| Andrew L. "Andy" Stern | |
 |
|
| Born | 1950 West Orange, New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Labor leader |
Andrew L. "Andy" Stern (born November 22, 1950), is the president[1] 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.[2][3] Elected in 1996 to succeed John Sweeney, Stern is working to revitalize the labor movement by making health care a top priority, empowering workers through the Employee Free Choice Act and helping workers and employers recognize the new global economic model American businesses operate under today.
For his talent at recruiting new members, Stern has been described as the "most important labor boss in America"[4]. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual union membership [report][5] shows that the share of workers belonging to a union rose in 2008 by the largest growth rate on record since the data was first collected in 1983. Growth in SEIU in 2008--88,926 members[6]--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 Wharton School of Business but ultimately graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in education and urban planning in 1971.[7][8] After graduation he spent a time traveling in Europe before he began his career as a welfare case officer and member of the Service Employees International Union ("SEIU") in 1973, eventually being elected president of his Pennsylvania local.[9] 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.
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. Stern led SEIU out of the AFL-CIO and founded Change to Win [10], 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[11] and actively uses Twitter.[12].
Through Stern's initiative, a New Media team was formed at SEIU in the late summer of 2008. The union's website, SEIU.org[13], was completely redesigned and relaunched shortly after. Since the relaunch, traffic to SEIU's website has increased[14] by well over 100,000 visitors.
A Country That Works
Stern is the author of the book, A Country That Works [15] (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! [16] to promote the same book.
Family
Stern is divorced from Jane Perkins, a former head of the environmental network Friends of the Earth. [17] They have two children, Matt and Cassie. Cassie died in 2002. [18]
Stern has a brother Ken a lawyer in Colorado, Tom a lawyer in NC, a sister Ellen an attorney in DC, and a sister Tricia a social worker in NJ. His mother Sue lives in Colorado.
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Cordtz |
President of the SEIU 1996- |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
Notes
- ^ http://www.seiu.org/a/mediakit/andy-stern.php
- ^ U.S. Department of Labor
- ^ AFL-CIO
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/12/60minutes/main1614451.shtml
- ^ http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
- ^ http://www.seiu.org/2009/01/statement-of-seiu-president-andy-stern-regarding-growth-in-union-membership-in-2008.php
- ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122852244367484311.html
- ^ http://www.tnr.com/story.html?id=61f4ea0d-90bb-4a38-9650-c507fa73efbe
- ^ http://www.tnr.com/story.html?id=61f4ea0d-90bb-4a38-9650-c507fa73efbe
- ^ http://www.changetowin.org/about-us.html
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-stern
- ^ http://twitter.com/SEIU_AndyStern
- ^ http://www.seiu.org
- ^ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/seiu.org/
- ^ http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780743297677-0
- ^ Democracy Now! | October 04, 2006
- ^ "Can This Man Save Labor?" "Business Week", 13 Sept. 2004. [1]
- ^ "Andy Stern" [2]
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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