Service Employees International Union

Index / Organizations

Transcript

Andrew Stern

...Mr. Stern is president emeritus of the Service Employees International Union [SEIU], was a presidential appointee o...
...Service Employees International Union [ SEIU ], was a presidential appointee o...
...director and then as president of SEIU . I guess [laughs] a first general...
...to be the organizing director of SEIU . And at first, president of Loca...
...coming in as organizing director of SEIU in 19—it's 1984, right? Right. An...

...who was John Sweeney later president of SEIU and the AFL-CIO [American Federation o...
...And when I got my chance to be the SEIU president, I had to decide was I reall...
...incumbent leadership to be president SEIU . I was not John Sweeney's choice t...
...remember all of them. You mean beyond SEIU ? Way beyond SEIU. I was thinking...
...mean beyond SEIU? Way beyond SEIU . I was thinking, “Okay, now we have ...
...Organizations for Reform Now]; because SEIU affiliated Wade Rathke and Keit...
...of all the best ACORN organizers into SEIU because I felt like they had th...
...their way into a front-row seat of the SEIU corporate campaign. KKR had? Yeah...
...be the only reason I am unhappy I left SEIU , because the opportunity to organiz...
...all to talk to me to explain to us why SEIU shouldn't be doing this anymore. Bu...
...money we gave, but gave it a PAC. And SEIU told the PAC leaders, “Don't even as...
...can't tell us you would do this, “If SEIU could only get sixty or seventy percen...
...would respond to the owner, but SEIU is going to bring this whole nationa...
...in New York City, organized as SEIU had for decades—before the pandemic...
...will switch contractors. So it's why SEIU 's building service unions spend s...
...not as much courage once they left. SEIU was growing at a pace of fifty thousan...
...and the other union liked what SEIU had been doing. So, Change t...
...out a way to bargain together, and SEIU was actually taking an unprecedente...
...to go to UNITE HERE—because we said SEIU can't really do what we need to do fo...
...interesting. I didn't realize that. So SEIU members in industries that weren'...
...going to the gas workers conference in SEIU .. We had, six gas workers local...
...for the whole group of gas workers. SEIU looked at it and said, “This is no...
...pay less money, get a lot of resources. SEIU transferred millions of dollars in it...
...the other unions eventually came from SEIU . Wow. The UFCW's [United Food an...
...director, the Farm Workers—all were SEIU people, and a lot of their staffs wer...
...people, and a lot of their staffs were SEIU people because our massive organizin...
...in terms of running your own campaign,. SEIU organizers could now go to anothe...
...labor movement. They'll say, “There's SEIU . There's the AFL. There's the NE...
...our members who wanted to take action. SEIU ended up in a huge fight with Yale. An...
...Both became a big issue between SEIU and some of the labor movement in th...
...asked our questions about healthcare. SEIU said to every primary candidate that i...
...New Hampshire. And then we said to get SEIU 's endorsement, you had to do thre...
...to say John Edwards had met with more SEIU leaders than I did between 2004 t...
...work, by the time 2008 was over, SEIU had either formed or were part o...
...Divided We Fail, which, oddly enough— SEIU , the Business Roundtable, NFI...
...going to do anything. So we worked, as SEIU , to force the Democratic candidates t...
...then we just—Heritage was there, and SEIU was there, and lots of conservativ...
...building a community of at least talk. SEIU then, with other people, burst into o...
...the party line. So we were also, at SEIU , totally Medicare for All supporters...
...sort of a more activist coalition—that SEIU was not driving. So we were driving ou...
...the for-profit healthcare association, SEIU , American Hospital Association [AHA]...
...by a guy named Dennis Rivera. Yeah, [ SEIU Local] 1199, right? Yeah, exactly. H...
...industry. George Halverson knew SEIU and Karen Ignagni of HIAA both kne...
...and Karen Ignagni of HIAA both knew SEIU from other relationships. The head o...
...He couldn't believe it. “We” meaning SEIU had established this group. Yeah, i...
...Yeah, it was really— [crosstalk] SEIU a lot. We were the big people who wer...
...because he had been tortured at the SEIU /CAP first debate that he didn't do s...
...long time, she said, “We're really glad SEIU was so unreasonable,” because it had—i...
...president understood, more than most, SEIU 's work in Iowa, and New Hampshire, an...
...states and said we're not giving up at SEIU until this is done, and we actually di...
...And this is all the pressure that SEIU is putting on the candidates. Yes. I...
