LaborNet: "Pooling Our Resources for Growth" SEIU PRESIDENT ANDY Stern explains why he and four other union heads are joining together to search for ways to expand their rolls
Q: But haven't you all have drawn up a list of which AFL-CIO departments and functions you'd cut or refocus in order to home in on organizing and politics?
A: Yes, we're still talking about an AFL-CIO program agenda. It's something we're still working on, an early version of getting off people's chests what they'd like to see changed at the AFL-CIO. All of us, especially people like Doug [McCarron, president of the Carpenters, which quit the AFL-CIO in 2001], whine about the federation. So rather than always whining, we said, 'Let's at least make a list of what we'd like to do.'