Is SEIU sucking and blowing at the same time?

I think Stern's arguments are all self-serving but the logic is consistent.

SEIU's fight with UHW is about who represents those workers. Stern claims the Initernational SEIU Board deserves their loyalty. Roselli claims that he and the ousted UHW board do. Legally, the cards are on Stern's side here but the workers will ultimately decide in representation votes. I've never heard Stern argue disaffiliation is inherently wrong. He's argued that the fight with UHW is about the best way to bring new members into the union. Self-serving, perhaps, but Roselli - for all his "democratic" talk - has aquired power in the same way Stern has. There's enough dishonesty to go around.

On UNITE HERE, Stern isn't encouraging the union to disaffiliate. He's urging BOTH sides to join SEIU. He seems willing to take teh UNITE half into SEIU if they're the only ones willing to join. Again, he's not making any high-minded arguments about the right to disaffiliate. He's arguing that the current arrangement isn't working.

I don't have any illusions about Stern. I think he wants a bigger union.

That said, I don't have any illusions about Roselli or Willhelm. They want to hold onto the power they have. I note, for example, that Roselli has stopped talking about one-member-one-vote elections for leadership now that he's got his own union and can make it a reality.

Neither side seems that interested in how this impacts the members but, as unionist noted in another thread, these fights are empowering - in that workers get to choose.

However, they're also a huge waste of money and resources.