According to Ben Smith of Politico, Andy Stern, longtime President of the Service Employees International Union, is rumored to be resigning from his position. From the Politico post:
Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, one of America’s most prominent labor leaders, is set to resign, according to a member of the union’s board and another SEIU official.
The President of an SEIU local based in Seattle, Diane Sosne, broke the news to her staffers at 11:35 this morning, local time.
“Last night I received confirmation that Andy Stern is resigning as President of SEIU. He has not yet made a public announcement; we will share the details as we become aware of them,” Sosne wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.
Sosne offered no explanation for the move, but another SEIU official speculated that Stern had finally tired of the draining job.
Read the entire Politico post here.
Hmmmm…I’d speculate differently. Here are my top guesses:
1. Stern woke up and realized that after barely eeking out a court victory last week, he’s too much of a liability for SEIU to win against NUHW in their elections war over California’s health care workplaces
2. His lobbying scandal is not going away as easily as he’d expected
3. Rich Trumka and Stern have finally agreed to merge SEIU back into the AFL-CIO after their short divorce
3. Last week’s hospital worker bitch-slapdown really made him look bad (OK, that’s not really it… but wouldn’t that just be poetic justice?)
4. Maybe Obama has bigger plans for him than just a piddly old Deficit Czar.
Andy Stern’s not tired. He’s not going anywhere. He might resign as President of the SEIU, but that won’t stop him from trying to be President of…well…you know.