Town Hall Forum

The original idea for this blog was to serve as a forum for the members of SEIU 888 to be able to reach out across the state and communicate with members in other units; to be able to share their ideas and experiences with one another.

One of the things we’ve learned as we struggled to reach out to our brothers and sisters is that many share a common experience:

• Members feel isolated and disconnected from their union.
• They question why the only time they see union staff is during contract negotiations.
• Unit stewards have experienced such a rapid turnover of staff and constant lack of response from Charleston to their requests for help in pursuing grievances and enforcing their contracts, that they've come to believe they are on their own.
  
  What most members don't realize is that we've all had the same experience.
  
  That's because under President Segat all intra-union communications originate in the Charlestown office and trickle-down to the members; making it nearly impossible for members to communicate directly with one another. Making it nearly impossible for us to act like a Union.
  
  We'd like to break that hold on power.
  
  This is after all, a nation founded on the principle of free speech.
  
  So lets have some!
  
  Please post your thoughts, questions and ideas about, and your experiences with, SEIU 888.
  PS. You can post anonymously, so there's no need to worry about retaliation from Charlestown.

Bumper Stickers and Movies?

Word reaches us that President Segat is sending out union staff (on union time) to distribute campaign bumper stickers.

Has anyone seen a single car (besides Segat's and her cronies) with such a bumper sticker? If you do, please let us know by posting a comment on the blog.

Funny, but somehow we can't picture the members of 888, who have been so badly underserved by the Segat regime, lining up eagerly to slap Segat stickers on the back of their cars.

Of course if this rumor is really true - it would be blatant violation of federal law as well as the SEIU constitution: Using paid staff for her own personal campaign is a No - No.

In a similar vein, and in another shameless use of union resources to further her own campaign, Segat today sent out an email to all of us from the SEIU action center.

Telling members that her "goal is to get little thumb-nail sketches of each one of you." Segat promises to venture forth from her $250,000 a year office with a video camera in hand to interview us.

Ha! We'd love to watch the videos she would get from the irate members in so many of the units that have been ignored until now.

I'm sure alot of us would like to tell just what she can do with that video camera - and in fact would love to give her a hand in doing so.

But remember folks, don't do anything you'll regret on video!!

So if Segat actually does show up at your chapter with her brand new video camera (that was paid for with our dues) keep your cool, take a deep breathe and tell the camera just how you feel about her dysfunctional leadership.

Of course if you do, you can bet your "little thumb nail sketch" won't be posted on the 888 website, but that's not really what a union is for is it? To make movies?