BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign
by Liberty Chick
According to Ben Smith of Politico, Andy Stern, longtime President of the Service Employees International Union, is rumored to be resigning from his position. From the Politico post:
Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, one of America’s most prominent labor leaders, is set to resign, according to a member of the union’s board and another SEIU official.
The President of an SEIU local based in Seattle, Diane Sosne, broke the news to her staffers at 11:35 this morning, local time.
“Last night I received confirmation that Andy Stern is resigning as President of SEIU. He has not yet made a public announcement; we will share the details as we become aware of them,” Sosne wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.
Sosne offered no explanation for the move, but another SEIU official speculated that Stern had finally tired of the draining job.
Read the entire Politico post here.
Hmmmm…I’d speculate differently. Here are my top guesses:
1. Stern woke up and realized that after barely eeking out a court victory last week, he’s too much of a liability for SEIU to win against NUHW in their elections war over California’s health care workplaces
2. His lobbying scandal is not going away as easily as he’d expected
3. Rich Trumka and Stern have finally agreed to merge SEIU back into the AFL-CIO after their short divorce
3. Last week’s hospital worker bitch-slapdown really made him look bad (OK, that’s not really it… but wouldn’t that just be poetic justice?)
4. Maybe Obama has bigger plans for him than just a piddly old Deficit Czar.
Andy Stern’s not tired. He’s not going anywhere. He might resign as President of the SEIU, but that won’t stop him from trying to be President of…well…you know.
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130 Comments
Is there such a thing as assistant dictator?
This guy is as greasy as they come. He will slither into another even more dangerously influential position soon.
obama will hire him as director of his civilian national security force.
$1 dollar says he is getting a job in the administration. If anyone thinks this guy is getting out of the game you are delusional to say the least. I actually would prefer him in place out in the open rather than "leaving".
Regardless stay on this guy KEEP him in the spotlight and continue to expose whatever it is he is involved with. Probably going to work for BHO or Soros but they are pretty much the same!
This is a game to them… STOP playing their game and start playing your game throughhttp://www.savingtherepublic.com
There is now.
When Napalitano is appointed to SCOTUS, Stern will step in…after all, aren't the majority of HSA employees union? Certainly, under Stern, the TSA will become unionized.
Let's see what happens. My money is on Stern for HSA.
Well, there is that swell opening on the Supreme Court and heaven knows they could benefit from an union organizing drive. Maybe implement card check on issues instead of wasting all that time studying and debating the issue. But Stern doesn't dig the robes.
Could be he's going to have to lay low; !http://lamecherry.blogspot.com/2010/04/paging-kenyan-born-barack-hussein-obama.html
Any chance we get rid of that Trumpka guy too? Is it just me or does Andy Stern look a lot like Anderson Cooper? I saw that picture and thought it was Anderson Cooper.
Maybe Andrew has something on Stern.
exactly what I was thinking, I think we are right.
This man is a snake, and anything that we can do to make sure he has no power is what we need to do.
Every spotlight possible needs to shining on this dirtbag.
I was thinking the same thing.
OMG! NO way — Obama would never — it would cost too much in the election.
I pray he doesn't have Sean Penn's famous rectal cancer karma scenario or anything like that because we don't do that here, right guys?
Lets hope that in his free time, he makes an appointment to get that schnoz whittled down. I haven't seen a scotch-sponge like that since the last W.C. Fields Marathon!
As Hugo Chavez said, I smell sulfer …
[...] » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government [...]
The dude already has a job in the White House on some council. He may have found out that being an effete is a better gig and the people at the table smell better.
But also, if he steps down now and there's planned violence by the SEIU between now and the elections against the T-Party, he can't be blamed. I'm even starting to think like they do… so, look out my brothers and sisters.
.
We The People need to build a bigger prison to hold these guys……..kinda like a roach hotel
If you are in the administration then you don't get grief for being a visitor.
No wonder he is such a frequent visitor to the WH .. he's been decorating his new office.
LOL (and yet crying at the same time).
I want my U.S.A. back.
