Busuness Week: No Solidarity for Labor (SEIU vs Unite Here)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_24/b4135028917564.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis

June 4, 2009, 5:00PM EST

Bitter squabbles among union bosses could complicate efforts to pass Democratic legislation


SEIU chief Stern dismisses fears that union conflicts will derail progress Chris Usher

By Michael Orey and Jane Sasseen

Months after helping put Barack Obama in the White House, organized labor's most important unions are sliding into vicious internecine warfare.

The strife has become so intense that the senior Democratic leadership is intervening. The Democrats, under pressure from labor to pass legislation that would make it much easier to unionize workplaces, fear the disputes will further erode support for the controversial issue; they also need union support to help secure popular backing for health-care reform. While the business lobby has so far been surprisingly successful at stalling the unionization bill, known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), it will have a tougher time getting its way on labor issues and on health care if the unions bring their quarreling to an end.

At the heart of the dispute is a three-way fight between the Service Employees International (SEIU), the country's second-biggest union, and two factions of Unite Here, until recently one of the fastest-growing unions. The two leaders of Unite Here, Bruce Raynor and John Wilhelm, have fought bitterly over strategy and finances. On May 28, Raynor quit the union and joined 100,000 of his followers who had affiliated in March with the SEIU, which is commanded by Andrew L. Stern.

The much larger SEIU might now organize the same workers as Unite Here, and could claim a large share of the troubled union's $400 million in assets. Wilhelm is fighting back. "The unified approach that the labor movement hoped for has been derailed by Andy Stern and SEIU," says Wilhelm. Stern vehemently disputes that notion. "I don't think the labor movement has ever worked more closely on an issue than it has on EFCA," he says.

Epic struggles inside Big Labor are nothing new. But this fight—plus another clash involving a breakaway chapter of the SEIU in California—comes at a bad time for the Democratic leadership as it prepares for critical legislative efforts. Democratic senators met on June 3 to discuss possible compromises needed to pass EFCA, also known as card check. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has done a highly effective job of stalling the legislation by pressuring moderate Democrats to withhold their support for the bill in its current form, since it would do away with secret ballots at union-organizing votes.

Most Democratic senators want to see a compromise that would keep the secret ballot but otherwise make it easier for unions to organize. Stern says he is open to approaches that would garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a potential filibuster, but Wilhelm accuses him of not consulting adequately with other unions.

FULL story at link.