California union ousts president after investigation determined he threatened staff

California state government’s largest employee union on Saturday ousted its top elected official after an independent investigation determined he threatened staff members and stole documents during his tumultuous presidency.

The SEIU Local 1000 Board of Directors voted to remove Richard Louis Brown from office and to forbid him from acting as a union steward until 2025. The board suspended Brown in February; the new vote represents more formal discipline against him.

Board of Directors Chairman Bill Hall will continue to lead the organization until it elects next president. Local 1000 represents about 100,000 public employees with about half of them paying dues as members.

Over 90% of the voting board members approved the independent investigator’s recommended penalties, the union said in a press release. Brown also lost his status as a board member.

“The Board’s action serves the best interests of our membership,” Hall said in a joint statement with Irene Green, vice president for bargaining, and David Jimenez, secretary and treasurer. “We remain focused on the need to effectively represent our members’ interests at the bargaining table and at the worksite. Now we can move forward, and direct all of our energies towards achieving the best contract for our members.”

Local 1000 will negotiate new contracts with the state in 2023.

Brown took to Facebook and YouTube Saturday morning to livestream his reaction to the meeting. He told viewers that he’d logged into the virtual board meeting and was not allowed to ask questions.

“They kicked me out,” Brown said in the live-streamed video.

Report supports SEIU discipline

Brown faced resistance from the union 65-member board soon after he won election in May 2021 with only 33% of the vote in an election with less than 8% turnout. His campaign promises included eliminating political spending, slashing union dues in half and extending voting to non-members, along with other changes that critics deemed unrealistic.

The investigation by Maryland-based mediator Homer La Rue stemmed from disciplinary charges, originally filed in March 2022, alleging Brown misused his power to defy and subvert the union’s board and executive committee.

Anica Walls, Local 1000’s vice president for organizing and representation, filed 10 charges against Brown, alleging he failed to hold board meetings and occupied Local 1000 headquarters after the board moved to suspend him.

Michael Guss, a Local 1000 district labor council leader, also filed charges alleging Brown had exhibited threatening and targeting behavior toward board members during some of his “Local 1000 Listens to You” live-streamed programs in 2021.

La Rue’s investigation found sufficient evidence that Brown failed to properly conduct board meetings, undermined the authority of the union’s executive committee, improperly suspended three of Local 1000’s vice presidents, threatened to discipline staff for communicating with the “suspended” vice presidents, illegally occupied the Local 1000 headquarters, stole union records and improperly approved 12 holidays for Local 1000 staff without board approval or collective bargaining.

Local 1000 rejected president’s budget

A central question in the investigation was whether Brown’s suspension was justified. La Rue determined that Brown’s actions did in fact pose “an immediate threat to the welfare of Local 1000” and that the three vice presidents had “good and sufficient cause” to immediately suspend him.

Evidence also supported Guss’s allegations that Brown bullied and intimidated board members when he invited them to his house to “engage in an altercation” and threatened to check their credit scores after they voted down his proposed 2022 budget. La Rue also found that Brown targeted Guss, who is Jewish, for his religious beliefs.

Brown has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, objected to his suspension and sued the union and its board for $12 million in early December for “mental suffering and irreparable damage” that they’ve allegedly caused him since he took office.

“I, Richard Louis Brown, never acted in BAD FAITH in performing my duties as the duly elected Local 1000 President,” Brown wrote in a Tuesday Facebook post.