I wonder which White House position Obama will ask him to fill? He is perfect for the administration. He is dishonest and knows how to threaten and bribe.
I'm thinking "Escape From New York" style.
Your taxdollars at work! A union is above the Constitution because the lawyers ensure that the "contracts" are signed by corrupt scum
Take a page out of Christies notebook here in NJ and tell the to f off! Tort reform, term limits and jail for the likes of union members that are elitists (Stern who steals from his minority constituents) and those that want the likes of Christie to die… yes the NJEA.
B^stards.
That is to frightening to even consider.
It sends chills down my spine…. because the next thing to consider might be a lifetime President.
Well…maybe not black one. Perhaps white, with a pointy hat to match?
I left out my most important speculation (and forgot to fix my numerical typo…sorry, it's late). My serious bet – he gets appointed to run the new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research that was funded with the passing of the stimulus bill and created with the passing of the health care bill. Confirmation not needed for that new post.
Let the rationing begin…
My friends, please remember me when I become the first victim of Andy's death panel LOL
Does that mean Hussein will be Bowing to Andy?
W.C. Fields! Awesome
Maybe just maybe the auditor found the missing SEIU members pension funds and Andy figures it's time to enjoy Buenos Aries??? A girl has got to have hope!!!
LuKu
I was on that same wavelength….Perfect replacement for Rahm….
Replace a Rattlesnake with slithering Marxist hemorrhoid…
It could be the ACORN syndrome; Andy can't hide anymore because he has been exposed for the radical progressive Marxist that he is.
Entrepreneurs of the World……….. Unite. Vote out of existence this disease of big government and outrageous spend and tax policies that the Obamatards have wrought.
November looms big.
Either that or the new Soros Funded Center to legislate and accelerate SOCIAL CHANGE before November 2nd???
Good riddance! But the scary thing is what he is up to next. He has too much influence with the President, being the number one visitor to the WH and the President. I am betting he will have something to do with Obama.
http://www.americanparchment.com has put a great archive together of what the unions have done especially Andy's interaction with Obama.
Andy Stern, Supreme Court Justice! Nothing would surprize me anymore!
HA! He may already be doing so, for all we know!
Even Obama is not this stupid. Stern is a former social worker (non lawyer). You don't have to be an attorney to be on the SCOTUS but I am not sure if a non lawyer was ever nominated.If Obama did nominate Stern it would prove to the world that Obama is insane.
Haaa Haaa! Love it Dave!!
Wow, i was wondering what position in the White House he would be up for, did not even consider that one. Be the perfect place for him in Obama's mind since he has has actual on the job experiance running thugs
Either he has finally been caught for one of his illegal acts or Obama has decided to hire the thug outright. Hell, when he's at the White House 22 times he might as well have a cot there anyway! Obama has shown a willingness to hire the farthest left socialist idealogues in the past- what's more fascist than a ex-union president thug?
I don't trust it. A weasel is still a weasel.
[...] here to see the original: » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government Uncategorized news, [...]
[...] here to read the rest: » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government Related PostsLate Night: Good News/Bad News | FiredoglakeBreaking NBA News: Brandon Roy Could Miss [...]
[...] the original: » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government Tags: knee, lakers, most-media, oliver, portland-trail, seiu, turns-out, using-their [...]
Obama is either going to appoint him as a czar of something without going through the congressional oversight process or will appoint him using a recess appointment. Either way, he will have a larger role is kicking the American public in the teeth!
He's as gone as Van Jones. I bet he'll stay on the White House Debt. council, while working for one of the Tides Foundations (Soros). It's pay back time now, since his union got Obummer elected. He will be doing the same old dirty work, but will do it behind the scenes. Or, my next guess would be they create a job for him at the NLRB. It will be very interesting to see what's next, but I'm sure he will be elevated to a higher position that will impact all of us.
[...] » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government [...]
[...] the rest here: » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government AKPC_IDS += "7343,";Popularity: unranked [?] Share and [...]
He may resign but he'll still be doing the "good" work somewhere, only now under the cover of darkness.
