Since I decided to begin this series of blogs, one of my favorite conservative talk show hosts, Glenn Beck, also began a series that may parallel my information, and he maybe more depth, so be it. I figure that the more information that is out there the better.

Part One was an overview of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the economic model championed by SEIU includes universal health care (Obamacare), increased taxation (Cap and Trade, increasing taxes on those making over $250,000 per year), an expansion of social welfare programs (repealing welfare and increasing unemployment benefits), and further opportunities for workers to unionize (card check). However, as with most unions, the SEIU is composed of hard working people, who just want to earn a living and not all of them are radical socialists. So where does this radical, socialist agenda come from? As with any large organizations, it comes from the top, and who is sitting at top controlling this radical agenda, Andrew Stern.

Andrew Stern is the son of a lawyer and was born November 22, 1950 in West Orange, New Jersey. He became a student leftist during the 1960s. He attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business college as a business major. In 1971, he graduated with a B.A. in education and urban planning. He then spent some time traveling in Europe. Upon his return from Europe, Stern attended the radical activist training camp, Midwest Academy (MA).MA is a training organization for a variety of leftist causes and organizations. It describes itself as "one of the nation's oldest and best known schools for community organizations, citizen organizations and individuals committed to progressive social change." It was founded in 1973 by radical activists Heather Booth and her husband Paul Booth. Booth was a founder and former National Secretary of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and former President of Chicago's Citizen Action Program (CAP). CAP was formed in 1969 by trainees from Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). Paul Booth is currently an assistant to Gerald McEntee, President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a public employees union.

After receiving his radical and activist training, Stern began his career as a welfare case officer and a member of the SEIU in 1973, where he rapidly rose through the ranks and was eventually elected president of his Pennsylvania local.  In 1980, he was elected to the union's executive board, and in 1984 the union's then-president Sweeney put him in charge of its organizing efforts. An ideal position for a community organizer.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Stern was a key organizer of SEIU's “Justice for Janitors” campaign demanding added benefits on behalf of cleaning and maintenance workers in Los Angeles. With the approval of then SEIU President Sweeney, Stern adopted and used the tactics of the 60’s New Left. Stern and with the help of his cohorts led strikers, who wore red shirts and carried signs depicting brooms held in clenched fists, in blocking access to a number of city streets. This tactic was also employed in 2004, in New York City during the GOP National Convention.

In 1996, after Sweeney became president of the AFL-CIO, Stern was elected to the presidency of the SEIU. After launching a national debate about the fundamental change needed to unite the 9 out of 10 American workers who have no organization at work, SEIU, along with the Teamsters, announced in 2005 that they were disaffiliating from the AFL-CIO (a correction to a statement in Part 1). Stern led SEIU out of the AFL-CIO and founded Change to Win, a six-million member federation of seven major unions dedicated to giving workers a voice at their jobs.

In order to give workers a voice, SEIU commonly bullies and pressures companies into signing agreements to make SEIU the representative of their employees. If a company resists joining the union, Stern and his political, media and activist allies conspire to launch “corporate campaigns”aimed at breaking down that resistance through what they term the “death of a thousand cuts.”In such campaigns, the cabal of attackers harasses and disrupts company activities, sends vicious emails and letters to stockholders, intimidates customers, stalks and frightens employees, files baseless lawsuits, and plants false stories with media allies to smear the company’s reputation. Any wonder that SEIU is closely associated with another organization that is known for the same tactics, ACORN?

In 2008 Stern supported Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy. His SEIU spent approximately $60 millionto help elect Obama to the White House, deploying some 100,000 pro-Obama volunteers during the campaign (including 3,000 who worked on the election full time). He has to become an immensely

influential advisorto President Obama. Is there any doubt why, Stern and his SEIU received a portion of the recently passed Porkulus Bill.

To be continued

Note: The references used here are the same used for part 1

Semper Fi