Andy Stern
Andrew L. "Andy" Stern (born November 22, 1950), is the former president of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Stern is currently a Senior Fellow at Columbia University. Stern supports federal legislation that helps revitalize the labor movement through universal health care, expanding union ranks via the Employee Free Choice Act, stronger regulations on business, profit sharing for employees, higher taxes, and efforts consistent with the improvement of the lives of workers.[citation needed] For his talent at recruiting new members, Stern has been described as the "most important labor boss in America". Stern is unapologetic about targeting private equity firms, shaming business leaders, and competing to build SEIU's membership: “We like to say: We use the power of persuasion first. If it doesn't work, we try the persuasion of power”. The share of workers belonging to a union in 2008 showed the largest annual growth rate since the first report in 1983. Growth in SEIU in 2008—88,926 members —accounted for nearly 21 percent of the national union membership growth. In March, 2010, Stern was the Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.