6/7/13 Andy Stern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Andy Stern From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Andrew L. "Andy" Stern (born November 22, 1950), is the former president[7][8] of the 2.2 million-member Service Andy Stern 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.[9][10] Stern was elected in 1996 to succeed John Sweeney. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Columbia University.[11] Stern is intent upon influencing federal legislation that helps revitalize the labor movement through universal health care, expanding union ranks via the Employee Free Choice Act,[12] stronger regulations on business, profit sharing for employees, higher taxes, and efforts consistent with the improvement of the lives of Born Andrew L. Stern [citation needed] workers. November 22, 1950 West Orange, New Jersey For his talent at recruiting new members, Stern has been described as the "most important labor boss in America".[13] Nationality United States Stern is unapologetic about targeting private equity firms, Education B.A., 1971 shaming business leaders, and competing to build SEIU's Alma mater University of Pennsylvania membership: “We like to say: We use the power of persuasion first. If it doesn't work, we try the persuasion of Title International President, SEIU [14] power”. The share of workers belonging to a union in Term 1996–2010 2008 showed the largest annual growth rate since the first Predecessor Richard Cordtz report in 1983.[15] Growth in SEIU in 2008—88,926 members[16]--accounted for nearly 21 percent of the national Successor Mary Kay Henry union membership growth. Political Democratic Party party In March, 2010, Stern was the Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence at the Cornell University School of Industrial Board SEIU International Executive Board, and Labor Relations. member of Economic Policy Institute, Rock the Vote, AFL-CIO Union Privilege, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (Executive Committee), Center for Contents Community and Corporate Ethics (Chairman), The Broad Foundation 1 Early life and career Formerly, Executive Committee of the 2 Internet and new media Democratic Party auxiliary America 3 A Country That Works 4 Family Coming Together (ACT) 5 Political influence Formerly, Advisory Comm. of 6 Controversy Association of Community 6.1 Trusteeship of UHW west Organizations for Reform Now 7 Resignation (Resignation as of 2/1/2010) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Stern 1/6 6/7/13 Andy Stern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 8 References Religion Judaism[1] 9 External links Spouse(s) Jane Perkins (div. ) Children Matt, Cassie (dec.) Early life and career Notes .[2] Board Affiliation citations:,[3][4][5][6] He grew up Jewish and middle class in West Orange, N.J., where his father was a lawyer. Stern was a student leftist in the 1960s.[citation needed] 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.[17][18] Stern began his career as a welfare case officer and member of the SEIU in 1973, eventually being elected president of his Pennsylvania local.[18] In 1980, he was elected to the union's executive board, and in 1984 the union's then- president John Sweeney put him in charge of its organizing efforts. Stern is a backer of the Employee Free Choice Act.[citation needed] In 1996, Stern was elected to the presidency of the union. After launching a national debate aimed at uniting 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.[19] Stern led SEIU out of the AFL-CIO and founded Change to Win,[20] a six-million member federation of seven major unions "dedicated to giving workers a voice at their jobs". Stern is now a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (http://gppi.georgetown.edu/). 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[21] and actively uses Twitter.[22] Stern has been a key figure in financing the online grassroots "netroots" community, along with Dean, George Soros, Simon Rosenberg, and Andrew S. Rappaport, to funnel a progressive agenda to liberal bloggers.[23] Through Stern's initiative, a New Media team was formed at SEIU in the late summer of 2008. The union's website, SEIU.org (http://www.seiu.org), was completely redesigned and relaunched shortly after. Traffic to SEIU's website has since increased[24] by well over 100,000 visitors. A Country That Works In the book, A Country That Works [25] (Free Press), Stern calls for unions to be the dominant vehicles for the promotion of social reforms, including espousing the benefits of increased taxation on the wealthy and universal health care. 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! [26] to promote the book. Family en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Stern 2/6 6/7/13 Andy Stern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stern is divorced from Jane Perkins, a former head of the environmental network Friends of the Earth.[27] They had 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. Political influence During the years of Stern's leadership, the SEIU funneled vast amounts of financing to the Democratic Party and its candidates, far outnumbering the contributions of other unions during the last two election cycles. SEIU contributed $65 million to the 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry.[28] The union spent another $85 million on Democratic candidates in 2008; $60 million going toward the election of President Barack Obama,[29] with a significant chunk of that money funding door-to-door canvassing and other GOTV efforts,[30] as well as voter registration. Stern is referred to as one of "the chief architects of healthcare reform" in Modern Healthcare magazine's ranking of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare (http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery? Site=CH&Date=20090824&Category=FREE&ArtNo=811009998&Ref=PH) for 2009. Stern has been named to MH's annual "movers and shakers in healthcare" list for five years in a row. Stern is an ardent supporter of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[31] Stern has been a frequent visitor to the White House since Obama's election.[32][33] Between Inauguration Day and February 23, 2011, Stern visited the White House 53 times.[34] Under Stern, the SEIU has poured millions into a group called Health Care for America NOW!, which set up pavilions at nearly every major health care protest in 2009, and has given the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now nearly $6 million since 2006 – including $250,000 in 2009 – according to U.S. Department of Labor disclosure and the union's own statements.[29] The SEIU "cut all ties to ACORN"[citation needed] after the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy. Controversy Trusteeship of UHW west On January 27, 2009, SEIU placed UHW West under trusteeship and dismissed 70 of the local's executives, including president Sal Rosselli.[35][36] Rosselli and other ousted leaders reformed under the National Union of Healthcare Workers and pushed for UHW West members at 60 facilities to vote to decertify SEIU.[37] As of March 22, 2009, a total of 91,000 UHW West members (a majority of UHW West members) signed decertification petitions to leave SEIU and join NUHW. Stern and SEIU filed a lawsuit in mid-2009 alleging that UHW West and NUHW officials embezzled millions of dollars.[38] The lawsuit ended on April 9, 2010 with a small award for SEIU, smaller than their legal costs.[39] Resignation en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Stern 3/6 6/7/13 Andy Stern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stern announced on April 13, 2010, that he would be stepping down as president of the SEIU. Confirmation of his resignation came from Diane Sosne, a member of the union's board and president of an SEIU local based in Seattle. Preceded by President of the SEIU Succeeded by Richard Cordtz 1996-2010 Mary Kay Henry References 1. ^ a b Duke, Lynne (January 3, 2006). "Love, Labor, Loss. A Child's Death Stirred Andrew Stern To Challenge Himself -- and Unionism" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010201466_pf.html). Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 2. ^ "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. 3. ^ "EPI Board of Directors" (http://www.epi.org/pages/board/). Epi.org. Archived (http://web.archive.org/web/20100707182238/http://www.epi.org/pages/board/) from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-10. 4. ^ "Union Privilege Board of Directors" (http://www.unionplus.org/about-union-plus/board-of-directors).