Top UHW-W Officers Violated Federal Law, Deceived Members in Diverting Millions in Dues Money to Ou...(violating the SEIU and UHW-W Constitutio...),Health

1. Deceived UHW-W members about the purpose of the decision to authorize the transfer of local union funds to the outside fund and the purpose of the actual transfer of $3 million in UHW-W members' money to the outside fund.

The stated purpose in UHW-W's official minutes for the decision to authorize transfers up to $6 million to the outside fund, was "to provide education to healthcare workers and patients concerning issues related to the healthcare crisis, as well as to other issues of importance to healthcare workers and their patients." The select group of officers knew however, that UHW-W members' money transferred to the fund would not be used for their stated purpose but instead for the officers to run a shadow arm of UHW-W that evaded the democratic accountability protections and financial and auditing safeguards to which all SEIU local unions are subject under federal law and the SEIU Constitution.

2. Used the diverted dues money to conduct union business off the books, free from democratic accountability to UHW-W members and the financial safeguards provided by the SEIU Constitution and federal law.

Instead of using the outside fund for the stated purpose of educating people about healthcare issues, the ten UHW-W officers have used the fund to conduct certain UHW-W union activities off the books, free from democratic accountability to UHW-W members and the financial oversight and safeguards provided by the SEIU Constitution and federal law.

For example, the fund has been used to pay for union business such as consultants' fees for a 2007 speech delivered in Wisconsin by Sal Rosselli in his capacity as UHW-W President, and a misleading non-binding straw poll conducted among UHW-W long-term care members in February and March of 2008. These union activities were financed off the books by
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