Andy Stern: Use Persuasion of Power when Power of Persuasion Doesn't Work

OPINION: THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW DECEMBER 6, 2008 Andy Stern
Let's 'Share the Wealth' America's most powerful union boss says Europe offers a good economic model.

...His tactics are controversial. The SEIU targets private equity firms, shames business leaders, and competes with other unions to build up its membership. Mr. Stern is unapologetic. "We like to say: We use the power of persuasion first. If it doesn't work, we try the persuasion of power." Inside the SEIU, a traditionally decentralized union, his dominant personality has earned him enemies among dissident local bosses. The biggest SEIU local in California is enmeshed in a corruption scandal. Some people wonder whether he's truly in charge. As an admiring adversary in Washington noted, these days "Andy Stern is surfing a high wave, and hanging on right by the edge."

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