SEIU's Andy Stern and President Obama

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Obama has met with Andy Stern, the head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), 22 times during the first 6 months of his presidency - more times than any other person. This has lead some to question, "Who exactly is Andy Stern and what is his relationship with President Obama?"

First a little about Andy Stern from Wikipedia:

"The president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing union in the Americas. SEIU is the second largest union in the United States and Canada after the National Education Association. Elected in 1996 to succeed John Sweeney, Stern is working to revitalize the labor movement by making universal health care a top priority, empowering workers through the Employee Free Choice Act and helping workers and employers recognize the new global economic model American businesses operate under today.

For his talent at recruiting new members, Stern has been described as the "most important labor boss in America". 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."

More on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Clearly, Andy Stern is ambitious but what sets Mr. Stern apart from other union leaders? More recently he has shown great interest in the globalization of unions with such statements as, "Workers of the world, unite!" In some cases a statement like that might be considered innocuous at best, but Mr. Stern goes on to say that it is "more than just a slogan." Mr. Stern then describes his means of accomplishing his goals in this way, “We prefer to use the power of persuasion, and if that doesn’t work we use the persuasion of power.” These are rather tyrannical sounding words for someone with whom the U.S. President currently associates.

Video from Naked Emperor News:

A few months ago the "persuasion of power" was felt by an unarmed, black, Conservative outside a townhall meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. Reports indicated that Kenneth Gladney was dragged over a table and then kicked repeatedly by several SEIU members wearing their purple shirts. Though the SEIU members were arrested shortly after, no charges have been filed now some months later. Recently, Glenn Beck discussed this attack and states he has a copy of the police report. BigGovernment.com has also recently been covering this story.

Is intimidation a usual tactic by Andy Stern's SEIU members or was this an isolated incident? Apparently, these are not isolated tactics. Several events like the following, SEIU/Acorn at Tampa Healthcare Reform Town Meeting and SEIU Attacks: Union Goons Rough Up Protester at Kathy Castor Townhall in Florida!, show the "persuasion of power" Mr. Stern refers. To my knowledge, Andy Stern has never come forward to denounce any of these attacks including the beating of Kenneth Gladney in St. Louis.

Aside from the brutal tactics of some SEIU members, which appear to have the approval of Andy Stern, how tight is the relationship with Mr. Stern and President Obama?

To answer this question, we go back to, then candidate, Barrack Obama during a few speeches in front of SEIU members discussing his agenda: Obama's 2007 SEIU speech Part 1, Obama's 2007 SEIU speech Part 2. This uncovered video of Obama shows him leading a SEIU chant after vowing to "Paint the Nation Purple:"

As you can see from these speeches, Barrack Obama has been working with SEIU for years. Since the election of President Obama, he also has been strangely silent in denouncing any of these SEIU attacks...just like Andy Stern.

President Obama's Administration & Andy Stern:

Stimulus Bill: SEIU was instrumental in designing the first stimulus bill by way of SEIU's Vice President Gerald Hudson, who is active on the board of the Apollo Alliance. Also, the state of California accused President Obama of allowing SEIU to dictate the direction of stimulus funds. For more information on the connections between the Apollo Alliance, SEIU, Van Jones, and President Obama, see here.

Health Care: President Obama, Andy Stern, and SEIU are strong supporters of Universal Health Care. Stern states in this video, "...join our Canadian brothers & sisters to be a nation that guarantees affordable health care for every man, woman, and child...". In addition, SEIU has benefited greatly in the state of Illinois with Senator Obama's help in unionizing health care workers. And what did Senator Obama receive for his trouble, $60 million for his presidential campaign fund from SEIU. Also snuck into previous working versions of the health care bills, there has been a small section where taxpayers will be funding the unions mismanaged pension plans to the tune of $10 BILLION, according to the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). SEIU's Bylaws also go so far as to declare their desire to "control" the entire health care industry. From the Bylaws PDF prominently located on Page 2, "We must organize unorganized Healthcare workers, extending to them the gains of unionism while securing control over the Healthcare industry."

Card Check: If President Obama is allowed the coerced unionization of businesses throughout the entire country, this will fill the corrupt union coffers like never before. As expressed in some of the earlier videos in this article, Andy Stern is a clear proponent of this legislation.

Andy Stern's socialist/communist views and goals for his SEIU members are a matter of record. Also, his statements are almost insightful of the violent actions taken by SEIU members toward those of opposing views. With the long history of both Obama and Stern working together, it is no surprise they both remain silent in the wake of such violence and corruption. Expressed by their own words, Andy Stern and President Obama clearly share many points of view with health care, unionizing, and political legislation which would erode many free market and health care freedoms.

Links:
Inside SEIU president Andy Stern’s culture of corruption
Muckety
DiscovertheNetworks
Update on Kenneth Gladney story