Muscle for Money" campaign.

In 2007 the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sought to organize janitors at GGP malls. SEIU requested that GGP enter into a neutrality agreement with the union and agree to recognize the union once a majority of employees' signatures had been collected in support of the union. SEIU was asking GGP to acquiesce to "card check" recognition rather than allowing the employees the right to a secret ballot vote to determine their representation.

General Growth Properties did not give in to the demands of SEIU. SEIU then set about organizing a "corporate campaign" against GGP. In order to mount this campaign SEIU enlisted ACORN and paid them over $140,000.

GGP recounts that as part of the corporate campaign SEIU attempted to "distract and embarrass" the company. Tactics used included:

"Using sham 'public interest' groups financed by the union to attack GGP's reputation and credibility. These groups partner with labor organizations to provide a biased analysis of targeted companies and industries. So-called 'reliable independent research' - riddled with bias, misrepresentation and omission -- is then disseminated to the public as fact."
"Making allegations and filing unsubstantiated claims with government agencies, then implying in handbills and press releases that the claims -- before they are even investigated, let alone proved -- are fact. Recently, it took one government agency only a few weeks to toss out as groundless charges of racial bias leveled by SEIU operatives."
"Protests, demonstrations, marches and picketing on or near GGP property, often by paid operatives, not legitimate employee activists or volunteers"
"Distribution of flyers disparaging the company"

SEIU also launched a website entitle www.insideggpmalls.org. The now defunct website include such inflammatory language as "GGP, Behind the Industry Curve," "GGP Malls, (Sweat) Shopping Centers," "GGP Growing at Whose Expense? Yours."

Protests were organized at GGP malls nationwide. For example on September 9, 2007 workers went on a one day strike, this was "part of a wave of protests at more than 20 GGP malls nationwide."

SEIU chose not to conduct this campaign on its own. Rather than relying on union staff and the would-be union members to protest GGP, SEIU enlisted the help of ACORN. The ACORN Community Labor Organizing Center (ACLOC) boasts of its efforts to work with SEIU to organize janitors.

The ACLOC website discusses its "Justice for Janitors in Houston" efforts. While it does not explicitly name GGP as the target, it does discuss how it organized protests on behalf of SEIU. ACLOC trained SEIU organizers to lead the janitor organizing efforts. But ACORN didn't stop there. ACORN provided the bodies and manpower to lead the protests. For example, in a protest in Houston, ACORN provided over 300 bodies "to show support for janitors."

ACORN's support of the SEIU corporate campaign against GGP wasn't a cheap affair. In 2007, according to union financial reports filed with the Department of Labor, the SEIU National Headquarters paid ACORN and ACLOC a total of $145,018 for the "GGP CAMPAIGN." Organizing is a core union activity that SEIU has seen fit to delegate to ACORN.

Congress Won’t Help, so SEIU and ACORN Make New Friends

Chris Berg — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:02:00 GMT

We all knew that with the election of Barack Obama Big Labor would have a good friend in the White House. You could tell labor unions thought the election of Obama would help them turn around their steady membership decline.

The stakes were high for big labor, and they put their money where their mouth was. The AFL-CIO pledged to spend $200 million to help elect Obama. A lot of us assumed this was to help pass the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). With Obama in the White House and the Democrats in control of the House and Senate they'd have the clout to push through this bill, stripping the American workforce of a secret ballot vote to determine whether to form a union.

EFCA has stalled, but big labor's agenda has not. Loyal appointees in the Department of Labor (DOL) have been working to reduce union transparency. They're working to roll back regulations that provided information to union members regarding their union finances, regulations that helped prevent and expose embezzlement and corruption. DOL isn't the only department where big labor has insinuated itself. SEIU flack Patrick Gaspard is serving in the White House, Obama has announced the appointment of SEIU Assistant General Counsel to the FEC. Big labor is receiving a big payoff for its support of President Obama.

While the movement within the federal government is disturbing, the real efforts to expand union membership, strength, and power are happening in the states. EFCA has stalled in Congress, but big labor and its big supporter ACORN are working across the country to expand organized labor into previously untouched markets.

A few weeks ago I saw ACORN's Founding Father Wade Rathke speak in Washington, DC. He noted that "The single largest success in the last 20 years of the organized labor movement is home healthcare workers."

For those unfamiliar, SEIU and ACORN have been working in multiple states to lobby state governments to allow unions to organize home healthcare workers. Why is that? Can't they just form a union and be done with it? The simple answer is no, in most states home healthcare workers are actually independent contractors, not employees. As independent contractors they cannot be organized into a union.

But big labor has seen an opportunity to grow its ranks, to collect more dues, to "represent" more people. ACORN and SEIU's solution has been to lobby state governments. They've met with mixed results. These lobbying efforts have been most successful where they have a friendly Governor, like Elliot Spitzer. Spitzer signed an Executive Order provides for union recognition where none is legally warranted.

In states like Missouri, SEIU and ACORN have had to campaign in support of ballot initiatives to lay the ground work for their union expansion.

The real plan to grow the unions is playing out in state legislatures, not Capitol Hill.