Q&A: Andy Stern.

• Author: Bacon, David
• Position: On the Line - Interview

Andy Stern is president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Labor journalist and photographer David Bacon and Philip Maldari of KPFA spoke to Stern on January 19.

Q: You've kicked off a process of reevaluating the direction of the U.S. labor movement. Why?

Andy Stern: The labor movement has really been the only effective, long term anti-poverty program, but when we represent just one in twelve workers in the private sector, our strength and ability to change workers' lives is diminished. Anyone watching what's happening to people who go to work every day knows their health care is eroding and their pensions are less secure. Even with two jobs it's hard to raise a family. What's going on is not good for workers.

Our experience says that when you unite the strength of workers who do the same type of work--all the health care workers in one union, all the airline workers in one union--you have a much better chance at success. What we call for is a massive refocusing of unions on growth, reorganizing unions so that workers who have strength can share it with other workers who do the same type of work.

We need to launch a major campaign against the Wal-Marting of our economy. Wal-Mart is the most obvious example of the search for low wages and low benefits--low costs on steroids. We need to understand that we live in a competitive world, and when the competitors of companies with union jobs are paying less, and the union doesn't organize those workers and bring their wages up, then the nonunion wages are going to bring everyone down.

Q: John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, came out of SEIU, and yet you seem to be his harshest critic. Are you really calling for a change in the leadership of the federation?

Stern: Who would want to be leader of an organization that really had no effective way to change workers' lives? The structure, the constitution, the history over the last fifty years has led to a very loose confederation. The first question isn't who's captain of the ship, it's whether the ship's constructed to be able to represent workers in the twenty-first century economy.

Q: Is SEIU seriously considering leaving the AFL-CIO?

Stern: We need to either change the AFL-CIO or build something stronger. Workers in this country need a fighting chance to change their lives. We could change the AFL-CIO and also build something stronger. It's not necessarily an either/or. But unless we have organizations that are focused...