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SEIUS CAMPAIGN TO GET MORE MONEY FOR UNION

BOSSES, NOT MORE WAGES FOR WORKERS
The Fight for $15 movement, created by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), planned
a national day of protests and strikes at fast-food restaurants. The Fight for $15 campaign is part of
SEIUs strategy for getting millions of new members to fill the coffers of Washington, D.C. union
bosses with dues collected from workers hard-earned paychecks.
The Fight for $15 campaign was boosted by an August 2015 National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) decision that vastly expanded the joint employer standard. While mundane sounding, this
will greatly ease the way for unions like the SEIU to organize fast-food employees and other
franchise companies such as hotels, retailers and service businesses that have been a successful path
to entrepreneurship. SEIU has been seeking this change for years because when it comes to union
dues, being able to organize all of a brand companys franchisees employees at once would be easier
and far more lucrative than having to organize workers one franchise location at a time.
If SEIU successfully organizes just one-third of the fast-food workforce, it will mean at least $400
million a year in new dues. Thats more money for high-flying union boss lifestyles, liberal causes,
and Democrat politicians. This is why union bosses in Washington, D.C. are so invested in the Fight
for $15 movement as a vehicle for expanding their union membership and ensuring that money
keeps flowing into their political machine.
National Day Of Protests And Strikes
The Fight for $15 movement planned a national day of protests and strikes to be held on Nov. 10,
2015.
Fast-food workers, already a potent political force, are planning their largest nationwide strike
yet next week and this time will leverage their crusade for a $15-an-hour wage in a bid to sway
the 2016 presidential election. The group representing the workers, Fight for $15, plans on
Tuesday to stage protests at restaurants in 270 cities, the most since it began organizing the
demonstrations three years ago. (Paul Davidson, Fast-Food Workers Plan New Strike, Aim To Sway Election, USA Today,
11/5/15)

The movement claimed it would hold protests in 500 cities and strikes in 260 cities.

(Fight For $15 Twitter Feed, 11/9/15)

Millions Spent To Elect Obama:

In 2012, SEIU was one of the leading outside spenders on behalf of Democrat campaigns, spending
almost $70 million to elect President Obama and other Democrats.
The Service Employees International Union has emerged as the top outside spender on
Democratic campaigns this year, surpassing even President Barack Obama's main super PAC.
SEIU, like other large entities that spend money on elections, doesn't have to disclose all of its
expenditures to the Federal Election Commission. But according to disclosures it has made so
far this year, the union has funded almost $70 million of campaign donations, television ads
and get-out-the-vote efforts for Mr. Obama and other Democrats. (Melanie Trottman and Brody Mullins,
Union Is Top Spender For Democrats, Wall Street Journal, 11/1/12)

SEIUs spending came with the expectation of results from the administration and, so far, the Obama
administration has delivered.
At Same Time, SEIU Backs And Underwrites Fight For $15 With The Real Target
Being Unionization Of Fast Food Industry:
Today, SEIU is underwriting the Fight for $15 campaign to the tune of almost $80 million so far,
financed by dues taken by union bosses from the paychecks of SEIU members.
Thus far, SEIU has spent upwards of $80 million during the course of its war on the fast-food
industry. (Staff, $80 Million & Counting: SEIU Will Spend Whatever It Takes To Unionize Fast Food Workers,
LaborUnionReport.com, 8/30/15)

An SEIU official has been described as the architect of the so-called Fight for $15 campaign.
Scott Courtney, the Service Employees International Union official who is the architect of the
so-called Fight for 15 campaign, laid out the new approach in his first on-the-record interview
since he started working on the effort in 2012. (Noam Scheiber, Union Takes A McDonalds Challenge Overseas, The
New York Times, 8/19/15)

