Andy Stern: A Lifetime of Achievement
Andy Stern began working as a social service worker and member of SEIU Local 668 in 1973 before becoming the local union's president. Andy started his service on SEIU's International Executive Committee in 1980 and took the reigns as the union's Organizing Director in 1984. Twelve years later, in 1996, Andy Stern was elected the youngest SEIU International Union President in the organization's history. Under his direction, SEIU grew by more than 1.2 million workers, turning traditionally underpaid service work into jobs that can help support a family and lift up a community.
- 1999: SEIU Organized 74,000 LA home care workers
- 2000: Justice for Janitors coast-to-coast strikes winning dramatic economic gains and growth for union
- 2001: Out of 9/11 the Stand with Security campaign helped make our nation's office buildings and the people in them more secure as it helped unite Latino and African American workers in creating good jobs
- 2002: Started Americans for Health Care
- 2005: Led 7 unions representing 6,000,000 workers out of AFL-CIO and formed Change to Win
2006: Houston janitor strike shut down city and made massive gains for workers in the South- 2006: joined Miami hunger strike which brought together labor leaders from around the globe, religious leaders, politicians and community groups to call attention to the plight of janitors at the University of Florida seeking to improve their poverty-level wages
- 2007: Formed SEIU Healthcare, a 1 million member union within a union
- 2008: Reached 2 million member milestone
- 2008: Helped elect Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States
- 2010: Credited with playing a key role in the passage of national healthcare reform
- 2010: Appointed to the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.