Prominent Ex-Labor Leader Fights Teachers’ Unions
This is a puzzlement. Andy Stern was once one of the nation’s most important labor leaders as head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After he stepped down, he became close to Eli Broad and joined the billionaires’ fight against teachers’ unions!
Hamilton Nolan writes:
Andy Stern spent 14 years as the head of the SEIU, America’s most politically active labor union. He was perhaps the most visible union leader in America. And what is he doing now? He’s lending his name to a billionaire-funded astroturf group that aims to quash the power of teacher’s unions.
When Stern left the SEIU in 2010, he was a true political power player—his official bio, in fact, brags that “Stern has visited the White House more frequently than any other single person during the Obama Administration.” Under his leadership, his union dramatically grew its membership and helped Barack Obama get elected. But his successes came at a cost. Stern developed a reputation as a business-friendly union leader, known for striking deals with companies that were often seen as too weak by many in the labor movement. Under the guise of modernization and growth, Stern seemed to lose his connection to the grassroots, radical, people-powered aspects of the union world. In 2010, The Nation quoted one union leader as saying, “Andy Stern leaves pretty much without a friend in the labor movement.”
His post-SEIU years have only intensified this feeling. Stern has spent the past decade serving on corporate CONTINUE READING: Prominent Ex-Labor Leader Fights Teachers’ Unions | Diane Ravitch's blog
