Breakaway labor leader says unions need new image, goals

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

Breakaway labor leader says unions need new image, goals
By John Seewer
Associated Press

Less than two years ago, Andy Stern led a break away from the AFL-CIO and helped form the ``Change to Win Coalition.''

The president of the Service Employees International Union wanted to focus more on recruiting new members and less on party politics, and the union has organized child-care providers, janitors and nurses.

The SEIU has nearly doubled in size in the past decade, to 1.8 million members. The union also funds Wal-Mart Watch, a group opposed to the retailer's employment and business practices.

Here are Stern's responses to questions about labor issues:

Q: Unions seem to have an image problem. How do you change that?

A: It's very hard to change our image without changing reality. Too many people seem overly focused on our own members and not as focused as we need to be on the problems facing workers in this country. We need to be trying to deal with health care, the inequality of wages, credit-card debt and making college affordable.

Read more: http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/16980732.htm

[Solo_in_MD]

1. Stories like this give me hope that there is yet hope for the union movement in this country

because the UAW style unions are working themselves out of existence.

An article posted here at DU recently pointed out that Gen X and Gen Y thing poorly of unions...it that holds, unions as an effective force will be gone when baby boomers retire. Fresh thinking is needed to get unions beyond the industrial model and keep them relevant in the post industrial age.