The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening San Francisco janitors that they would lose all their benefits if the janitors were no longer represented by SEIU. The threats, made in handbills and at meetings, were aimed to discourage janitors from signing petitions to decertify SEIU and form their own independent union. The NLRB complaint alleges that SEIU is "restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the (National Labor Relations) Act in violation of Section 8(b)(1)(A) of the Act."

SEIU’s threats began when San Francisco janitors, who were members of the recently trusteed SEIU Local 87, petitioned the NLRB to establish a new independent union, the United Service Workers for Democracy (USWD87) and to disaffiliate from the SEIU.

In further action, the NLRB issued another complaint against San Francisco’s largest janitorial contractor, Able Building Maintenance, for "rendering assistance and support" to SEIU "by directing its employees to meet, during work time, with representatives of SEIU International" in its campaign against USWD. The board alleges that Able Building Maintenance "has been rendering unlawful assistance and support to a labor organization in violation of Section 8(a)(1) and (2) of the Act." Complaints against other employers for similar violations are expected to follow soon.

Earlier this year, the SEIU International took control over Local 87 to force its San Francisco members to merge into the Los Angeles-based SEIU Local 1877. Despite clear opposition to the merger by San Francisco members, SEIU forged ahead with the merger plans creating the biggest challenge to continued SEIU leadership among building service workers in northern California in the last 50 years. Local 87 represents more than 3,500 mostly Latino, Asian and Arabic janitors who clean office buildings in downtown San Francisco.

In an attempt to whitewash the merger and pit members against each other, SEIU is pushing for a 14 member "Advisory Council " to provide input about the merger. According to the international, "The merger has already been approved by the International Executive Board of SEIU and there will be no vote on this issue at SEIU Local 87 … The discussion is not about whether or not there will be a merger but rather about how it will happen."

Amazingly, composition of the Advisory Council is segregated by racial quotas: 4 Latinos, 2 Chinese, 2 Arab and 4 "non-designated" workers.

"This Advisory Council is a sham, and worse, they shamefully tried to divide the members by race," complained one Local 87 member. "The trusteeship took away our local bylaws and our rights to vote, and now they want our advice on how to cut our own throats."

Since SEIU imposed a trusteeship on Local 87 its members have seen their drug benefits reduced, workload increased, hiring control taken away by the employers and the loss of work to non-union companies while SEIU International stands by doing nothing.