Dirty Tactics

Many people liken the SEIU campaign to unionize Fisher Island workers to an ancient Chinese torture known as ‘death by a thousand cuts’

By Ben Torter

Fisher Island condo. Photo by Richard M. Brooks

As part of its campaign to unionize workers on Fisher Island, the Service Employees International Union Local 11 has put big money behind Fisher Island security guard Willie Floyd.

Claiming he fears for his safety on the job, Floyd filed appeals of building permits for two Fisher Island condominium buildings that are in the early stages of construction: Palazzo del Sol and Palazzo del Luna.

The appeals were heard by the Miami Beach Board of Adjustment on Friday, March 7.

Floyd, who is not trained in reading architectural plans or in city planning, was troubled by the process the city of Miami Beach employed in approving the plans for the two buildings. He didn’t think the planning director should have allowed a 1,775-square-foot mechanical building — which will house electrical transformers and the like — to be added to the plans after the city’s Design Review Board had already seen them. He also didn’t like that Fisher Island had been allowed to add a wall that split the single underground parking garage, which services both buildings, into two. Floyd said it was better to have two entrances and two exits in case of an emergency.

“We’re the first responders to anything on Fisher Island,” he said.

Miami Beach Planning Director Jorge Gomez and Fisher Island’s lawyers Cliff Schulman and Robert Fine argued that such changes are almost always made after the DRB review — that it was standard practice. They also pointed out that the other garages on the island are underground and have only one vehicle entrance and exit, and there has never been a problem.

But Floyd, who earns about $15 per hour, had a team of lawyers and expert witnesses paid for by the SEIU tirelessly arguing that the changes were major and, therefore, the project should go back before the Design Review Board.

After a six-hour hearing, the Miami Beach Design Review Board sided with the city and Fisher Island and denied the appeal by a 6-0 vote. Herbert Gopman recused himself due to conflict of interest.

“I just can’t get my hands around how Mr. Floyd is affected by this particular building in any way other than anyone else,” said board member Alex Annunziato. “I feel the building official acted wisely and in the best interest of all the affected parties.”

Floyd also claims that the underground parking garages approved by the city aren’t safe and could violate FEMA regulations, but because his first appeal took the entire day, that matter will be heard at the next Board of Adjustment meeting on April 4.

However, during Friday’s meeting, SEIU organizers filled half the commission chamber with supporters. There were a handful of Fisher Island housekeepers, two other security guards and Floyd’s legal team. The group was well fed. To keep sympathetic bellies full, the union brought in bags of food from Quiznos and cold drinks kept in white coolers.

After losing the hearing, everyone remained high-spirited, and boisterous laughs could be heard from afar.

“You heard the board saying they think I have a better chance on the flood plain,” said Floyd, wearing a big smile and a rose-colored suit that fit very loosely, despite his having the body of a former high school football linebacker. “The door is open. We just put them on notice that I’m not backing down. I’m gonna be here till the end, win or draw.”

The SEIU has been passing out fliers all over town, warning that the city’s approval of underground parking garages on Fisher Island could increase flood insurance premiums for all Miami Beach residents or cause FEMA to revoke Miami Beach’s participation in the flood insurance program.

“That building is in total compliance with all FEMA regulations,” said Thomas Velazquez, director of the city’s Building Department. “They [SEIU] are trying to use this for their own purposes. A mixed occupancy building is allowed to have a garage below the flood plain.”

Though it’s just off the coast of Miami Beach, the vibe on Fisher Island is a tropical paradise miles away from the troubles of daily life. It’s a place almost unaffected by crime, where many people don’t worry if they forget to lock their doors.

Private ferries with names such as Heron, Pelican and Eagle shuttle people in Bentleys, Mercedes, Jaguars and BMWs from the mainland to the island. The ride takes approximately seven minutes. Once on the island, you drive past a pond of pink flamingos, artistically manicured trees and shrubbery, and sweet-smelling flowers, which help to make everyday stresses a distant memory.

The Fisher Island lifestyle doesn’t come cheap. Condo fees range from the low thousands each month to much more. There are currently 695 residences on the island, and with fewer than 20 percent of them homesteaded, they pay combined property taxes pushing $30 million. Yet, Fisher Island maintains its own roads and its beach from private maintenance fees.

To keep the place pristine, the island employs about 700 workers, plus another 300 who work directly for individual residents. Fresh off its high-profile success of organizing service workers at the University of Miami, the SEIU set its sights on Fisher Island more than a year ago.

“The SEIU understands the media value of the Fisher Island name,” Mark James, president of the Fisher Island Community Association, said last week during the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club, a weekly political breakfast at David’s Café. “They understand if they can organize Fisher Island, they can use it to leverage into every other condo in South Florida.”

At that same breakfast, SEIU Local 11 President Hiram Ruiz talked about the mission of his organization: “to organize a sector of workers who are on the lowest economic rung — service workers.”

Miami is the third poorest city of its size in the United States, while Fisher Island is the richest zip code in the country.

“We thought people in a position to do the right thing and set an example would respond to that,” Ruiz said.

He bulleted three points: reasonable wages, access to health care and dignity on the job.

Fisher Island did respond to pressure from the SEIU. It raised the minimum wage on the island to $10 per hour and made family health care available for $139 per month. Those numbers are actually better than for SEIU members at UM.

The island also agreed to allow workers to vote on whether they want the union, which would be supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. The SEIU is holding out for another form of voting, called card check, which it claims is fairer.

Patricia Gilbert, associate director of the NLRB in Washington, D.C., explained the difference between the two labor election methods.

Card check is as it sounds. Workers anonymously check a card with yes or no, and the votes are tallied by an independent party.

“It is voluntary recognition without the NLRB being involved,” Gilbert said.

Fisher Island has agreed to an NLRB election, which requires that a petition for an election be filed with the NLRB.

“The petition would be filed through the SEIU,” Gilbert said. “An employer doesn’t file a petition for that type of election. The petition would require signatures from 30 percent of workers in support of the union. If that happens, there would be an election.”

Ruiz and others from the SEIU argue that a traditional NLRB election leaves room for employers to harass and intimidate workers. Gilbert doesn’t believe that it invites intimidation more than any other method because the ballots would be secret and both Fisher Island and the SEIU would be allowed to observe, so neither side would have an advantage.

“We say to the SEIU, please, let’s have an election,” James said. “Do you want to give the workers a chance, or do you want to resort to extortion?”

Cliff Schulman described the SEIU’s campaign to organize Fisher Island workers as “Death of a Thousand Cuts,” which is both an ancient Chinese torture and the title of a book about corporate union campaigns that cut lots of little holes in corporate prey’s skin until it either gives into demands or bleeds to death. In this case, the SEIU is demanding an election under its terms.

The SEIU is persistent. It led a flotilla of boats to Fisher Island in November to raise awareness that the island’s beaches, below the mean high-tide line, are open to the public. A month earlier, in October, it filed a class action complaint against the island on behalf of 19 workers, alleging that the Fisher Island Ferry Service discriminates against Haitian, Hispanic and black workers because it requires they ride in the workers’ lounge, not in the one reserved for residents and guests.

The union also made an issue of the fact that many Fisher Island residents have gone to the Miami-Dade County Value Adjustment Board to lobby for their property taxes to be lowered, as is the right of every homeowner in Miami-Dade County.

And there have been picket demonstrations.

Representatives of Fisher Island say the island welcomes an election, but it isn’t going to be bullied.

“The tactic used on Friday was a clear example of their techniques,” said Jose Cancela, a public relations person retained by Fisher Island. “These tactics are a way of making management drop to their knees, and we aren’t going to.”

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com