Andy Stern to quit SEIU

04.15.10 - 2:30 pm | Steven T. Jones |

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Andy Stern

Just days after a San Francisco trial aired the ugly battle between Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and some of his former top aides in the Bay Area, Stern has confirmed that he’s resigning after 38 years in the movement, 14 as head of SEIU.

Stern was once thought of as a rising figure in the progressive movement, but in recent years he has become a polarizing figure within the labor movement, prone to undemocratic power-building and starting fights with other unions. He was criticized as too close to corporations and the Democratic Party, but he doesn’t endear himself to either in an exit interview with the Huffington Post.

The fight between SEIU and the National Union of Healthcare Workers has created bad feelings on both sides, as indicated by the comments section every time we write about it, and I can’t help but think that Stern’s decision can only help the labor movement. But I suppose we’ll see.

BTW, there’s more on the SEIU-NUHW fight here at Spot.us, which we partnered with on this week’s story.

Labor

Comments

Good Riddance

This guy is a pig. A close friend works for SEIU, and the stories she's told me over the years about how badly they've treated their own employees since Andy Stern took over would be unbelievable if this person were not totally credible. Imagine, a union, whose job it is to get good pay and benefits for its members, gives as little pay and benefits to its own employees as possible, and treats them very poorly in general.

Andy Stern has created a monster. I don't know if this can be fixed, or if, like whack-a-mole, another jerk will take his place. Hopefully, whoever replaces Stern will return SEIU to being the progressive union it once was, instead of the right wing union it has become, at least in its behavior and tactics.

Posted by Jeff Hoffman on Apr. 17, 2010 @ 3:49 pm

So a unions who's objectives are left wing

is really right wing because the leadership is authoritarian?

The SEIU and its symbiotic relationship with the progressive board members in San Francisco was in reality right wing this whole time, as the SEIU claimed some credit for many of the kooky progressive laws the BOS has enacted over the years.

I wonder of servile flunky and ex-SEIU drone John Avalos would agree that the SEIU was a right wing operation?

Posted by glen matlock on Apr. 17, 2010 @ 6:11 pm

Super!

Super!

Posted by Peter Krikels on Jun. 25, 2010 @ 3:11 am