...Obama? It's early 2008, right? And SEIU is going—you go—right, the AFL i...
...was just the hands-down favorite to get SEIU 's endorsement. The president had com...
...I, and the secretary and treasurer of SEIU , Anna Burger in a private room. H...
...my healthcare plan, and I'd love SEIU 's help and reflection as I develo...
...supporter of the president and was our— SEIU —we were the first endorsers of his U...
...was the new international president of SEIU . People were really excited to see me...
...he decided to run for the US Senate, SEIU was the first one to endorse him. B...
...people trailing behind, wearing an SEIU jacket with his name on it— Wow. ...
...awesome. And he said to the group of SEIU leaders as he got up, he said, “I jus...
...Democratic givers, and I was wearing my SEIU jacket.” He said, “I was wearing thi...
...he's always just appreciated that we at SEIU were always out there supporting him...
...2004 and '08, he would see different SEIU organizing. So the SEIU decided t...
...see different SEIU organizing. So the SEIU decided to make an endorsemen...
...because by Iowa, we didn't have a an SEIU -endorsed candidate. We didn't have an...
...things. You couldn't use the name SEIU . You couldn't use paid staff or loca...
...came from or had worked a lot with SEIU . But on that election night, ther...
...to give his acceptance speech. Many SEIU leaders are at the park. We walk in...
...Bernstein became the staff leaders, and SEIU had helped get his appointment there...
...Lincoln will probably never forgive SEIU for—in the spirit of They Work for Us...
...And again, not to sound—like SEIU was the only ones focused—Larry Cohe...
...have as much leverage or power as SEIU did, but then I left SEIU. I couldn'...
...or power as SEIU did, but then I left SEIU . I couldn't have done it on my own...
...couldn't have done it without SEIU . SEIU, my successors, didn't decide t...
...couldn't have done it without SEIU. SEIU , my successors, didn't decide to kee...
...This happened right after I left SEIU . I then decided to try and reproduc...
...Association. I wasn't president of SEIU , so I didn't have the same ability t...
...is now the president emeritus of the Service Employees International Union , was a presidential appointee o...
...Club, Center for American Progress, SEIU , I think the NEA [National Educatio...
...I mean, I'm struck, from the history of SEIU campaigns, that you're often doin...
...when I became organizing director of SEIU in the '80s, “I can't imagine Avo...
...do something massive on healthcare at SEIU in 2004. We dedicated our convention...
...was also the head of Kaiser, which was SEIU 's largest healthcare employer. Nurse...
...were the two closest— Yes. —ties to SEIU — Ties to us. Yes. And they the...
...and— Yes their joint the group with SEIU gave us a lot of credibility. Once the...
... Right. When that happened, how did SEIU 's strategy change? When it becam...
...to step down as president— Yes. —of SEIU , which, that's right after healthcar...
...an hour took four or five years before SEIU started thinking about it until yo...
...on, and it took a long time even for SEIU to get its leaders interested i...
...the union to try to get every current SEIU member at least fifteen dollars a...
...to Airbnb. Or you can be Andy Stern and SEIU to the rest of the labor movement, wh...
...a little bit, as our leaders did in SEIU , and then everybody in other union...
...Anthony Fauci's views to be heard. SEIU became so covered in the press by a lo...
...we just had a lot of attention paid to SEIU . I was on 60 Minutes, and I was on th...
...you directly—but don't tell me, because SEIU is doing different things, that peopl...
...and not necessarily necessary. And then SEIU leaving the AFL was the final straw...
...straw, which most people felt like if SEIU had not left, it couldn't happen...
...So as much as people would be mad at SEIU about leaving the AFL, none of the...
...as I said to you, we let a lot of our SEIU members in different industries vote t...
...for workers upset people. No one wanted SEIU to ask in public about, why are ther...
...in yourself. I would have said in SEIU I would have done it. I wouldn't do i...
...perspective. And a lot of it was, in SEIU 's case, to try to moderate ou...
...Park event was all big donors. Right? SEIU was the president-elect's bigges...
...Mr. Stern is president emeritus of the Service Employees International Union [SEIU], was a presidential appointee o...
...Service Employees International Union [ SEIU ], was a presidential appointee o...
...director and then as president of SEIU . I guess [laughs] a first general...
...to be the organizing director of SEIU . And at first, president of Loca...
