SEIU 6434: Union corruption story of the day
Union bosses have nothing but the best interests of workers at heart.
Except when they’re siphoning off funds for their personal enrichment and pleasure. Business as usual from the Democrats’ labor thug allies:
Advocates for low-wage caregivers called on authorities Monday to investigate the spending practices of a Los Angeles union and a related charity that have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the labor organization’s leader.
…Most of the 160,000 people represented by the United Long-Term Care Workers, the largest union local in California, earn $9 per hour or slightly more tending to the elderly and infirm in their residences, under taxpayer-funded programs. Others work in nursing homes.
Patricia L. McGinnis, executive director of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said the union president, Tyrone Freeman, should be removed from office until any government probe of the union’s spending is complete.
“I don’t see how these expenditures can be justified,” she said. “It’s shocking.”
Barack Obama supporter Tyrone Freeman was livin’ large:
The Times reported Saturday that the union and charity had paid at least $405,700 since 2006 — not counting any outlays this year — to the firms owned by relatives of Freeman, who is chairman of the nonprofit’s board.
In addition, the union last year spent nearly $300,000 on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton’s and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, records show.
The union paid a combined $219,000 in 2006 and 2007 to a video firm whose principals include a former employee of the local, according to Labor Department filings and interviews. And a now-defunct minor league basketball team that Freeman’s brother-in-law coached received $16,000 for what the union described as public relations.
The local paid about $106,000 to a firm called the Filming, for which no incorporation record, business license, address or telephone listing could be found.
Freeman, who is also president of a 30,000-worker affiliate of the long-term-care union, has denied any wrongdoing. He said the money spent on his wife’s video company and mother-in-law’s day-care firm benefited his members because of what he termed the high quality of the services.
A Freeman spokesman did not respond to questions Monday. On the union’s website, Freeman said the Times story was “an attack on me and our union” and contained “vast misrepresentations,” which he did not specify. He said all the expenditures detailed by The Times were approved by the union’s board and that the local welcomed an audit by the SEIU.
Freeman is a protege of SEIU biggie Andy Stern. Foxes. Henhouse.
Always look for the union label, as they say.
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Categories: Corruption
Nice Deb
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union = SUCKERS!!!!
So true.
Then hold on to your wallet.
Sounds like a perfect time to cry “RACISM!”, hand in the cookie jar and all.
Tell me again what role those
useful idiotsunion leaders have in the communist paradises so admired by the American left?Where are the union leaders in Cuba? The union leaders in China? The union leaders in the former Soviet Union and present day Russia?
They definitely had a good reason for being formed but those days are gone (as well they should be) and the new unions are almost impossible for me to understand. They support the same party that encourages outsourcing through Nafta and other nefarious programs, they support “would-be” socialists whose “worker’s paradise” will have no need for unions … I just do not get it.
I wonder why the LA Times didn’t seek comments from the SEIU 6434 Union Members?
the only did it for the children…
have you no heart?
Unions have mostly outlived their usefullness because they no longer represent the workers but their own agendas and greed … corruption is a seeming pre-req to moving up the union equivalent of a corporate ladder …
Unions are about as relevant today as buggy-whip manufacturers, or the Democratic party
Heh.
With Democrat energy policies, buggy-whips may be making a comeback.
Tie this story in with why Detroit is a vast wasteland, or why GM, Chrysler, and Ford are going down the tubes, or why companies are moving all their manufacturing overseas.
Many stories, one suspect. Labor Unions.
Corruption? Its the nature of Unions. I’m not surprised by this.
Unions need to go the way of the horse buggy (unless AlGorge gets his way.. but that’s another time, another place) There is a reason why heavily unionized states like Michigan and Ohio are in or close to recessions..
So, you hate unions, but replacing a holiday to celebrate unions with a Muslim holiday is sharia creep or some other kind of crazy talk. Noted.
heh.. didn’t see the buggy whip post there..
Rusty..
question about Labor Day..
Why is it when garbage is collected on that Monday, it is always pushed down a day?
my garbage collectors end up working on Saturday instead of having it off.. but didn’t work on Monday..
isn’t that missing the point of Labor Day?
This should be filed under “Man of the People.” If this were a company executive the Dems would be yelling for a federal investigation. However, since this is a union thug, silence is golden.
Rusty,
Labor Day celebrates working people, not labor unions. There is a difference.
What unions need is competition. Rival unions can compete for membership.
Why can’t someone form a conservative union, or…
a union that only represents its members before the employer and stays completely out of politics in other words, it does its job.
I once worked for a company that was unionized. There was no sense of family that some companies are able to maintain. Everyone was out for his or her own self. Forget if you actually knew how to or wanted to work. You were vilified and tattled on at every minor infraction. Someone once went to the union rep because I mentioned Madonna’s child’s father was from Puerto Rico and tried to get me fired. I was “racist”.
My wife belongs to a local health care union associated with SEIU and got informed of this swindle in some of the many pieces of pro-union junk mail sent to us. You should read this garbage. It tells how wonderful this union is but how bad, horrible, wicked, and evil the other union is. We must get 3-7 pieces of mail from the union per week. Yes, sometimes 2-3 per day. I don’t read newspapers so this junk passes for the funnies. Then straight to the recycle bin. I live in “green” CA. barf
I wonder how many trees they have to cut down to send us this liberal-love mail? Sorry, I guess I wasn’t supposed to ask that; it might be considered hate speech.
This union, the SEIU, is the same union that is literally bankrupting public entities and PERS (that’s, “Public Employee Retirement System”, I think; not that I have ANY sympathy for PERS, mind you), by forcing cities & counties, and other metropolitan entities, to capitulate on terms surrounding gigantic pension promises, which past pension funds have not been collected to accommodate these present-day agreements.
