Andy Stern Lays Out Strategy for Future Labor Victories “We’re not going to organize employers one store at a time,” he said. Stern has long been a critic of organizing campaigns that result in several different unions representing the same profession. He has said it makes no sense for several different unions to represent nurses or teachers. SEIU, the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers union pulled out of the AFL-CIO in July. Together, the unions make up 4.6 million workers. Stern pointed to the airline industry, one of the most heavily unionized industries, as a model for organizing campaigns. “What you have to do is make wages be like fuel, so that no one competes on labor costs but on service, efficiency and innovation. You could have pooled pensions and health care and even a basic entry-level wage rate for everyone,” he said. He expressed hope that despite the split with the AFL-CIO, all unions
could work together on political action. 08-08 |
Organizing
the work force across industries and companies is the key to labor’s
future success, said SEIU president Andy Stern in an interview with Time
magazine.