“[...] Over the past few months, there has been increasing speculation regarding SEIU President Andy Stern’s intention to step down as president at the end of his term in 2012. President Stern will address these rumors at the close of the SEIU Executive Committee meeting this week.” – SEIU
Reports are popping that SEIU president Andy Stern will be stepping down at the end of the week.
Ben Smith reported it late last night, before Twitter started screaming.
The President of an SEIU local based in Seattle, Diane Sosne, broke the news to her staffers at 11:35 this morning, local time.
“Last night I received confirmation that Andy Stern is resigning as President of SEIU. He has not yet made a public announcement; we will share the details as we become aware of them,” Sosne wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.
Sosne offered no explanation for the move, but another SEIU official speculated that Stern had finally tired of the draining job.
“Health care getting done is a good culmination,” the official said.
If true, the passage of health care offered a prime opportunity to leave sooner than 2012.
However, the SEIU statement offered at the top that Stern will address the “rumors” doesn’t exactly give one confidence about the reports swirling or the “confirmation” of Sosne, someone who isn’t seen as a Stern loyalist.
Jump ball.
why would stern leave now? and this week? im not wild about stern to begin with.
So he leaves. So what? He was another disappointment, IMHO.
As is Richard Trumka. Labor sure don’t have the cohones they used to have.
They seem more interested in keeping their access than working for their rank and file.
I am getting a little sick of union bashing.Plently of it is being encouraged by the Obama administration. Especially teachers unions.The way I keep hearing them described by people who know nothing about them is not recognizable to me. Teachers are being demonized for the failure in our educational systems.
This morning on Morning Joe they were all just agast to learn that teachers get their health insurance without making a contribution to it. Shocking that people who have a degree or two or three and who continually go to school to improve skills and stay up to date should get such a perk. Nevermind that they are the lowest paid professionals or that it takes years for them to work into a decent salary range while they continue to fund their own advanced learning and more often than not suppliment with their own money the learning materials they use in the classroom.
Sure every school has a couple of teachers who are below par and they should be moved out of the profession but every bank has a few bad apples too and they get huge bonus after making multi-million/billion dollar mistakes that take down the economy.
I would like to hear the job perks given to Joe and the gang just for comparison purposes.
I’ve been a union member (now on hiatus) since I was in my teens; belonging to just about every performance union there is. They were a tremendous boon to performers, but as time has gone by also been a challenge for producers.
That said, I am anything but enthralled with SEIU and AFL/CIO, especially on health care. Their cave-in will cost middle class blue collar workers in years to come.
Additionally, SEIU’s North Carolina First campaign is appalling. They’re going after Dems who voted against the health care bill, billing their move as standing up for ordinary Americans, which is a joke.
The current hcr bill has good points, especially Medicare expansion. However, as I’ve said innumerable times, the mandate inside a monopolized system is undemocratic.
North Carolina isn’t exactly a bastion of liberalism. In a 50-state strategy, also see Stupak’s district, sometimes you pay a high price. It’s why I’ve posited that some districts should be jettisoned if we can’t keep our principles, like supporting and fighting for women’s rights.
Going after Dems for voting a very bad hcr bill, SEIU has just confirmed their leadership confusion. The fate of unions and what they stand for, especially after Obamacare, continues to be in question.
As for Joe Scarborough, he makes his money & perks through ratings. He *earns* them.
Lake Lady says:
13 April 2010 at 11:22 am
You are so right. By the way, I’m in my 28th year of teaching in the inner city and we contribute to our health insurance in my district. Yes, it takes at least 20 years in this profession before one is making a good salary for all of the education we have. I have bachelors, masters, and certificate of advanced study (kind of like halfway between a masters and a doctorate) degrees. I stay at work usually 2 to 3 hours past dismissal and I spend most of my weekends planning lessons for the following week, often giving up family time. The teachers I teach with, both young and mature, work so hard in a very stressful environment with little support or authority, and have tremendous patience. Where I teach now, it is quite common for students to curse at teachers and just do what they feel like doing, which is very little work. Many just don’t care or don’t see themselves as being successful academically when many of them can be. One of our teachers was out for a week with chest pains, two others were carried out in ambulances this past year – I believe it is all stress related. And for Arne Duncan and Obama to say what they did about the Rhode Island teachers is just plain ignorant. The needs of the students are great and we have some resources but not nearly enough, and then there are more budget cuts to come and more lay offs. It’s a never ending cycle it seems. This is not a teacher problem, although teachers get scapegoated, but a societal one, IMO. The research on birth to five years of age and poverty should be acted upon in our country. I’ll stop for now.
I hear you lynnette~ In special ed there is another layer added of mind numbing bean counting paperwork. I don’t remember ever having a weekend or holiday free. Spring break was always a paperwork week for me.I broke my knee the night before my IEP’s were due,walking down the stairs where some little darling had dropped a pencil,after a Parent/Teacher conference night. When I called my central office the next day to tell them I was on my way to the emergency room their reply was…drop off your IEP’s on the way!
Needless to say after 32 years …I was done!But I have to say in all of those years I can only remember a handful of bad teachers.Most are hard working and very caring. I don’t think people have any idea how hard the job is and how stressful.
Bless your heart for staying in the inner city that long!No one wants to look at those all important birth to five years because doing something about it would cost money and we have much more important places to funnel the people’s money than poor children.Of course the country could save billions spent on incarceration but after all that is a growth industry.
Our special ed. teachers are doing their annuals this week, as a matter of fact. They do have tons of paperwork. Yes, I remember some teachers who shouldn’t have been in the profession, but you’re right about most being caring and hard working. And they spend tons of their own money to purchase materials. I’ve spent over $1000 just this year on instructional supplies and materials for the students, not to mention copying fees when the copy machine breaks down. You know, I really enjoy teaching, and although inner city teaching is challenging, I like the challenge. There are days when I wonder about that, but I think it’s an important job. Just today I had a chat with one of my students about his tardiness and absences. He’s a real nice kid who needs to make up work. Come to find out, his mother’s car breaks down a lot and she has to often borrow one from Grandma and he has to watch and ready 3 younger brothers, ages 4, 3, and 1. So now, I have a school-home folder with his work in it, so he has something to work on at home if he can’t make it to class. People don’t realize we deal with many, many situations like this and much worse. (I should also clarify that in addition to some very challenging schools in my district, we also have some that are doing well.)
So good of you to work with them individually and to try to help them overcome limitations that are out of their control.