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| Andrew L. "Andy" Stern | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | November 22, 1950 West Orange, New Jersey |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Education | B.A., 1971 |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Title | International President, SEIU |
| Term | 1996–present |
| Predecessor | Richard Cordtz |
| Successor | incumbent |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Board member of | Rock the Vote Center for Community and Corporate Ethics (Chairman)
AFL-CIO Housing and Building Investment Trust |
| Religious beliefs | Judaism[1] |
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Notes
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Andrew L. "Andy" Stern (born November 22, 1950), is the president[3] of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing union in the Americas. SEIU is the second largest union in the United States and Canada after the National Education Association.[4][5] Elected in 1996 to succeed John Sweeney, Stern is an advocate of universal health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.[citation needed]
For his talent at recruiting new members, Stern has been described as the "most important labor boss in America"[6]. The share of workers belonging to a union in 2008 showed the largest annual growth rate since the first report in 1983.[7] Growth in SEIU in 2008—88,926 members[8]--accounted for nearly 21 percent of the national union membership growth.
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Early life and career
Born the son of a lawyer in West Orange, New Jersey, Stern was a student leftist in the 1960s. He began college as a business major at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business but ultimately graduated in 1971 with a B.A. in education and urban planning.[9][10] After graduation he spent a time traveling in Europe before he began his career as a welfare case officer and member of the SEIU in 1973, eventually being elected president of his Pennsylvania local.[10] In 1980, he was elected to the union's executive board, and in 1984 the union's then-president Sweeney put him in charge of its organizing efforts.Stern is a big backer of the controversial Card Check legislation.The Heritage Foundation on November 26,2009 said the following on this piece:"It would effectively elimate secret ballot organizing elections. Instead of workers voting on a union in the privacy of a voting booth, they would publicly sign a union card-in the presence organziers. Unions would know exactly who was for them and who was not. This statement appearred in The Morning Bell put out by The Heritage Foundation
In 1996, Stern was elected to the presidency of the union. After launching a national debate about the fundamental change needed to unite the 9 out of 10 American workers who have no organization at work, SEIU, along with the Teamsters, announced on July 25, 2005 that they were disaffiliating from the AFL-CIO.[11] Stern led SEIU out of the AFL-CIO and founded Change to Win [12], a six-million member federation of seven major unions dedicated to giving workers a voice at their jobs.
Internet and New Media
Stern has embraced political organizing via the Internet in the wake of the Howard Dean campaign, which his union endorsed.[citation needed] In fall of 2005, he launched an online contest called Since Sliced Bread that awarded $100,000 for the best new economic idea in America. Since 2005, Stern has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post[13] and actively uses Twitter.[14]
Through Stern's initiative, a New Media team was formed at SEIU in the late summer of 2008. The union's website, SEIU.org, was completely redesigned and relaunched shortly after. Traffic to SEIU's website has since increased[15] by well over 100,000 visitors.
A Country That Works
Stern is the author of the book, A Country That Works [16] (Free Press), which offers a fresh prescription for the vital political and economic reforms America needs to get back on track. On October 3, 2006, he appeared on The Colbert Report to promote his new book A Country That Works. On October 4, he appeared on Democracy Now! [17] to promote the same book.
Family
Stern is divorced from Jane Perkins, a former head of the environmental network Friends of the Earth.[18] They have two children, Matt and Cassie. Cassie died in 2002.[1]
Stern has a brother Ken a lawyer in Colorado, Tom a lawyer in North Carolina, a sister Ellen an attorney in Washington, D.C., and a sister Tricia a social worker in New Jersey. His mother Sue lives in Colorado.
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Cordtz |
President of the SEIU 1996- |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
Notes
- ^ a b Duke, Lynne (January 3, 2006). "Love, Labor, Loss. A Child's Death Stirred Andrew Stern To Challenge Himself -- and Unionism". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010201466_pf.html. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ "Andrew L. Stern." Marquis Who's Who, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Fee via Fairfax County Public Library, accessed 2009-08-12. Document Number: K2016166524.
- ^ "Andy Stern, SEIU International President". SEIU. http://www.seiu.org/a/mediakit/andy-stern.php. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
- ^ "National Labor Organizations with Membership over 100,000". Infoplease. Pearson Education. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104634.html. Retrieved 2009-08-12. "Members Union1 2,731,419 National Education Association of the United States2 1,505,100 Service Employees International Union" U.S. Department of Labor
- ^ AFL-CIO
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/12/60minutes/main1614451.shtml
- ^ Bureau of Labor Statistics (January 28, 2009). "Union Members in 2008". U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-13. "In 2008, union members accounted for 12.4 percent of employed wage and salary workers, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of workers belonging to a union rose by 428,000 to 16.1 million."
- ^ http://www.seiu.org/2009/01/statement-of-seiu-president-andy-stern-regarding-growth-in-union-membership-in-2008.php
- ^ Kaminski, Matthew (December 6, 2008). "Andy Stern - Let's 'Share the Wealth' - America's most powerful union boss says Europe offers a good economic model". http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122852244367484311.html. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ a b http://www.tnr.com/story.html?id=61f4ea0d-90bb-4a38-9650-c507fa73efbe
- ^ Edsall, Thomas B. (July 26, 2005). "Two Top Unions Split From AFL-CIO, Others Are Expected To Follow Teamsters". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/25/AR2005072500251.html. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
- ^ http://www.changetowin.org/about-us.html
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-stern
- ^ "SEIU_AndyStern (SEIU_AndyStern) on Twitter". San Francisco, CA. http://twitter.com/SEIU_AndyStern. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
- ^ "Site Profile for seiu.org (rank #14,105)". http://siteanalytics.compete.com/seiu.org/. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
- ^ http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780743297677-0
- ^ Democracy Now! | October 04, 2006
- ^ "Can This Man Save Labor?" "Business Week", 13 Sept. 2004
External links
- Biography page from SEIU website
- Aaron Bernstein. "Can This Man Save Labor?" BusinessWeek. September 13, 2004.
- New York Times Magazine cover story on Stern, 30 January 2005
- Stern's Blog at the Huffington Post
- 60 Minutes Interview (May 14, 2006)
- A Country That Works: Getting America Back on Track
- Interview on Bill Moyers Journal (June 2007)
- Rik Kirkland, "The new face of labor", Fortune, October 10, 2006
- Video (and audio) of conversation with Andy Stern and Robert Reich on Bloggingheads.tv
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