[...] » BREAKING NEWS: SEIU President Andy Stern to Resign – Big Government [...]
I smell another czar position coming on……. geesh.
good one stargirl.. he certainly knows the tactics
Getting down on his knees isn't bowing. He's in that position for another reason.
I see a cabinet position, or a Czar, or maybe Vice President in his future…
Douche bag Union Goon of the highest order… No way he will sit on the porch reminiscing about all the knees he broke and that finger he bit off…
Workers of the Word UNITE and overthrow the UNION BOSSES who are desroying American Industry and government for their own vile purposes!!!!
Mr. Obama needs an arm-breaker to head up his brown-shirt goon squad/civilian police force with a little 'persuasion of power'.
Oh what a crying shame…I'm sure Obama has some cushy job for him as his Mop Czar or the Center for American Progress will have him partner up with Van Jones to play hop scotch!
Use "Andy Stern" in a sentence. Andy Stern gets a life sentence. How's that?
Haha, I came here thinking I could add something to the comments, but you guys are all over it
Take the $$$ and run Andy! Wonder what his retirement package looks like?
'Sounds reasonable. 'Wouldn't be the first time something like that has been the story.
Stern will just ooze on over to another organization ripe for corruption, and pilfering.
We prayed him out with the Soldiers' Prayer, Psalms Ch 91. Pray out the other Czars that mr obama has appointed out of Office, ASAP, ok.
Check out all Constitutional Issues and Answers at: http://www.constitutionparty.com for a good start. Surf around there, and find "Party Platform", if you're in a hurry. Otherwise check it all out totally when you time.
Get a free copy of your Constitution at http://www.heritage.org This is a Right Wing Think Tank group.
Join: Tea Party Express, as well.
Write your local and state officials that our kids get a copy of their Constitutional Rights, including a copy of our State s' Rights from their school, ASAP. Why aren't they getting a copy, huh?
Think NOV. ELECTION..He's a thug..just like the rest of this administration..Get ready for dirty tricks and dirtier deeds..
Well, well just as Stupak couldn't find his 'onions' to withstand an embarrassing November beat-down, Andrew 'The Cowardly Union Boss' Stern doesn't want to be around when all his pension funds become worthless and unfunded.
This Aggrandizing MouthBreather will take his millions in severance and leave the ranks of the Useful Idiots.
So, who thinks that the pitchforks will show up at his house as he, Trumka and Vanny Jones are sipping sherry having a laugh at the expense of the "Workers of the World"?
We may be looking at our next supreme court nominee.
What is he thinking?! – Purple is sooo out.
Andy Stern
Current Position: International President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) (since 1996); Member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (since February 2010)
Credit: SEIU
Table of Contents
Why He Matters
The leader of the largest and fastest-growing union in North America, Stern will have a prime seat at the table—and the ears of key lawmakers—in upcoming debates on everything from major new labor legislation to the economic recovery plan to health-care reform.
As president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Stern leads more than two million service workers. These nurses, bus drivers and janitors make up the heart of the modern service economy, one that doesn’t always sync with a labor movement built in the industrial age.
That makes Stern an influential, and sometimes controversial, leader. He led the SEIU out of an alliance with the AFL-CIO, a powerful union umbrella organization. He’s demanding nothing less than a new direction for the labor movement in the 21st century economy.
He was a major ally in pushing for health-care reform in 2009-2010, although he disagreed with some of the leading plan's provisions, such as a tax on high-end insurance plans.(1)
At a Glance
Current Position: International President of the SEIU (since 1996)
Career History: Special assistant to the President, SEIU (1984 to 1996)
Birthday: Nov 22, 1950
Hometown: West Orange, N.J.
Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania, B.A. (urban education), 1972
Spouse: N/A
Religion: Jewish
Office: 1800 Massachusetts Ave NW,
Washington, D.C., 20036
202-730-7000; 800-424-8592
Email N/A
Web site
Path to Power
“One part of me wanted to be a psychiatrist, one part of me wanted to be a lawyer, and one part wanted to be an organizer,” Stern said in and interview with WhorunsGov.com. “The union allowed me to fulfill all three.”(2)
Stern grew up in a West Orange, N.J., household where his parents discussed everything from the burgeoning civil-rights movement to the riots in northern New Jersey, but “no one discussed unions,” he said.(2)
Although Stern didn’t learn about unions at home, what he did glean from his parents was “a basic sense about fairness and justice,” he said. “My father was one of these people who loved other people and became friendly with them whether they were the guy at the gas station or the CEO at a company,” he said.(2)
Stern graduated high school in 1968, and moved to Philadelphia to attend college at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He didn’t last long in the business program, he said, choosing instead to focus on other things, like political activism.
Check out the article in American Thinker "The Keys to the Kingdom"
Section 5 of the health care bill creates a national health care commission. Section 5101 (b) of the ObamaCare bill states the Commission shall be composed of 15 members to be appointed by the Comptroller General, without regard to section 5 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. (5 U.S.C. App.). This law mandates advisory committee have a clearly defined purpose, membership be balanced in terms of view and functions involved, and contain provisions insulating it from undue influence by the appointing authority and special interests.
-Committe with no defined mandate (or limits!) over the entire health care industry. Look for Stern to be appointed – even to chair this. All health care workers, clear a space in your wallet for that union card!
Early Political Activism
The first protest Stern organized at UPenn was “to end students having to wear ties to dinner,” he said. Later, Stern irked the administration with a “little sit-in over a parking lot.”(2)The university wanted to turn an area that had become a de-facto community park into a parking lot. Stern’s “little sit-in” succeeded in halting the project, at least until his graduation.
“I would say they were not unhappy I was leaving the school,” he said of UPenn’s higher-ups. He was out the door in 1971 with a teaching degree he called “urban education,” which Stern said the school created especially for him.(2)
He went to work for the state of Pennsylvania as a social-service worker, but his evenings were dedicated to a group called the Welfare Rights Organization, which was trying to empower people to get off of welfare through community-worker alliances.
In 1973 he found himself attending a union meeting for that organization (“because there was pizza,” he said).(2) He happened to be the last person in attendance when the board voted for a new leadership position. By acclamation, Stern found himself the assistant shop steward for the Vine District Welfare Office. A few mergers and name-changes later, that office is now known as SEIU local 668.
In 1974, members of his chapter asked him to be their representative to the state organization, and the boy from the suburbs began working full-time at the Pennsylvania Social Service Union. Stern also began attending classes at Temple law school in the evenings. In 1977, Stern won the presidency of the union in his area.
In 1983, John Sweeney, who was then president of the SEIU, asked Stern to help organize workers in California. Stern went to California, and stayed on at the SEIU’s national organization after the job was done. In 1984, he became assistant to SEIU president Sweeney for organizing work. He moved to SEIU headquarters in Washington, D.C.
SEIU Presidency
Stern assisted Sweeney until 1996, when Sweeney left to head the AFL-CIO. At the time, SEIU was a member of the federation of unions, which had held sway over labor politics since its creation in 1955.
Sweeney had hand-picked successor, who was then serving as interim president. When Stern announced he would challenge him in the SEIU presidential election, he found himself fired—and kept out of his office with police tape—on what he called trumped-up charges of insubordination.(2)
But Stern, already a dynamic figure, was not without supporters. When he was fired, Stern vowed not to return until he could claim the presidency of the SEIU. Stern managed to return four months later without breaking that promise.
Leaving the AFL-CIO
While Stern’s SEIU was the largest and fastest-growing union, the larger labor movement had reached a crisis point in the late 1990s. Stern led the charge for change.
