Andy Stern
Member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (since February 2010)

(SEIU)
The former leader of the largest and fastest-growing union in North America, Stern had a prime seat at the table-and the ears of key lawmakers-in debates about everything from labor legislation to the economic recovery plan to health-care reform. Surprising the political and labor world, Stern announced in April 2010 he would leave his job; Mary Kay Henry succeeded him.
As president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Stern leads more than two million service workers. These nurses, bus drivers and janitors make up the heart of the modern service economy, one that doesn't always sync with a labor movement built in the industrial age.
- Religion: Jewish
- Office: 1800 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C., 20036; 202-730-7000; 800-424-8592
- Web site
"One part of me wanted to be a psychiatrist, one part of me wanted to be a lawyer, and one part wanted to be an organizer," Stern said. "The union allowed me to fulfill all three."
Stern grew up in a West Orange, N.J., household where his parents discussed everything from the burgeoning civil-rights movement to the riots in northern New Jersey, but "no one discussed unions," he said.
During Stern's presidency, the SEIU doubled in size to two million members. It's the largest and fastest-growing union and has the largest political action committee, if you measure in dollars spent, Stern said.
"I spend most of my time trying to be the voice for our members' issues and interests in the media, in Congress, with employers," Stern said. "As well as trying to make sure the union is always one step ahead of the way the world is headed."
Stern campaigned for Obama's pro-union Labor secretary, Hilda L. Solis, when she ran for Congress.
White House Political Director Patrick Gaspard was formerly a political director at SEIU. Stern has known him for ten years.
- Murray, Shailagh and Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post, "House Passes Health-Care Reform Bill without Republican Votes," March 22, 2010
- www.changetowin.org
- Hughes, Samuel, "Workers of the World, Adapt!" The Pennsylvania Gazette, November/December 2006
- Greenhouse, Steve, "Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to Assist Unions," The New York Times, July 16, 2009
- Cleland, Nancy, "Union Leader Calls for AFL-CIO Changes," The Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2004
- Hughes, Samuel, "Workers of the World, Adapt!" The Pennsylvania Gazette, November/December 2006
- Tapper, Jake and Sunlen Miller, ABC News "POTUS to siign executive order to form debt commission on Thursday," February 16, 2010
- Tapper, Jake, ABC News "President Obama Picks his Final Four (for Debt Commission)," February 26, 2010
- "Third large Union Leaves AFL-CIO," CNN.com, July 29, 2005
- Pear, Robert and Herszenhorn, David M., The New York Times, "Labor Campaigns Against Tax on Health Plans," Jan. 12, 2010
- Stern, Andy, "It's Time for a Change at the AFL-CIO," The Huffington Post, May 31, 2005
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