...coming in as organizing director of SEIU in 19—it's 1984, right? Right. An...
...who was John Sweeney later president of SEIU and the AFL-CIO [American Federation o...
...And when I got my chance to be the SEIU president, I had to decide was I reall...
...incumbent leadership to be president SEIU . I was not John Sweeney's choice t...
...remember all of them. You mean beyond SEIU ? Way beyond SEIU. I was thinking...
...mean beyond SEIU? Way beyond SEIU . I was thinking, “Okay, now we have ...
...Organizations for Reform Now]; because SEIU affiliated Wade Rathke and Keit...
...of all the best ACORN organizers into SEIU because I felt like they had th...
...their way into a front-row seat of the SEIU corporate campaign. KKR had? Yeah...
...be the only reason I am unhappy I left SEIU , because the opportunity to organiz...
...all to talk to me to explain to us why SEIU shouldn't be doing this anymore. Bu...
...money we gave, but gave it a PAC. And SEIU told the PAC leaders, “Don't even as...
...can't tell us you would do this, “If SEIU could only get sixty or seventy percen...
...would respond to the owner, but SEIU is going to bring this whole nationa...
...in New York City, organized as SEIU had for decades—before the pandemic...
...will switch contractors. So it's why SEIU 's building service unions spend s...
...not as much courage once they left. SEIU was growing at a pace of fifty thousan...
...and the other union liked what SEIU had been doing. So, Change t...
...out a way to bargain together, and SEIU was actually taking an unprecedente...
...to go to UNITE HERE—because we said SEIU can't really do what we need to do fo...
...interesting. I didn't realize that. So SEIU members in industries that weren'...
...going to the gas workers conference in SEIU .. We had, six gas workers local...
...for the whole group of gas workers. SEIU looked at it and said, “This is no...
...pay less money, get a lot of resources. SEIU transferred millions of dollars in it...
...the other unions eventually came from SEIU . Wow. The UFCW's [United Food an...
...director, the Farm Workers—all were SEIU people, and a lot of their staffs wer...
...people, and a lot of their staffs were SEIU people because our massive organizin...
...in terms of running your own campaign,. SEIU organizers could now go to anothe...
...labor movement. They'll say, “There's SEIU . There's the AFL. There's the NE...
...our members who wanted to take action. SEIU ended up in a huge fight with Yale. An...
...Both became a big issue between SEIU and some of the labor movement in th...
...asked our questions about healthcare. SEIU said to every primary candidate that i...
...New Hampshire. And then we said to get SEIU 's endorsement, you had to do thre...
...to say John Edwards had met with more SEIU leaders than I did between 2004 t...
...work, by the time 2008 was over, SEIU had either formed or were part o...
...Divided We Fail, which, oddly enough— SEIU , the Business Roundtable, NFI...
...going to do anything. So we worked, as SEIU , to force the Democratic candidates t...
...then we just—Heritage was there, and SEIU was there, and lots of conservativ...
...building a community of at least talk. SEIU then, with other people, burst into o...
...the party line. So we were also, at SEIU , totally Medicare for All supporters...
...sort of a more activist coalition—that SEIU was not driving. So we were driving ou...
...the for-profit healthcare association, SEIU , American Hospital Association [AHA]...
...by a guy named Dennis Rivera. Yeah, [ SEIU Local] 1199, right? Yeah, exactly. H...
...industry. George Halverson knew SEIU and Karen Ignagni of HIAA both kne...
...and Karen Ignagni of HIAA both knew SEIU from other relationships. The head o...
...He couldn't believe it. “We” meaning SEIU had established this group. Yeah, i...
...Yeah, it was really— [crosstalk] SEIU a lot. We were the big people who wer...
...because he had been tortured at the SEIU /CAP first debate that he didn't do s...
...long time, she said, “We're really glad SEIU was so unreasonable,” because it had—i...
...president understood, more than most, SEIU 's work in Iowa, and New Hampshire, an...
...states and said we're not giving up at SEIU until this is done, and we actually di...
...And this is all the pressure that SEIU is putting on the candidates. Yes. I...
...Obama? It's early 2008, right? And SEIU is going—you go—right, the AFL i...
...was just the hands-down favorite to get SEIU 's endorsement. The president had com...
...I, and the secretary and treasurer of SEIU , Anna Burger in a private room. H...
...my healthcare plan, and I'd love SEIU 's help and reflection as I develo...
...supporter of the president and was our— SEIU —we were the first endorsers of his U...
...was the new international president of SEIU . People were really excited to see me...