Ever the upstart, Stern proposed a new direction for the AFL-CIO, which he believed was on a downswing because of its unwillingness to adapt to the 21st-century economy. “Unions, unfortunately, forgot to change when the world changed,” he told a Philadelphia crowd in 2006. “Now we’re trying to catch up with what we need to do.”(3)
Stern demanded a corporate-style consolidation of the AFL-CIO’s 58 unions into 20 unions in order to give each streamlined organization more power. He also called for massive and well-funded organizing drives to combat waning membership.(4)
This didn’t win him many fans in the labor movement. ''He's trying to implement dictatorial rule,” Tom Buffenbarger, president of the union that represents machinists and aerospace workers, told the New York Times in 2005. ''He's trying to corporatize the labor movement.”
Stern had a different view: “American workers weren't getting raises, were losing their health care and their retirement, we didn't believe the AFL-CIO really had a plan or an ability to change that.”(2)
On the opening day of the 2005 AFL-CIO conference, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Stern’s SEIU broke from the AFL-CIO and created their own federation, called Change to Win.(5) Today, Change to Win is a federation of seven unions with six millions workers.
At the time, AFL-CIO president Sweeney called the break, “a grievous insult.”(6) But time has healed some of those wounds, Stern said. “We’re now back to working on issues together,” Stern said of his former boss.(2)
Stern said Change to Win hopes to work with the AFL-CIO and the National Education Association during the Obama administration, and could even form an alliance with those groups in the future.
The Issues
During Stern’s presidency, the SEIU has doubled in size to two million members. It’s the largest and fastest-growing union and has the largest political action committee, if you measure in dollars spent, Stern said.(2)
“I spend most of my time trying to be the voice for our members’ issues and interests in the media, in Congress, with employers,” Stern said. “As well as trying to make sure the union is always one step ahead of the way the world is headed.”(2)
Stern’s leadership is geared toward helping workers in a globalizing world. He advocates organizing entire industries at once rather than the traditional workplace-by-workplace approach, and favors organizing by industries rather than by regions.
Economic Recovery
Stern believes the union movement must be integral to any meaningful recovery from the 2008-2009 economic crisis. He has called unions “America’s best anti-poverty program.”(7)
National Debt
In February 2010, President Obama named Stern to the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, led by former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Erskine Bowles, Bill Clinton's former White House chief of staff. (8)
The 18-member commission, made up primarily of lawmakers, was formed to make recommendations about taming the national debt.(9)
Health-Care Reform
Stern called overhauling the U.S. health-care system his “top priority.”(7) The SEIU has a dual health-care mission. Stern wants increased health-insurance coverage for all SEIU members, but simultaneously must lobby on behalf of the more than one million SEIU members who work in the health-care field.
“We’ve spent the last five years of our lives trying to make this the number one issue on America’s agenda,” Stern said. And with Barack Obama in the White House, “we saw it happen,” he said.(2)
After more than a year of legislative wrangling, the House passed the Senate version of health-care reform on March 21, 2010, clearing the way for the Senate to approve a package of amendments insisted on by the lower chamber with a simple majority (using a process known as reconciliation).
The $940 billion bill requires most Americans to carry health insurance and requires that insurance companies cover them, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It establishes a national insurance exchange allowing Americans to compare and purchase insurance plans. The bill will be paid for by increasing taxes on well-off Medicare recipients and by taxing premium insurance plans. By the end of the bill’s 10-year roll-out, 32 million uninsured Americans will have health coverage and the deficit will be $138 billion lower, the Congressional Budget Office estimated. (10)
Employee Free Choice Act
One of the SEIU’s legislative imperatives is passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize. The act contains a controversial provision, dubbed “card check” by its opponents, which would allow workers to unionize by getting a majority of employees to sign cards instead of mandating a secret ballot election.
Although Obama pledged to make passing EFCA a top priority, it fell by the wayside in 2009 as the administration focused on an economic stimulus package and the drive for health-care reform. It was the subject of fierce lobbying against it by business groups, and key moderate Democrats announced their opposition.
In July 2009, Democrats withdrew the "card-check" provision from the bill. They said the remaining bill would still make it easier for workers to unionize by shortening the union elections.(11)
The Network
Stern campaigned for Obama’s pro-union Labor Secretary, Hilda L. Solis, when she ran for Congress.
