Andy Stern

Andy Stern
Andrew L. "Andy" Stern, is the former president of the Service Employees International Union. Stern is currently a senior fellow at Columbia University. Stern supports federal legislation to create universal health care, expansion of union ranks via the Employee Free Choice Act, more regulations on business, profit sharing for employees and higher taxes...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusiness Executive
Date of Birth22 November 1950
CityWest Orange, NJ
CountryUnited States of America
He comes with an enormous amount of good will. I mean, people have really seen him stand up in strikes and organizing drives and things that most vice presidents of the United States have never done, and that is enormously appreciated and gives him a lot of credit.
Let's be clear -- state employees and other voters in New Hampshire take a huge risk by supporting him. Wesley Clark has a life-long pattern of support for national Republicans whose policies have been disastrous for public employees, and that is a track record that raises huge doubts about what he would do if he ever became President.
Every resident of Malibu should be horrified about the BHP Billiton oil and gas rig in the Gulf of Mexico that was lost during Hurricane Rita, ... Not only did the supposed foolproof precautions taken by BHP Billiton fail, but according to their own spokesperson, they do not even know why they failed.
There is no path to citizenship for those who work hard, pay taxes and want a chance to obtain the American dream. By establishing a legal, orderly process, we can bring immigrant workers in this country out of the shadows and under our laws, connect those workers with willing employers and allow our overburdened law enforcement and border patrol to focus on protecting Americans from those who might do us harm.
Employers need to recognize that the world has changed and there are people who would like to help them provide solution in ways that are new, modern and that add value to companies.
Unions should not be lapdogs to a political party, they should be watchdogs for their members interests.
It has no enforceable standards to stop a union from conspiring with employers to keep another stronger union out or from negotiating contracts with lower pay and standards that members of another union have spent a lifetime establishing.
In 1972, I signed a union card for SEIU. And for the last 38 years, 14 as president, it's been my life. I've seen the most miraculous, spectacular things. But there's a time to learn, a time to lead and a time to leave.
I would say the issue for the labor movement in the United States is not structural... there is no correlation between the success of workers and how the labor movement is structured.
UNNATURAL CAUSES tears back the veil to show the socio-economic and racial inequities in health as well as the public policies that underpin them. Should be required viewing.
Republicans have been very successful. There are three things Americans dont like: big unions, big government and big corporations. So Republicans go after big government and big unions, and only talk about small businesses.
The AFL-CIO is a structure that divides workers' strength by allowing each union to organize in any industry, then bargain on its own, even when workers share a common employer.
The question is always 'What is the role of a labor movement?' How much is about collective bargaining, how much is about social change for all workers?
I was too much of a victim of the model I created. I tried Change to Win and helping Obama, and then I just ran out of Andy Stern ideas.