CA unions slow to campaign

As if the Democrats don't have enough to worry about, the Service Employees International Union, the state's largest union, is focusing its attention not on the November elections but on this week's vote by 45,000 Kaiser Permanente employees. A breakaway union led by former SEIU leader Sal Roselli wants to represent the Kaiser folks, and it's creating internal conflicts within the labor movement, according to Louis Freedberg at California Watch.

Sacramento and labor insiders tell me that SEIU in general is far less of a presence in the State Capitol than usual, especially in helping to craft and lobby for legislation, and is losing valuable time in turning out volunteers - "boots on the ground" - to work on voter registration and other election-year activities.

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SEIU has already spent millions on just hotel bills to put up thousands of its organizers in hotels around the state fighting various recertification battles with NUHW. Some of SEIU's most experienced organizers have left the union in protest over the conflict. Many of them have signed up to work for Roselli's new union.

The SEIU people say the Kaiser election will be resolved in plenty of time for their membership to focus on November. The union is supporting Jerry Brown.