WACKENHUT SUES S.E.I.U. FOR RACKETEERING

For the second time in less than a month, a large American corporation has sued a major labor union alleging that the union's corporate campaign against the employer constitutes illegal racketeering. On November 1, The Wackenhut Corporation filed a forty-six page Complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in a New York federal court.

According to its corporate parent's website, The Wackenhut Corporation is the leading provider of security services in the United States:

With over 35,000 employees, Wackenhut delivers unrivaled integrated security and related services to a growing number of commercial, industrial, and government organizations.

Back in May of this year, HR Executive magazine featured a piece on the increased usage of websites to disparage employers, including the site www.doeswackenhutdiscriminate.org. We commented in the HR Executive piece:

Seth Borden, an attorney with Kreitzman, Mortensen & Borden in New York, who blogs on the subject at www.union-free.blogspot.com, agrees. Such Web sites, he says, are not intended to bring attention to a "problem" as much as they are about pressuring employers, through the use of negative publicity, to agree to a "neutrality" and card-check provision.

"These neutrality agreements make unionizing a workforce remarkably easy," he says. "Once the company cries 'uncle' and signs on, the union discontinues its relentless PR push."

That notion is prominent in Wackenhut's suit against the SEIU. The Complaint alleges a pattern of "extortionate" conduct by SEIU and its associates, intended to browbeat Wackenhut into agreeing to voluntary recognition of the union. According to Wackenhut, the SEIU has retained consultants and set up dummy "grass roots" organizations to produce numerous anti-Wackenhut websites.

Moreover, the Complaint alleges that in its effort to coerce Wackenhut's acquiescence to union demands, the SEIU and its associates have:

- infiltrated and disrupted public and other corporate events;

- distributed false and disaparaging newsletters to Wackenhut customers;

- interfered with the company's contract-bidding process, most notably in Los Angeles, where the company had a contract revoked soon after Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa (a former SEIU organizer) took office;

- solicited plaintiffs and "whistle-blowers" to file suits and charges against Wackenhut; and

- staged "street theater" events to disparage the company in public.

The Complaint also points to some pretty compelling quotes by SEIU officials and associates, acknowledging the impact -- and intent -- of the corporate campaign:

- "[W]e prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn't work we use the persuasion of power." -- SEIU President Andrew Stern

- "We can't engage in successful mass organizing or protect collective bargaining if we operate within the confines of the law because activities that allow us to exercise power are increasingly ineffective and/or illegal." -- former Director of SEIU Property Services, Stephen Lerner

- "The campaign will be over once we have an agreement with Wackenhut... pretty much the same as we have with all the other major security contractors." -- SEIU Deputy Director of Building Services Division William Ragen

For more on the increasing use of these organizing tactics, check out our earlier posts on Smithfield Foods' similar lawsuit and our Corporate Campaign tag; or consult counsel for further guidance.

More coverage also available at:

- "SEIU Statment on Wackenhut Lawsuit" -- a November 2, 2007 SEIU press release in which current Director of SEIU Property Services expresses similar contempt for U.S. Labor Law as her predecessor (Lerner, above).

- "SEIU MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST WACKENHUT SERVICES, INC. (WSI)" at Wackenhut's website.

- "Wackenhut Sues Union Over Campaign" -- Associated Press via Houston Chronicle.