{"article":{"id":247506,"heading":"1200 Allstate Insurance Agents Join OPEIU- 08\/18\/11","author":"repost (Doug Cunningham)","created":"2011-08-24 16:14:23","modified":"2013-11-11 01:06:36","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 09:06:36","article":"

By Doug Cunningham



The Office and Professional Employees International Union just signed up 1200 new members at Allstate insurance. In a vote administered by the American Arbitration Association, members of the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents voted by a margin of more than 94 percent to join the AFL-CIO-affiliated OPEIU. The Allstate Agents will be a guild affiliate of OPEIU and won’t have a collective bargaining agreement. But the union can assist the agents in a variety of ways. Right now Allstate agents say they are subjected to unachievable quotas, the threat of reduced compensation and the ever-present threat of contract termination. OPEIU President Michael Goodwin says it’s a matter of defending the interests of these ill-treated small business owners and OPEIU can help them achieve the benefits and protections they deserve.

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"www.laborradio.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"1200 small business owners have joined up with a labor union. Normally, unions are associated with factories and other large employers, but the Allstate agents are dispersed across many small offices, and each is self-employed. Despite this structural difference, they have opted to join a labor union affiliated with the AFL-CIO.","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2011\/08\/247506.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":247507,"heading":"OPEIU Was Affiliated With SEIU","article":"When Ms. Snider worked for the "union", SEIU 434b, in L.A., she was forced to pay dues to another union, OPEIU, that was supposed to protect her interests against the crimes of the first "union". \r\n\r\nSEIU automatically took the dues out of her paycheck, but often withheld delivery to OPEIU, so they would send her delinquecy notices until SEIU finally gave them her dues.\r\n\r\nHer OPEIU rep was on the speaker phone, telling them that they could not terminate her while she was under their Kaiser\/Permanente doctor's care, but they had security escort her off of their parking lot, & without a severance check.\r\n\r\nOPEIU tried to get her re-instated, but SEIU voted to drop them instead, & they proved to be totally useless in protecting her at all.\r\n\r\nThen, SEIU hired her former OPEIU rep.\r\n\r\nSEIU split from the AFL-CIO.\r\n\r\nCheck the full facts.","author":"Fred Snider","parent_id":247506,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2011-08-24 17:08:14","modified":"2011-08-24 17:08:14","fileurl":""}]}