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A onetime rising star in national labor circles who headed California's biggest union local was convicted Monday on federal charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his low-income members. Tyrone Freeman, who represented about 190,000 homecare workers as a leader of the Service Employees International Union, was found guilty on 14 counts after a 10-day trial in Los Angeles. Jurors deliberated two and a half days before returning their verdict. The trial followed a nearly four-year investigation triggered by a series of Times reports on Freeman's financial practices.

I think it's fair to say that the men sitting across the table from me Monday afternoon were not terribly happy with my recent work. Bob Schoonover, president of Service Employees International Union, Local 721, and Art Sweatman, a shop steward and tree trimmer for the city of Los Angeles, found much to dislike in my April 23 column. That's the one in which I said public employee unions need to make a few more concessions. "We did a whole bunch, and we saved the city a whole bunch of money," said Schoonover, who speaks like a boxer working the bag, one jab after another.

A high-ranking Midwest officer of the Service Employees International Union, who had been serving as trustee of a financially troubled local, has resigned after being accused of billing the labor organization for $9,000 in personal expenses. The Chicago-based Byron Hobbs, who also sat on the union's national board, is the latest of several SEIU officials to lose their positions or otherwise come under scrutiny for alleged financial improprieties.

Los Angeles County officials overseeing the nation's largest local government unveiled a budget proposal Monday that they said marks the beginning of an emergence from years of austerity. The $24.7-billion spending plan calls for no major cuts and does not include a deficit for the first time since 2008. County officials said they expect to see the fiscal situation continue to improve as the housing and labor markets recover, boosting tax revenue and reducing demand for social services.

A federal labor board decision this week has given a major victory to a breakaway union vying with the giant Service Employees International Union to represent tens of thousands of California healthcare workers. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board called for elections to determine who has the right to represent some 2,300 Kaiser healthcare workers employed at various sites in Southern California. An SEIU affiliate currently represents the workers, but the breakaway group filed a petition in February challenging the SEIU.

Over the last 12 years, the Service Employees International Union has led the fight for the political reforms that America's working people need. On issues ranging from healthcare to immigration to corporate responsibility, we have pressed our clear and consistent view that America must change in order to win. Now it's our turn to make some changes. Recent reports in The Times have raised serious questions about how money from a local chapter may have been misused. The stories accuse Tyrone Freeman, president of Local 6434, of steering payments and contracts to companies owned by his relatives and other financial improprieties.

Re "Labor's real fight," Opinion, Feb. 1, and "Bay Area health union seeks vote on members," Feb. 3 I find it ironic that the Service Employees International Union is opposing the request of the petition signers to be represented by a different union. Sounds as if the SEIU, one of the biggest proponents of the Employee Free Choice Act, isn't willing to extend free choice to its own union members when those members want to secede from the SEIU. If the Employee Free Choice Act is such a benefit to the working person, then the SEIU should be eager to abide by the same principles it demands business and employees abide by. If not, then this act should not be passed by Congress.

Not long ago, Tyrone Freeman was a rising star in the national labor movement, already the head of California's biggest union local and a force in Democratic politics from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. Freeman's quick climb up the ranks of the powerful Service Employees International Union burnished his reputation as an advocate for the disadvantaged, a man who helped improve the lot of some 190,000 workers paid about $9 an hour to care for...

Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers throughout Southern California have voted overwhelmingly to quit the giant Service Employees International Union and join a smaller rival union. The National Labor Relations Board, which tallied secret ballots cast earlier this month, said Tuesday that about 2,000 nurses and healthcare professionals voted more than 6 to 1 in favor of ditching the SEIU. They are affiliating with rival National Union of Healthcare Workers, a breakaway faction. The defeat is a major setback for SEIU, the largest hospital and healthcare workers union in California, with about 150,000 members.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his top budget advisers thought they negotiated a labor contract last week that would begin to address the steadily rising cost of employee healthcare benefits. But that deal, reached with the 4,800-member Engineers and Architects Assn., has come under attack from members of another civilian employee union, which contends that the agreement contains "unprecedented and dangerous" concessions and should be rejected. With the Engineers and Architects voting on the tentative agreement this week, organizers with Service Employees International Union Local 721 have begun warning that the proposed pact is part of a larger effort to "divide and conquer" the city's civilian employee groups.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of San Diego has signaled that he's prepared to dismiss a bizarre lawsuit filed by Prime Healthcare Services against the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and the Service Employees International Union. In a tentative ruling handed down Thursday, Curiel said he found no merit in Prime's claim that Kaiser and the SEIU had conspired against the Ontario hospital company. Curiel's dismissal is subject to a hearing in his courtroom Friday and a final order to be handed down later.

