Mass. Governor’s Add’l $6 Million Political Payback to SEIU
Governor Deval Patrick has decided to protect his cronies, to give SEIU an additional $6 million over the next ten years, and to force taxpayers to pay for these new SEIU union dues. Forced-unionism champion Gov. Patrick raised the bar for Big Labor paybacks that undoubtedly other elected officials will try to emulate to ingratiate themselves with labor union bosses.
The Boston Globe reports that “Governor Deval Patrick is quietly transferring 500 of his managers into the state public employee union, a move that will qualify them for a series of 3 percent raises and insulate them from firing when the next governor takes over.
“The change will automatically convert 15 percent of the 3,350 executive branch managers into members of the National Association of Government Employees [(NAGE-SEIU)]…”
SEIU’s website details an earlier new monopoly-bargaining contract agreement forcing almost 12,000 executive branch employees to pay NAGE-SEIU dues for next three years. Included in that agreement was a $1,700 minimum raise for each employee which should help cover the union’s forced fees.
In addition to the Duval Administration agreeing to the new June 2014 SEIU contract, Duval Patrick insulated 503 of his Executive Branch managers from replacement by a new Administration, placed them into union contracts, and qualified “them for a series of 3 percent raises.”
Allowing Government Union Bosses this much access and forced-dues power, bypasses democracy and compels taxpayers and government employees to pay for these types of Big Labor Boss insider deals.