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Service Employees International Union (view source)
Revision as of 02:22, November 10, 2009
, 02:22, November 10, 2009Change to Win
At the outset, Stern told members that he expected "every leader at every level of this union -- from the international President to the rank-and-file member -- to devote five working days this year to political action." In effect, this became the mandate for the union leaders to work in support of the Democratic Party. Stern sits on the Executive Committee of America Coming Together funded by George Soros. SEIU is a major component of the "Shadow Democratic Party," a network of more than five-dozen unions, nonprofit activist groups, and think tanks with the agendas of the left and which campaigns for Democrat candidates and causes. Because they are a "527 organization", SEIU is not registered as a "political organization" with the Federal Election Commission, and collects "soft money" with no limits on how much it may receive. This money, in turn, is given to Democratic candidates, political action committees, and other "527" groups promoting the same agendas. <ref> http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6535 </ref>
At the outset, Stern told members that he expected "every leader at every level of this union -- from the international President to the rank-and-file member -- to devote five working days this year to political action." In effect, this became the mandate for the union leaders to work in support of the Democratic Party. Stern sits on the Executive Committee of America Coming Together funded by George Soros. SEIU is a major component of the "Shadow Democratic Party," a network of more than five-dozen unions, nonprofit activist groups, and think tanks with the agendas of the left and which campaigns for Democrat candidates and causes. Because they are a "527 organization", SEIU is not registered as a "political organization" with the Federal Election Commission, and collects "soft money" with no limits on how much it may receive. This money, in turn, is given to Democratic candidates, political action committees, and other "527" groups promoting the same agendas. <ref> http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6535 </ref>
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In the last two decades a great deal of consolidation in the union movement happened. The garment workers union<ref> The successor to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union</ref> and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union), merged in 2004 to create a new union UNITE HERE, with 450,000 members. Then UNITE HERE formed a coalition with the Teamsters, SEIU, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Laborers, and the United Farm Workers (UFW) to form '''Change to Win'''. It represented a challenge to the well-established [[AFL-CIO]]. Andy Stern was the spokesman for Change to Win and he challenged AFL-CIO president John Sweeney for national attention.
Recently Stern's SEIU has been raiding members from UNITE HERE, thus creating a deep division in the Change to Win coalition.
==ACORN connections==
==ACORN connections==
The [[Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now_(ACORN)|Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now]]'s largest union backer is the SEIU. ACORN gave more than $4 million to the SEIU and its shadow party affiliates in 2006-07, according to Dept. of Labor filings. One SEIU union, the Illinois Homecare Workers and Home Childcare Providers, sprouted from ACORN's organizing efforts and pays rent to ACORN. <ref> http://theunionnews.blogspot.com/2008/10/npr-exposes-acorn-seiu-connection.html </ref>
The [[Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now_(ACORN)|Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now]]'s largest union backer is the SEIU. ACORN gave more than $4 million to the SEIU and its shadow party affiliates in 2006-07, according to Dept. of Labor filings. One SEIU union, the Illinois Homecare Workers and Home Childcare Providers, sprouted from ACORN's organizing efforts and pays rent to ACORN. <ref> http://theunionnews.blogspot.com/2008/10/npr-exposes-acorn-seiu-connection.html </ref>