Thread: Whitman Housekeeper Received Union Help

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Whitman Housekeeper Received Union Help

Published November 24, 2010

Nicky DÃ*az Santillán, Meg Whitman's former housekeeper, sought and received help from a nurses union, which put her in touch with attorneys.

Meg Whitman's former housekeeper received assistance from a union that helped bring her story to the public and, ultimately, doomed the billionaire's gubernatorial campaign, according a newspaper report.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Tuesday that the California Nurses Association assisted Nicky DÃ*az Santillán, Whitman's housekeeper, when she asked for help.

The immigrant housekeeper believed she was unfairly fired after it was revealed that she was in the country without documents.

The scandal knocked Whitman's tightly orchestrated campaign off message after DÃ*az Santillán came forward. She lost the election to Democrat Jerry Brown.

The paper cited people who were close to the matter but would only speak if their names were not used.

DÃ*az Santillán contacted a friend who knew a member of the nurses union, according to the Chronicle. The union then put the Mexican-born housekeeper in touch with an immigration attorney and celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who appeared with her at a Los Angeles news conference in September.

DÃ*az Santillán said Whitman knew she was an undocumented immigrant during her nine years as a maid. She and Allred also produced a 2003 Social Security document saying the government number given by DÃ*az Santillán did not match her name, a tip-off that she might be in the country without documents.

The letter included a handwritten note from Whitman's husband, a Stanford neurosurgeon, directing the housekeeper to check it out.

Whitman said she fired the maid when she learned of her immigration status in June 2009, just months after Whitman had formed an exploratory committee to run for governor. She blamed the campaign of Brown and his union supporters for exposing her.

Nurses union executive director Rose Ann DeMoro declined to comment Tuesday to The Associated Press on whether the union helped DÃ*az Santillán. But in an interview with the AP and in a public letter addressed to DÃ*az Santillán published last week, she praised the immigrant for her courage in coming forward.

DeMoro said the union's goal is to help working women and advocate for those who don't have a voice.

"So it's natural that if someone would come to us for help, that we would help them," she said.

She said DÃ*az Santillán helped highlight "the arrogance of wealth." Whitman set spending records in her race, giving her campaign $144 million from her personal fortune.

"It is really just a striking thing. She's one of the richest women in the world and (DÃ*az Santillán is) someone who is essentially living paycheck to paycheck on survival mode," DeMoro told the AP on Tuesday.

A campaign adviser to Whitman, Rob Stutzman, was traveling Tuesday and did not immediately return an e-mail message seeking comment.

Whitman hired DÃ*az Santillán through an agency and paid her $23 an hour for 15 hours per week

The nurse's union backed Brown's candidacy and campaigned vigorously against Whitman, following her to events with a character it dubbed "Queen Meg."

The newspaper said the housekeeper was emotionally and financially devastated by her sudden firing by Whitman in 2009, for whom she had worked since 2000. Afterward, DÃ*az Santillán had asked Whitman for help finding someone who could help her gain legal status.

Whitman refused and the former housekeeper claimed Whitman later left her a voicemail message, warning her: "You don't know me, and I don't know you."

DÃ*az Santillán and her immigration attorney are now addressing her status with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Associated Press writer Juliet Williams contributed to this report.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2 ... z16EPvnfvP

We're down so might as well get kicked Jeez!

Does this really surprise anyone ?

I have very little time to go or I'd withdraw from my union in a second (ufcw)
They are an evil den of illegal and lib symp supporters

Its time for unions to be outlawed (never thought I'd say that)

In theory unions are good for workers but in practice how to things work? In California union bosses own the government. They are organized and most other workers aren't. Even the rank and file don't benefit that much. A lot of the dues money goes to the bosses and or politicians.