Widely-respected progressive columnist Juan Gonzalez nails SEIU's megalomaniac would-be dictator Andy Stern to the wall in a column in today's New York Daily News.

SEIU President Andy Stern is a threat to labor soul

SEIU President Andy Stern is pushing ahead with a plan despite several scandals.

Andy Stern, head of the nation's fastest-growing union and a chief proponent of labor reform, is about to reveal himself as a colossal scam artist.

Stern, president of the 2million-member Service Employees International Union, plans to kick off the new year with a stunning assault on democracy within his union.

United Healthcare Workers West's rank-and-file leadership has filed a lawsuit against Andy Stern and Anna Burger for their campaign of systematically trying to silence the members ­of UHW who are spe­aking out against Stern and Burger's power ­grabs. The lawsuit notes several actions taken by Stern's inner circle--including threats of a politically motivated trusteeship and dismantling of UHW--which are intended to chill dissent within SEIU.  

Sources within SEIU International expose plan by President Andy Stern to divert hundreds of staffers away from November election to prop up Stern's illegal trusteeship of UHW-West.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian reports.

more below

The LA Times reports:

The Service Employees International Union's top California officer has taken a leave of absence, and her former boyfriend has been ordered to return tens of thousands of dollars he received from the state council and Los Angeles local that she heads.

Annelle Grajeda is the third major SEIU leader to step aside following reports in The Times about the union's financial practices. The SEIU acknowledged Saturday that Grajeda was on leave as president of the L.A. local and the union's state council, and as an executive vice president of the national organization, because of allegations that she was improperly involved in the payments.

Read the whole story at

http://tinyurl.com/66mr8p

More after the flip-

The LA Times reports that yet another SEIU leader has been implicated in the widening corruption scandal surrounding Andy Stern has been forced to step down. This time, the Michigan SEIU local is involved.

SEIU spending scandal spreads to Michigan

Rickman Jackson, former official in Los Angeles chapter, takes leave of absence from Michigan local. Action comes after Times reports of payments to firms owned by L.A. leader's family

By Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 26, 2008

A spending scandal at California's largest union local spread to a second state Monday as the head of the union's leading Michigan group stepped aside because of a widening financial inquiry.

The Service Employees International Union said that Rickman Jackson, who served as chief of staff at the Los Angeles organization, has taken a leave of absence from its biggest Michigan local less than a week after the president of the Los Angeles chapter relinquished his post.

Both departures followed reports in The Times that the local and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of its president, Tyrone Freeman, and spent similar sums on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, restaurants such as Morton's steakhouse, a Beverly Hills cigar lounge and a Hollywood talent agency.

The Times also disclosed that a housing corporation Freeman helped launch used the address of a Bell Gardens home that property records show is owned by Jackson. Freeman, the housing corporation and Jackson have declined to say whether he was paid for any use of his residence.

SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette would not say Monday whether the union's inquiry into Jackson's activities is focused on his home and the housing corporation. The corporation did not receive the tax-exempt status it sought and lost its right to do business in California for a time. Freeman and Jackson were appointed by SEIU President Andy Stern, one of the country's most influential labor leaders.

Complete story at
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me- union26-2008aug26,0,5532516.story

The LA Times also reports an escalation in Stern's drive to crush all opposition to his centralized authoritarian control of the union. Stern has announced plans to trustee the 150,000 member United Healthcare Workers West SEIU local, which has lead the democratic resistance inside SEIU.

More after the fold.