Stern in WSJ
[Sorry, missed this. Gotta love this, when asked if unions will ever
organize Wal-Mart: “The group SEIU’s part of, Wal-Mart Watch, has not
been trying to organize them but change their business model.” Oh,
and it shouldn’t be about individual grievances, but industry needs.
Stern seems to think that U.S. capital needs the help of organized
labor to be more competitive, but that’s demented. Who’s convinced
him of this?]
Wall Street Journal - January 22, 2007
Are Unions Relevant?
SEIU President Andy Stern thinks so. But he also sees a need for an
attitude adjustment.
By KRIS MAHER
While most American unions are losing members, the Service Employees
International Union is gaining them. The union has successfully
organized workers in the South.
What’s more, it has had success in industries, including health care
and janitorial services, that are both growing and dominated by low-
wage immigrant workers hoping for higher pay and health-care and
retirement benefits.
As president of SEIU, which represents about 1.8 million nurses,
security guards, janitors and others, Andy Stern has become one of
the most recognizable and powerful labor leaders in the country. In
2005, Mr. Stern pulled his union out of the AFL-CIO in dramatic
fashion at its convention, and has since helped form the rival Change
to Win federation, which represents about six million workers.
Mr. Stern says he wants to remake the labor movement by shedding its
old adversarial image and creating more labor-management
partnerships. Last week, he announced a new partnership with the
Business Roundtable and American Association of Retired Persons to
push Congress to act on health-care reform.
At the same time, SEIU is feared by many employers, because of its
high success rate at waging aggressive organizing campaigns that
usually include support from elected officials, clergy and activists,
in addition to punishing publicity for employers.
In an interview, Mr. Stern talked about why unions are still
relevant, the impact of a Democratic-controlled Congress on health-
care and pension policy, and whether unions will ever organize the
U.S. employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Here are excerpts:
The Need for Unions
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: With 7.8% of U.S. private-sector workers
belonging to unions today, down from about 35% 50 years ago, the U.S.
has one of the lowest percentages of private-sector workers covered
by collective-bargaining agreements of democracies around the world.
Are unions still relevant in the U.S.?
MR. STERN: I think the need for unions is far greater today than
almost at any time since the 1930s and ’40s. I think American workers
want a voice on their job. And the question is: Will unions change to
become better partners with employers to respond to what is now a
global economy, where more people went to work today in the U.S. in
retail than in manufacturing?
WSJ: Do you think employers in the U.S. are much more anti-union
today than 20 years ago?
MR. STERN: For one thing, I think unions missed the growth of the new
economy, so huge companies and industries grew up nonunion — in
technology, all of Silicon Valley; in medical research, biotech. So
there’s not a history, and then when unions arrive they are dealing
with very substantial employers. And second, I think as much as we
try to be partners with our employers — who told us we should change
and understand their competitive issues and try to add value, not
create problems — the employers are not looking for any kind of
union, even a good partner.
WSJ: Is the opposition you face during organizing campaigns tougher
today than 10 years ago?
MR. STERN: It is much more sophisticated today. There are now a whole
wide range of consultants, lawyers and strike breakers who have been
battle-tested. I think the law, employers appreciate, has no remedial
enforcement power so you can violate it somewhat without fear, and
having learned that, it just only escalates people’s willingness to
do anything.
The Public View
WSJ: How do you think most Americans view unions?
MR. STERN: What we know is that most people believe now that their
children will be worse off than they are. Seven out of 10 Americans
are living paycheck to paycheck and do feel like an organization, an
association, or even a union would be helpful in changing that
situation. At the same time, unions have an image of being old, not
effective, in some cases not looking like the new work force. So we
have an image problem. I would say the only way to change your image
is to change reality.
WSJ: How do you convince a company that working with a union is good
for its business, especially when so many companies are thriving by
shedding union workers and offshoring jobs?
MR. STERN: I would say there are two sets of issues. One is the 50
million jobs, in transportation, health care, retail, technology,
that are going to remain in this country. And there I think unions
need to appreciate there are ways in which we add value and there are
ways that we make them less competitive. So we need to understand
markets, we need to understand their competition, we need to
appreciate where we can be helpful, like increasing financing, or
leveling the playing field so competition is about entrepreneurial
activity, about quality, about efficiency and not about who can pay
the least.
We want to find a 21st century new model that may look more like a
European model, that is less focused on individual grievances, more
focused on industry needs. But I think the employers are rather
scared and unimaginative — it’s too much about cost and bottom lines
and not enough about people and human relations.
WSJ: If you could gather the country’s top CEOs in one room, what
would you tell them?
MR. STERN: I would tell them the employer-based health-care system is
dead. It’s a relic of the industrial economy, and it makes them
unable to fairly compete when America is the only country who asks
its employers to put the price of health care on the cost of its
products. I would say that employer-based pensions have the same
problems, and that we need to create a new way that American workers
do in fact have retirement security where employers are expected to
contribute. And three, I would say we need in each of our sectors to
find ways where we can better do training, quality, and give workers
an opportunity to be involved in a dialogue about the services that
are provided.
WSJ: What would you say to rank-and-file critics who say you’re too
quick to collaborate with management?
MR. STERN: I think most critics come from outside the union, because
I don’t hear our members say that. People don’t go to work to have a
fight. They go to work to provide a service, to build a community, to
take care of their family. I don’t hear most people say I can’t wait
to go to work to have a fight with that boss.
The Wal-Mart Quest
WSJ: Do you think unions will ever be able to organize Wal-Mart in
the U.S.?
MR. STERN: The group SEIU’s part of, Wal-Mart Watch, has not been
trying to organize them but change their business model. And it’s
clear we have their attention. I don’t think a traditional organizing
drive is going to be successful because the laws, as I said, are so
tilted on behalf of a company as big as Wal-Mart, and they probably
are at the top of the line in terms of having an emergency-response
team that flies out of Bentonville at the moment the word “union” is
used in a store. At the same time, I think Wal-Mart has the
opportunity to create an entirely new American model of worker
representation. The question is do they want partners or do they want
to be held accountable in a much more public fashion?
WSJ: You now face a Congress expected to be much more in sync with
union viewpoints. What is the No. 1 issue unions want to see acted on
by the new Congress?
MR. STERN: We think it’s time for a new health-care system for every
American. I think we’re going to see some employer groups say this is
the year to begin to create a call for action for health care. I
don’t think the Congress yet gets it, but I think by March they’re
going to see that this election in addition to Iraq had a lot to do
with economic anxiety, and health-care costs are No. 1 on that list.
WSJ: What have you and SEIU accomplished since leaving the AFL-CIO,
and are you satisfied?
MR. STERN: I’m never satisfied, because I think our union and the
labor movement — I’d say even a lot of our employers — are really
slow in making the change to a global economy, a very fast-paced 24/7
economy. We don’t see our employers as enemies. We don’t want to be
attached to any single political party. Our attitude now is we need
to build successful employers as part of that, you need to be
involved and have a voice, and that everyone needs to share in the
success of an employer, not just the shareholders and the executives.
WSJ: How do you measure success for yourself?
MR. STERN: I came to SEIU personally because I wanted to change
people’s lives. That’s why I’m so passionate about health care at the
moment. Because I think too many people are living each day with a
sense of fear that something tragic could happen about their health
which could also affect their economic security.
We are living through the third economic revolution, following the
agricultural and the industrial revolutions. It’s a very profoundly
new moment, and America has no plan. We need to come together as a
country and find new ideas and new solutions to make work pay and
keep an incredible dream alive.
–Mr. Maher is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal’s
Pittsburgh bureau.