...he decided to run for the US Senate, SEIU was the first one to endorse him. B...
...people trailing behind, wearing an SEIU jacket with his name on it— Wow. ...
...awesome. And he said to the group of SEIU leaders as he got up, he said, “I jus...
...Democratic givers, and I was wearing my SEIU jacket.” He said, “I was wearing thi...
...he's always just appreciated that we at SEIU were always out there supporting him...
...2004 and '08, he would see different SEIU organizing. So the SEIU decided t...
...see different SEIU organizing. So the SEIU decided to make an endorsemen...
...because by Iowa, we didn't have a an SEIU -endorsed candidate. We didn't have an...
...things. You couldn't use the name SEIU . You couldn't use paid staff or loca...
...came from or had worked a lot with SEIU . But on that election night, ther...
...to give his acceptance speech. Many SEIU leaders are at the park. We walk in...
...Bernstein became the staff leaders, and SEIU had helped get his appointment there...
...Lincoln will probably never forgive SEIU for—in the spirit of They Work for Us...
...And again, not to sound—like SEIU was the only ones focused—Larry Cohe...
...have as much leverage or power as SEIU did, but then I left SEIU. I couldn'...
...or power as SEIU did, but then I left SEIU . I couldn't have done it on my own...
...couldn't have done it without SEIU . SEIU, my successors, didn't decide t...
...couldn't have done it without SEIU. SEIU , my successors, didn't decide to kee...
...This happened right after I left SEIU . I then decided to try and reproduc...
...Association. I wasn't president of SEIU , so I didn't have the same ability t...
...is now the president emeritus of the Service Employees International Union , was a presidential appointee o...
...Club, Center for American Progress, SEIU , I think the NEA [National Educatio...
...I mean, I'm struck, from the history of SEIU campaigns, that you're often doin...
...when I became organizing director of SEIU in the '80s, “I can't imagine Avo...
...do something massive on healthcare at SEIU in 2004. We dedicated our convention...
...was also the head of Kaiser, which was SEIU 's largest healthcare employer. Nurse...
...were the two closest— Yes. —ties to SEIU — Ties to us. Yes. And they the...
...and— Yes their joint the group with SEIU gave us a lot of credibility. Once the...
... Right. When that happened, how did SEIU 's strategy change? When it becam...
...to step down as president— Yes. —of SEIU , which, that's right after healthcar...
...an hour took four or five years before SEIU started thinking about it until yo...
...on, and it took a long time even for SEIU to get its leaders interested i...
...the union to try to get every current SEIU member at least fifteen dollars a...
...to Airbnb. Or you can be Andy Stern and SEIU to the rest of the labor movement, wh...
...a little bit, as our leaders did in SEIU , and then everybody in other union...
...Anthony Fauci's views to be heard. SEIU became so covered in the press by a lo...
...we just had a lot of attention paid to SEIU . I was on 60 Minutes, and I was on th...
...you directly—but don't tell me, because SEIU is doing different things, that peopl...
...and not necessarily necessary. And then SEIU leaving the AFL was the final straw...
...straw, which most people felt like if SEIU had not left, it couldn't happen...
...So as much as people would be mad at SEIU about leaving the AFL, none of the...
...as I said to you, we let a lot of our SEIU members in different industries vote t...
...for workers upset people. No one wanted SEIU to ask in public about, why are ther...
...in yourself. I would have said in SEIU I would have done it. I wouldn't do i...
...perspective. And a lot of it was, in SEIU 's case, to try to moderate ou...
...Park event was all big donors. Right? SEIU was the president-elect's bigges...

Neera Tanden

...of 2007. CAP organized a forum with SEIU [Service Employees International Union...
...2007. CAP organized a forum with SEIU [ Service Employees International Union ] in Los Angeles on healthcare. It wa...

Richard Trumka

...amount of resources that the AFL and SEIU [Service Employees International Union...
...of resources that the AFL and SEIU [ Service Employees International Union ] and all of these different labo...

Jeanne Lambrew

...a big coalition, including Walmart and SEIU [Service Employees Internationa...
...coalition, including Walmart and SEIU [ Service Employees International Union ]. We created the ideas. We had a hug...
...CEO of Walmart, as well as the CEO of SEIU . And listening to the CEO of Walmar...

Service Employees International Union - Obama Presidency Oral History

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