As he prepares to turn over the reins of the Service Employees International Union, Andrew Stern is at the apex of his political influence.
He helped lead the push for the health care overhaul that became law last month. He has visited the White House 38 times in President Barack Obama’s tenure, far more than other labor leaders. Obama named him to a new deficit commission.
But underlying Stern’s glittering profile as a well-connected visionary seeking to revive organized labor and lead the liberal vanguard is the complicated reality surrounding his eventual departure, which he announced Wednesday.
Although Stern expanded his own union at a time of general labor decline, that growth has ebbed, its finances are in poor shape, and it is facing federal investigations into allegations that Stern loyalists stole funds.
Stern’s mission to transform the labor movement as a whole is faltering. The breakaway federation he formed in 2005, Change to Win, has fallen short of its promise of launching a new era of organizing success. Most of its unions either have returned to the AFL-CIO or are on the verge of doing so, leaving SEIU increasingly isolated.
Many labor supporters who hailed Stern as a savior are disillusioned. They say that his push to expand membership too often involved cutting deals with employers at the expense of favorable terms for workers.
They are alarmed at the vicious internal fights that Stern has picked with a large California chapter and the hotel workers union, disputes that have drained resources and riven the movement when it could have taken advantage of a Democratic-controlled White House and Congress.
The rancor surrounding these internal battles — and the charge from SEIU’s rivals that its tactics are undermining union democracy — have undercut organized labor’s push for its top priority, legislation to make it easier to organize workers, many in the movement say. Overall, they say, the rise of Stern’s own star has failed to lift the prospects of the cause he sought to lead.
“A combination of events destroyed what ought to have been a great legacy for Andy,” said John Wilhelm, the head of Unite Here, the hotel and garment workers union with which SEIU is feuding. “Andy could have been a really great labor leader. He’s a smart guy, with a lot of abilities and a strong strategic sense. But something happened to the guy. It says in Scripture that pride goeth before the fall, and that’s what happened here.”
Stern, 59, and SEIU officials declined to comment. But several of Stern’s political allies hailed his achievements in 14 years as the union’s chief, notably the leading role he played in pushing for health care reform.
Although union membership in the private sector has dropped to near 7 percent, down from a third of workers in the 1950s, membership is expanding in the public sector, where much of SEIU’s growth has occurred.
And even as their numbers have fallen, unions retain clout — SEIU spent $60 million on the 2008 elections.
But Stern’s ambitions were far grander than clinging to what remained of organized labor’s relevance.
In 2005, the former social worker from New Jersey declared he was leading SEIU out of the AFL-CIO, the federation led by his onetime mentor, John Sweeney, into a new federation, accompanied by the Teamsters, Unite Here and the laborers union, among others.
The AFL-CIO, Stern argued, was atrophying, focusing too much on protecting the gains of existing members instead of trying to sign up new ones.
Critics argued that Stern’s emphasis on expanding the membership rolls too often amounted to convincing employers that SEIU would be less than aggressive at the bargaining table.
SEIU’s membership growth has slowed — after growing by 300,000 workers from 2006 to 2009, it added only 50,000 workers last year, for a total of 1.86 million.
The union’s finances are far more leveraged than those of most other unions — it owes $121 million, while much of its $188 million in assets include IOUs from strapped locals.
And it is now facing a likely succession struggle. Stern is supporting his lieutenant Anna Burger, who would take over as interim leader for 30 days before the executive board elects a new president. But others may challenge her, such as Mary Kay Henry, the head of the union’s health-care division.
