Paslode
04-13-2010, 14:38
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/us/14union.html?src=mv
April 13, 2010
Stern, Head of S.E.I.U., Plans to Retire
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Andrew Stern, president of the politically powerful Service Employees International Union, will tell his union’s executive committee, meeting in Washington this week, that he plans to retire, several top union officials said on Tuesday.
Officials of the union said his retirement would set off a race for succession. Anna Burger, the union’s secretary-treasurer and second-highest executive, is expected to face a challenge from an executive vice president, Mary Kay Henry.
Ms. Burger, one of Mr. Stern’s closest associates, heads Change to Win, a federation of unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Ms. Henry has been a forceful leader in the union’s health care division, which represents more than one million hospital and nursing home workers as well as home-care aides.
On Monday night, one member of the union’s 60-person executive board said that Mr. Stern, who is 59, thought it was time to resign because Congress had enacted one of his long-time goals, a health-care overhaul.
“It will be very soon,” one board member said of Mr. Stern’s decision.
The prospect of Mr. Stern’s departure has surprised and shaken political and labor circles. Mr. Stern is widely seen as the nation’s most visible and influential union leader, with the greatest entry to the White House and with an ability to direct thousands of union foot soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dollars into any political race that he and the union choose.
At a board meeting in January, several associates said, Mr. Stern stressed the importance of training younger leaders and allowing them to move up in the organization.
“Andy has always taken the position that people should not stay too long in office,” another board member said, “and it is his job to build the organization and then make room for other people.” Mr. Stern’s plans to resign were first reported by the Politico web site.
Over the last year, Mr. Stern has been involved in fierce battles with two other unions, a large breakaway local in the San Francisco Bay area and Unite Here, the union representing hotel and restaurant workers. At the same time, Mr. Stern has come under ferocious attack from conservatives, and especially from Glenn Beck, who has repeatedly called him a power-hungry socialist.
Mr. Stern has become a lighting rod within labor, ever since he led a half dozen unions to quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s main labor federation, in 2005. His union, which represents hundreds of thousands of health-care workers, janitors and others, asserted that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. had grown stodgy and was doing far too little to unionize workers.
While some union backers praise Mr. Stern as an innovative leader who has made labor a more potent force in politics, others criticize him for being divisive and too quick to make concessions to employers and political leaders. He was also criticized for reaching secret agreements with some companies that he did not disclose to the rank and file.
As one index of his power and proximity to the president, official records show that he visited the White House more than 20 times during Mr. Obama’s first six months in office, making him the most frequent visitor of any person not in the administration. The White House political director, Patrick Gaspard, was formerly the political director of the union’s giant health-care local in New York, and Craig Becker, newly appointed to the National Labor Relations Board, was associate general counsel to the union.
Mr. Stern would retire without having achieved one of his major goals, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier to unionize workers.
In the past, Mr. Stern has talked of having a mandatory retirement age for union leaders and even having term limits for union leaders.
I wonder if it is related to this http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35675.html or King O is making him a Labor Czar.
:munchin
April 13, 2010
Stern, Head of S.E.I.U., Plans to Retire
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Andrew Stern, president of the politically powerful Service Employees International Union, will tell his union’s executive committee, meeting in Washington this week, that he plans to retire, several top union officials said on Tuesday.
Officials of the union said his retirement would set off a race for succession. Anna Burger, the union’s secretary-treasurer and second-highest executive, is expected to face a challenge from an executive vice president, Mary Kay Henry.
Ms. Burger, one of Mr. Stern’s closest associates, heads Change to Win, a federation of unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Ms. Henry has been a forceful leader in the union’s health care division, which represents more than one million hospital and nursing home workers as well as home-care aides.
On Monday night, one member of the union’s 60-person executive board said that Mr. Stern, who is 59, thought it was time to resign because Congress had enacted one of his long-time goals, a health-care overhaul.
“It will be very soon,” one board member said of Mr. Stern’s decision.
The prospect of Mr. Stern’s departure has surprised and shaken political and labor circles. Mr. Stern is widely seen as the nation’s most visible and influential union leader, with the greatest entry to the White House and with an ability to direct thousands of union foot soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dollars into any political race that he and the union choose.
At a board meeting in January, several associates said, Mr. Stern stressed the importance of training younger leaders and allowing them to move up in the organization.
“Andy has always taken the position that people should not stay too long in office,” another board member said, “and it is his job to build the organization and then make room for other people.” Mr. Stern’s plans to resign were first reported by the Politico web site.
Over the last year, Mr. Stern has been involved in fierce battles with two other unions, a large breakaway local in the San Francisco Bay area and Unite Here, the union representing hotel and restaurant workers. At the same time, Mr. Stern has come under ferocious attack from conservatives, and especially from Glenn Beck, who has repeatedly called him a power-hungry socialist.
Mr. Stern has become a lighting rod within labor, ever since he led a half dozen unions to quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s main labor federation, in 2005. His union, which represents hundreds of thousands of health-care workers, janitors and others, asserted that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. had grown stodgy and was doing far too little to unionize workers.
While some union backers praise Mr. Stern as an innovative leader who has made labor a more potent force in politics, others criticize him for being divisive and too quick to make concessions to employers and political leaders. He was also criticized for reaching secret agreements with some companies that he did not disclose to the rank and file.
As one index of his power and proximity to the president, official records show that he visited the White House more than 20 times during Mr. Obama’s first six months in office, making him the most frequent visitor of any person not in the administration. The White House political director, Patrick Gaspard, was formerly the political director of the union’s giant health-care local in New York, and Craig Becker, newly appointed to the National Labor Relations Board, was associate general counsel to the union.
Mr. Stern would retire without having achieved one of his major goals, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier to unionize workers.
In the past, Mr. Stern has talked of having a mandatory retirement age for union leaders and even having term limits for union leaders.
I wonder if it is related to this http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35675.html or King O is making him a Labor Czar.
:munchin