Citing violence fears, SEIU International wades into dispute at California state worker union

The leader of SEIU International relayed concerns to the president of California’s largest state employee union Tuesday about the potential for violence and COVID-19 infections at a union meeting scheduled this weekend in Sacramento.

In a letter, SEIU International president Mary Kay Henry also suggested the parent organization of SEIU Local 1000 could get involved in an interior power struggle that has roiled the organization for months.

Henry told Local 1000 President Richard Louis Brown that some union board members have shared safety concerns with the International, including concerns over Brown “encouraging members to come to the meeting armed.”

“It is alleged that you have created a climate of fear around the upcoming board meeting,” Henry said in the letter.

Her letter, which came amid an intensifying power struggle within the union, raises broader concerns about whether Local 1000 is abiding by its “democratic internal procedures.”

The letter cited a section of Local 1000’s agreement with SEIU International that outlines procedures under which the parent organization could intervene in the local’s operations. She requested he respond by Thursday.

A majority of board members held a meeting in October and took a vote to strip the union’s president of leadership powers. Brown has called the meeting illegitimate and refused to hand over power, citing union governing documents that say the president calls the meetings.

At this weekend’s meeting called by Brown, at a Holiday Inn in downtown Sacramento, the board could again consider the proposed change.

Henry’s letter also raised concerns about Brown’s plan to require board members to appear in-person at the meeting rather than allowing some to participate virtually to avoid potential COVID-19 exposure.

Henry’s Tuesday’s letter is the latest in a correspondence with Brown dating to at least Nov. 8, when she asked him for his view on the October meeting.

Brown, who promised big changes and big pay hikes during his campaign, has clashed with some members of the union’s board since his May election. He replaced Yvonne Walker, who had been the union’s president for 13 years and had many allies on the 65-member board.

On Oct. 17, a majority of the board met and voted on a proposal to strip the union’s president of leadership powers and transfer them to a chairperson selected by the board. If upheld, the vote would make a major change at the organization by giving the board, rather than union members, the power to select the union’s leader.

Minutes from the October meeting show that 33 or 34 board members participated. A vote to change the union’s bylaws to change the power structure received 23 “yes” votes and 9 “no” votes.

SEIU International hasn’t yet announced a position on who leads the union – Brown or Bill Hall, the man the group selected as its chairman.

In a Dec. 9 letter to Henry, Brown called Hall an insurrectionist who is “leading an anti-democratic coup with a goal to overturn a free and fair election by the membership.”

He told Henry he found it “deeply disturbing” that she had referred to Hall as the board’s chairman, and told her he had “authorized a thorough investigation to discover if a nexus may exist between SEIU International and the Local 1000 insurrectionist group.”

Henry, in her response, said Brown hadn’t provided a sufficiently detailed explanation of his position in the dispute.

“Your letter lacks any substantive information or analysis on the topic, and fails to cite any position taken by the Local 1000 Board of Directors itself,” Henry wrote, cc’ing Hall.

While Henry’s letter doesn’t specify their concerns, Brown in Facebook videos has referenced supporters in rural Lassen County who “believe in” the Second Amendment. Brown has been urging the state to keep open a prison slated for closure in the county.

Brown declined to say whether he would allow board members to participate virtually in this weekend’s meeting.

In response to an interview request, he provided the following text:

“As a free and educated Black man and veteran who honorably served our country I feel Mary Kay Henry is fully utilizing her “white pristine privilege” to ensure the “Fugitive Slave Law” that legalized and monetized hunting and kidnapping Black people throughout the entire country STILL strongly exists with no legal recourse for articulate Black individuals that are fighting the status quo!

“This racial silencing of my Black voice further illustrates the humongous hypocrisy of those like Henry that loudly and politically profess “Black Lives Matter” to the world but in reality these so called “unity” leaders are truly NOT social justice warriors but convincingly appear to enthusiastically enjoy a local lynching and carefully crafted castration of a Black man fighting to help everyone equally!”

Henry’s letter cited a section of Local 1000’s 2004 affiliation agreement with SEIU International. The agreement says that disputes between the two organizations must be mediated and then arbitrated by a professional arbitrator.

If Local 1000 fails to abide by an arbitrator’s decision, the International may institute legal action in certain cases, including a finding that Local 1000 has failed to “maintain democratic internal procedures,” according to the agreement.

This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 4:00 AM.