The SEIU is not only funding the campaign, it is also supplying the protesters, undermining the
assertion this is an organic, worker-driven effort to increase wages.
The fast food protests that overwhelmed stores across the country on Thursday seem to have a
lot more union organizers than actual workers, according to a new video. SEIU has spent
millions of dollars on front groups to help organize protests at major fast food companies,
including McDonalds. Thursdays protests were no different, as the video shows union officials
writing checks to those in attendance. Carpetbagging protesters evidently played a vital role
in turning out big numbers to the protests. (Bill McMorris, SEIU Claims Credit For Fast Food Protests, The
Washington Free Beacon, 12/5/14)

To grow their membership, unions have even pushed for labor carve-outs from state and local
minimum wage increases to use as leverage with businesses to make organizing a more attractive
option than increasing wages.
The carve-outs are increasingly drawing the ire of business groups representing the hotel and
tourism industries, among others. They say such exemptions are a way for unions to organize
or gain negotiating power by using the ability to opt out of the wage law as leverage to achieve
other goals. (Eric Morath And Alejandro Lazo, Minimum-Wage Waivers For Union Members Stir Standoff, The Wall Street Journal,
8/17/15)

As early as 2013, SEIU suggested the franchise structure could be vulnerable to political or legal
challenges.
I think anything you know about traditional collective bargaining is possible, said Henry,
and then things we havent imagined. She added that innovations may be necessary to address
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the franchisee structure of the industry, in which fast food corporations set the business model
and reap substantial portions of the revenue but dont directly employ many of the
workers. Could that franchisee structure itself be vulnerable to political or legal challenge?
Yeah, I think theres a lot of areas, said Courtney. But again, its brand-new and certainly not
fleshed out. (Josh Eidelson, Fast Food Strikes To Massively Expand: Theyre Thinking Much Bigger, Salon, 8/14/13)
SEIU is motivated by the goal of transforming the fast food industry. SEIU President Mary Kay
Henry has called franchises a smokescreen so corporations dont have to take responsibility for
paying more.
A source who took part in a private SEIU meeting with allies last week in Las Vegas said that
the union presented two tracks under serious consideration for transforming the industry. (Josh
Eidelson, Fast Food Strikes To Massively Expand: Theyre Thinking Much Bigger, Salon, 8/14/13)

Organizers suggest otherwise. The franchisee relationship is a smokescreen so corporations

dont have to take responsibility for paying more, Henry says. Every detail of food preparation
is centralized. With that level of coordination, workers believe that corporations could figure
out how to pay them more. (Susan Berfield, Fast-Food Workers Of The World, Unite! Bloomberg, 12/5/13)
SEIU rejected recommendations from labor experts to unionize large numbers of franchise locations
individually. Instead, SEIU wants to unionize all franchises at once.
Courtney rejected recommendations by some labor experts that the Fight for $15 seek to
unionize 100 or 200 company-owned restaurants, and then pressure McDonalds to sign a
contract that pays $15 an hour or close to it and then use that as a model. (Steven Greenhouse, Fight
For $15: The Strategist Going To War To Make McDonald's Pay, The Guardian, 8/30/15)

Behind-the-scenes in Seattle, SEIU said they wanted to break the franchise model and ultimately
enable unions to organize franchise employees.
The brief also provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the workings of Mayor Ed Murrays
Income Inequality Advisory Committee, which over several months this spring hammered out
the compromise agreement that was largely adopted by the City Council on June 2. The brief
includes a declaration from Seattle nightclub owner Dave Meinert, who said that the co-chair
of the committee, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) 775 President David Rolf,
told him several times that the purpose behind treating small franchise businesses as large
employers under the minimum wage law was to break the franchise model and enable labor
unions to organize the franchise employees. (Lynn Thompson, Franchise Group Files To Block $15 Minimum-Wage
Phase-In, Seattle Times, 8/6/14)

The Obama Administration Is Joining With SEIU:

