Raising the Floor

Andy Stern

Andy Stern is president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest and fastest-growing union in the United States and Canada. In July 2005, to more effectively represent workers' interests in the twenty-first century, he led his union, along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and several others, out of the AFLCIO to start the Change to Win federation, the first new labor movement federation in fifty years. Stern is the leader of a number of successful, trailblazing campaigns to value and reward the work of America's workers. He was a key strategist in the creation of Wal-Mart Watch, a campaign to push for better work conditions and health care benefits for the company's employees. Stern also helped to found America Votes, a coalition of many large-membership organizations whose goal is to increase voter participation. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and he lives in Washington, D.C.