White House Political Director Patrick Gaspard was formerly a political director at SEIU. Stern has known him for ten years.
Stern has also worked closely with John Podesta, the former Clinton chief of staff who heads the Center for American Progress and headed the Obama transition team. He has also worked with Vice President Joseph R. Biden on issues related to workers.(2)
Stern said he also has good working relationships with John Castellani of the Business Roundtable, who represents CEOs across the country, and who will also be a player in the health-care debate. He also works with Kaiser CEO George Halvorson and Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler.(2)
Andrew Gilman, president of CommCore Consulting Group in Washington, D.C., was a close friend and roommate of Stern’s in college.(12)
That's what I thought, too, holly.
Someone better check the pension account quick! Maybe he going to organize the world hope he starts with north korea.
Obama is either going to appoint him as a czar of something without going through the congressional oversight process or will appoint him using a recess appointment. Either way, he will have a larger role is kicking the American public in the teeth!
He's as gone as Van Jones. I bet he'll stay on the White House Debt. council, while working for one of the Tides Foundations (Soros). It's pay back time now, since his union got Obummer elected. He will be doing the same old dirty work, but will do it behind the scenes. Or, my next guess would be they create a job for him at the NLRB. It will be very interesting to see what's next, but I'm sure he will be elevated to a higher position that will impact all of us.
He's as gone as Van Jones. I bet he'll stay on the White House Debt. council, while working for one of the Tides Foundations (Soros). It's pay back time now, since his union got Obummer elected. He will be doing the same old dirty work, but will do it behind the scenes. Or, my next guess would be they create a job for him at the NLRB. It will be very interesting to see what's next, but I'm sure he will be elevated to a higher position that will impact all of us.
Bye bye to REALLY bad rubbish. But watch for him to pop up as the leader of some Obama inspired brown shirt (think they will convert to purple shirts?) army that will be used to enforce Obama's dictates. Once a radical marxist pig, always a radical marxist pig!
So what CZAR position will this SCUM-BAG be given by the annointed one? Maybe a HOW TO DESTROY AMERICAN BUSINESS czar? Maybe the ANTI-TEA PARTY ORGANIZER czar? Wishful thinking, but I hope SCUM-BAG stern gets lost! VERY LOST!
don't you people read the news this POS is already on the payroll at the WH. maybe he's up for a promotion, joe biden doesn't look so healthy, with all the plugs and the scotch. astern would be a great #3 guy behind soros, and bo.
Somebody should be following this guy around to see what he's up to. I'm sure whatever it is is no good!
USA/Mexican Border Czar .. he'll have a new immigration policy established shortly.
This is a distraction, watch the other hand. They are doing something sinister. This is just a distraction
This frees him up to be named to the Supreme Court.or go from leading White House visitor to resident. Who else can set our domestic agenda to get what the big zero wants?
They tried, but, him and the Pres ditched the press corpse, I mean corps.
Yepp Obama already is one now the boss moves in
Exactly! He's gotta already have a gig lined up under NObama! Head of the Democratic Brown-shirt Militia or something…
Gilmore that is completely nuts, I am not saying it wont happen, It would nearly complete the coup [koo] ( pronounciation provided for Obama) With a devout communist in charge of homeland security you can bet those nasty red states would feel the fear.
Nope we give to God what is God, doesn't mean I won't dance at the funeral.
ouch, good point
I Volunteer Detroit
How about White House Chief of Staff , he would make Rahms shower scene look like a scene from Porkies, Intimidation gangland style, no dead fishes in the mail just pictures of your kids.
omg!!!!!!!!!!! you may be on to something!
Every day we wake up to more absurdity! We are being communisticized, and we are too lazy to get up and join the Tea Party and protest. There should be a million person march on the White House every weekend until the Communist in Chief resigns!
We could use Gary, it's closer to the source
yea and ACORN went away !!!!
These people will stop at nothing to kill this country …..
what scares me about this is, he will no longer be in the public eye. anyone with that much of the presidents ear lurking in the darkness is a scary thought
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