Secretary of Labor Tom Perez participated in Fight for $15 events with SEIU officials.
One-by-one, sometimes in tears, Detroit workers on Tuesday opened up to U.S. Secretary of
Labor Thomas Perez, telling him how little they earn and why they joined a labor movement
Fight for 15 that is seeking $15 an hour wages, as well as better benefits and opportunities
for employees in the restaurant, retail and health care industries. (Frank Witsil, In Detroit, Labor Secretary
Hears Pleas To Boost Minimum Wage, Detroit Free Press, 8/25/15)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called-in to a Fight for $15 meeting Detroit. She also
participated in an SEIU event with home healthcare workers who campaigned for a $15 per hour
minimum wage.
In one of the most explicitly union-friendly speeches of her young presidential campaign,
Hillary Clinton called in to a convention of low-wage workers Sunday morning to deliver a
message of support and solidarity. The gathering in Detroit is the second of its kind,
following a first convention last year. This time, the so-called Fight for $15 has several
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victories to point to: $15 minimum wages in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, plus new
proposals for the same in St. Louis and Kansas City. (Lydia DePillis, Hillary Clinton Endorses Fight For A $15
Minimum Wage, The Washington Posts WonkBlog, 6/7/15)

The Obama Administration Is Actively Targeting Franchises To Help The SEIU:

Fast-food workers, backed by the SEIU, brought several cases before the Obama NLRB.
In a high-stakes move, fast-food workers, backed by the S.E.I.U., have brought several cases
before the National Labor Relations Board, asking its general counsel to declare McDonalds a
joint employer of the restaurants run by its franchisees. If the labor board agrees, that would
open the door for the S.E.I.U. to try to unionize not just three or five McDonalds at a time, but
dozens and perhaps hundreds. (Steven Greenhouse, Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight For $15 An Hour, The New York
Times, 7/27/14)

In August 2015, the NLRB ruled that an employer qualified as a joint employer with its
subcontractors, which could become a legal rationale for forcing franchise companies to sit at the
bargaining table with workers employed by a franchisee managing one of its restaurants.
The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a
waste management company, qualifies as a joint employer alongside one of its subcontractors.
The decision effectively loosens the standards for who can be considered a worker's boss under
labor law, and its impact will be felt in any industry that relies on franchising or outsourcing
work. McDonald's, for instance, could now find itself forced to sit at the bargaining table with
workers employed by a franchisee managing one of its restaurants. (Dave Jamieson, The Labor Ruling
McDonald's Has Been Dreading Just Became A Reality, The Huffington Post, 8/27/15)

The NLRB decision may make it easier to unionize at franchises.

On Thursday, the NLRB issued a momentous 3-2 ruling along party lines that may make it
easier for McDonalds to unionize, reversing a 34-year precedent. (Timothy Noah and Brian Mahoney,
Obama Labor Board Flexes Its Muscles, Politico, 9/1/15)

NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin admitted the sole reason the NLRB is pursuing McDonalds
Corp., as a joint employer is because of the Fight for $15 movement and protests.
The sole reason why our agency is involved in the McDonalds situation is because there is a
national campaign that's called the 'Fight for $15' that is being run by a fast-food workers
alliance that is seeking to raise wages in the fast food industry to $15 a hour, Griffin told the
audience. (Sean Higgins, Union-Funded Activist Group Sole Reason For McDonalds Complaint: Labor Board, Washington
Examiner, 10/20/15)

WATCH THE VIDEO OF GRIFFIN'S REMARKS

The Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division and OSHA are also targeting franchises under
joint employer standard.
David Weil, who runs the Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division, is responsible for
getting companies to obey basic labor laws at a time when the workplace is rapidly changing.
Among the issues confronting Mr. Weil and his staff are the growth of outsourcing and changes
in the independent workforce, controversies over the legal definition of an employer at
companies like McDonalds Corp. and their franchisees, and a flurry of activism on the
minimum wage. Mr. Weil, who is on leave from his teaching job at Boston Universitys School
of Management, squeaked through the Senate confirmation process for his current post in
April 2014. Republicans objected to his view that government should take an activist approach
to enforcing labor laws. (Lauren Weber, Wage-Law Enforcer Favors Proactive Approach, The Wall Street Journal, 12/30/14)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has never ruled a fast food corporation
jointly liable for any safety violation committed by a franchisee. But 28 complaints filed on
behalf of McDonalds workers may alter that policy. The health and safety complaints were
announced Monday by Fight for $15, the fast food workers campaign backed by the Service
Employees International Union. The complaints, which have not been made public, allege
various workplace hazards, including a high risk of burns, at 19 franchisee-owned McDonalds
restaurants and nine restaurants owned directly by McDonalds USA, LLC. Unlike the
complaints that the National Labor Relations Boards General Counsel filed in December
against McDonalds, none of the OSHA complaints named McDonalds USA, LLC a joint
employer with any franchisee. But even management-side attorneys cant help wondering
whether OSHA will follow the NLRBs lead in some way. (Brian Mahoney, Will OSHA Wade Into 'Joint
Employer'? NLRB Affirms Arbitration Stance Labor And Obama: Best Frenemies? Politicos Morning Shift Newsletter, 3/17/15)

