Andy Stern Leaves SEIU

After 14 years in charge of the Service Employees International Union, Andrew Stern is expected to announce his resignation. Since he took over the union in 1996, Stern has grown into one of the most influential union leaders in the country and built the SEIU into a pillar of the labor movement, particularly after he made the bold move of taking it out of the AFL-CIO to form a rival federation in 2005. Under Stern, the SEIU’s membership continued to grow, even as other unions like it contracted. But he has also been criticized for failing to take advantage of the Democrats’ control of Washington and push through new legislation, despite being one of the most frequent visitors to the White House since President Obama was elected.