Millions upon millions of dollars in pension promises are sitting unfunded.
The union bosses are rich, we can see, but the union workers remain under-served by this corruption. As their heroine, Joan Baez, once crooned:
“When will they ever learn? When will they eeeeeehhhh-ver learn?”
One man’s “crazy talk” is another man’s dialogue.
What, is this guy a moron? He should have taken John Edwards’ advice and spent money on his mistress’ video company. It’s much easier to deny that when you’re a man of the people who’s just “looking out for the working poor.”
Well, plymouthacclaim, that’s because unions have always been socialist/fascist organizations. Socialist because they use class warfare and hatred of business and profits as their battle cry. Fascist because they use thuggery and destruction to get what they want.
And, for Rusty, lgm, and the other weak-minded liberals, fascism is NOT right wing politics; it is completely a left wing political belief. Read the book.
The part that gets me laughing is the Solidarity Union in Poland. They stood up to the socialists and helped cause the fall of Eastern European communism. The unions in this country had no idea what to do! Here was a union standing up to evil but the evil was socialism; the very thing the unions in this country support! So, the unions had to support them because they are a “brother” union. Every time the evening bad news reported the success of the Solidarity Union in Poland, I laughed because I knew it was grudging support.
Socialists!
Nice twisted logic, Rusty. It was started by unions, but last I checked, it wasn’t restricted to them, especially since only about 13% of the US labor force is unionized, but everybody celebrates it. Granted, it’s tempting to say that unions and Muslims are the same, since they only care about their own power and domination, but that doesn’t mean we need to let the Islamic thugs take over from the union thugs. Or is it perfectly okay with you if we start replacing America holidays with Muslim holidays?
Wait a second – these people are earning a mere $9/hour IN CALIFORNIA and they have a union? Could’ve fooled me. They’d be better off spending the union dues on tacos.
Reason #321 why I am thankful it’s not a requirement that I join a union or have $ taken out of my check for my job. I’ve known for years SEIU is very far to the left and is full o’ crooks.
I’ve worked for unionized and non-unionized companies. When I worked for unionized companies, I was paid well and had good benefits, but I saw a lot of people who knew how to work the system, and would do only the minimum amount of work. Also, the most senior people got the promotions, not the most qualified.
The non-unionized places didn’t pay as well or have as good benefits. Supervisors played favorites. I would be scolded for something, and a man next to me would get away with the same thing. The best boot-licker and butt-kisser would get promoted, not the most qualified.
In all, I would say I prefer unionized places. But, I’ll admit, union leadership needs a good cleaning.
while I lived in Michigan, I’ve had a few well paying jobs with nice perks.. Never in a union.. but talking to some guys who where, My job was just as comparable as theirs.. and my job was less structured as theirs too.. more personal freedom during the day..
#12 rusty said:
Rusty, I disagree with your sentiment.
From the article:
1. Advocates for low-wage caregivers (160,000 employees earning around $9.00 an hour) called on authorities Monday to investigate the spending practices of a Los Angeles union and a related charity that have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the labor organization’s leader.
2. $405,700 since 2006 — not counting any outlays this year — to the firms owned by relatives of Freeman, who is chairman of the nonprofit’s board.
3. $300,000.00 on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton’s and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency.
4. $219,000 in 2006 and 2007 to a video firm whose principals include a former employee of the local.
5. $16,000 to a now-defunct minor league basketball team that Freeman’s brother-in-law coached, for what the union described as public relations.
6. $106,000 to a firm called the Filming, for which no incorporation record, business license, address or telephone listing could be found.
7. Patricia L. McGinnis, executive director of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said: “I don’t see how these expenditures can be justified. It’s shocking.”
Rusty, if these allegations are true, this union president, Tyrone Freeman, should be removed and punished. There is no excuse for union officials to abscond with their members mandatory contributions and use them for their own personal patronage. Industry advocates themselves are calling for an investigation.
This has nothing to do with “hate.”
why don’t the union workers demand their unions build businesses for them with their pension funds instead of investing them in las vegas casinos. even the union leadership seems to recognize that trying to hire and keep hired union workers is a waste of money, and is easily replaced by somali refugees(tyson chicken) or illegal immigrants. you don’t even need to ship those jobs offshore, bring the slave labor onshore.
The SEIU is also involved with some possibly unethical dealings with Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, who is facing a re-election battle from Dino Rossi this fall.
Most union members need a union to protect them from their union – Marxists love unions, saves time and effort on extracting money and herding votes, and best of all the sheep pay for it.
Well, here in Chicago, corruption is nothing new. Marilyn Stewart, head of the Chicago Teachers Union just was found charging over $200,000 to the union in meals at fancy Chicago restaurants. I guarantee nothing will happen to her, it’s kinda expected in Chicago. Just like when Daley bulldozed Meigs Field (he was elected again for another term within a year of this crime), as long as it’s a Democrat running the show, there can be no possible backlash, Chicago politics is a taste of future national politics.
Well, here in Chicago, corruption is nothing new. Marilyn Stewart, head of the Chicago Teachers Union just was accused of charging over $200,000 to the union in meals at fancy Chicago restaurants. I guarantee nothing will happen to her, it’s kinda expected in Chicago. Just like when Daley bulldozed Meigs Field (he was elected again for another term within a year of this crime), as long as it’s a Democrat running the show, there can be no possible backlash, Chicago politics is a taste of future national politics.
#29
So I guess the question is…
Why does Rusty hate union members?