Fight For $15 And Joint Employer Holds The Promise Of Millions Of More
Members:
With joint employer making unionizing easier, the SEIU has the potential to gain millions of new
dues-paying members.
For the administrations union supporters, the move to declare multiple companies joint
employers levels the playing field in union negotiating efforts and offers the promise of
millions more dues-paying members to help replenish depleted pension plans. (Daniel Fisher, Labor
Board Poised To Expand The Definition Of 'Employer,' Forbes, 8/21/15)

With the union spending more than $30 million on the campaign, it would make sense for
that union to seek to organize fast-food workers with an eye to making them dues-paying
members to help finance the fight and help the union grow. Campaigns like this dont happen
spontaneously, said Peter Dreier, a professor of politics and urban policy at Occidental College.
Ultimately this campaign depends on having an organized-labor movement that can pay for
organizers on the ground to whip up workers into a protest campaign. (Steven Greenhouse, How To Get
Low-Wage Workers Into The Middle Class, The Atlantic, 8/19/15)

SEIU officials have called the joint employer ruling huge and fantastic for their efforts.
Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 10,000 New
Jersey workers, called the ruling huge, saying it will help long-running union efforts to
organize part-time workers who clean corporate office buildings. It opens the door to direct
bargaining with the building owners, who are the ones that actually have the power to directly
affect the workers' conditions, said Andrew Strom, the union's associate general counsel.
Without that, each step of the way, the contractor has to go back and make a phone call and
see if he can get the building owner to go along with a proposal, Strom said. (Hugh R. Morley, Unions,
Biz Leaders Face Off Over Federal Labor Ruling, The Record, 9/2/15)

But William Massey, a New York attorney who is counsel to the New Jersey branch of Local
1199 of the SEIU, which represents health care workers, called the ruling fantastic. He said it
could help the union more easily organize workers at New Jersey nursing homes, which
frequently hire contractors to hire and manage workers. Often, the main company and
contractor engage in finger-pointing, saying they can't improve an aspect of working
conditions because the other one has control over it, Massey said. (Hugh R. Morley, Unions, Biz Leaders
Face Off Over Federal Labor Ruling, The Record, 9/2/15)

Millions Of New SEIU Members Would Mean Hundreds Of Millions More For SEIU And
Their Causes:
The SEIU stands to rake-in more than $400 million per year in dues by organizing just one-third of
the fast-food workforce.
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Thats $412,038,252 every year in dues aloneor over $1.2 billion over the course of a threeyear contract. (Staff, Some Super-Sized Union Dues: The SEIU Stands To Rake In Billions By Unionizing Fast-Food Workers,
LaborUnionReport.com, 3/25/15)

Between 2005 and 2014, SEIU donated $3,221,219 to the liberal Center for American Progress think
tank. (Union Search, U.S. Dept. Of Labor Office Of Labor-Management Standards, Accessed 9/8/14)
Between 2005 and 2014, SEIU donated $2,289,500 to the Democracy Alliance, an organization of
wealthy liberal donors. (Union Search, U.S. Dept. Of Labor Office Of Labor-Management Standards, Accessed 9/8/14)
In 2005 alone, SEIU paid the infamous ACORN $2,132,729. (Union Search, U.S. Dept. Of Labor Office Of LaborManagement Standards, Accessed 9/8/14)