In recent years, Prime Healthcare has built a reputation as a take-no-prisoners company willing to run roughshod over patients and employees alike in its quest for profits - $283 million on revenue of $1.6 billion in 2010, according to a financial statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The closely held Ontario firm, which owns or operates 21 hospitals including 14 in California, has received a federal subpoena related to allegations that it has inflated its billings to Medicare.

The union representing healthcare workers at the Motion Picture & Television Fund has called off its strike for next week. SEIU-UHW officials had planned to stage a three-day walkout on Monday after contract talks with the fund broke down in a dispute over pay rates, changes to the union's pension plan and staffing levels. But after consulting with the SEIU-UHW members, the union agreed to a 60-day "cooling off" period during which the two organizations will continue to negotiate in good faith toward a collective bargaining agreement, according to a statement from the union and the motion picture fund.

Behind closed doors, two top candidates for Los Angeles mayor offered strong commitments of solidarity with the union representing a major chunk of civilian employees at City Hall, according to recordings of the sessions obtained by The Times. The pledges, made last week in a members-only meeting for union workers considering a possible endorsement, demonstrates the importance of organized labor in the March 5 election, as well as the political risks of appearing too beholden to public employees as the city's top elected executive.

In a surprise move, a union that represents about 10,000 civilian workers at Los Angeles City Hall has called two top mayoral candidates back for more interviews, signaling it may bestow a pivotal endorsement five weeks before the election. The Service Employees International Union failed to back any of the four leading contenders in the March 5 mayoral election after they appeared at a closed-door union forum nearly two months ago. But both City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilman Eric Garcetti have been summoned to appear for a second round Tuesday and spend 45 minutes answering questions from members, union officials said.

An influential union representing City Hall workers failed to reach a consensus Tuesday evening on whether and whom to endorse in Los Angeles' mayoral campaign, labor officials said. Members of six locals of the Service Employees International Union questioned City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilman Eric Garcetti, two top contenders in the race, for at least half an hour. Neither was recommended for an endorsement, even though Greuel was ranked higher on a scoring sheet prepared by union officials.

I was surprised to read that leaders of the state's biggest union — the SEIU — had decided to endorse Proposition 19, which would allow Californians to legally grow and possess marijuana. Any patrol officer, judge or district attorney will tell you that Proposition 19 is a flawed initiative that would bring about a host of legal nightmares and risks to public safety. It would also make California a laughingstock. Leaders of the Service Employees International Union say they support Proposition 19 so the state can avoid cuts to healthcare, home care, education and elderly care programs.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court dealt a defeat Thursday to public employee unions in a case from California, ruling that unions must win approval in advance from dissenting members before they collect extra dues in mid-year to pay for a political campaign. The dispute turned on a relatively small amount of money, but one that involved an important principle of the 1stAmendment. The case also carried echoes of the recent fights in Wisconsin and other states over limiting the power of public employee unions.

A onetime rising star in national labor circles who headed California's biggest union local was convicted Monday on federal charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his low-income members. Tyrone Freeman, who represented about 190,000 homecare workers as a leader of the Service Employees International Union, was found guilty on 14 counts after a 10-day trial in Los Angeles. Jurors deliberated two and a half days before returning their verdict. The trial followed a nearly four-year investigation triggered by a series of Times reports on Freeman's financial practices.

Los Angeles City Hall's top budget analyst, who has succeeded in pushing an array of cost-cutting measures opposed by labor leaders, is becoming a lightning rod in the contest to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Union activists have been pressing top mayoral candidates to stake out positions on City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana and his approach to balancing the budget, which has included employee layoffs and furloughs, cuts in basic services and reductions in pension benefits.