Andy Stern at Yearly Kos

Andy Stern participated in an interview/Q&A of sorts Friday with Atlantic Editor Harold Meyerson at the YearlyKos convention in Chicago. Though I couldn't make it out thanks to stupid things like my day job, I didn't let that day job get in the way of me watching the livestream they offered of the event. There's no transcript, but one advantage of being a blogger is world class typing skills. So here's a basic outline of what was asked and how Andy answered.

First, Stern was asked about the semi-controversial trips he's taken abroad to organize workers in places like Asia and Europe, and what the ultimate goal of it was.

He correctly pointed out that regardless of whether a worker is in the US, China, India or Sweden, they are more and more likely to be working for a big international corporation, so really, they're dealing with the same employers. Organizing all directions of a corporation's reach creates a united front, where no one gets taken advantage of, and all workers benefit.

As for organizing workers in poorer who have jobs that may have been outsourced or not created in the United States, he acknowledges that while wages and benefits will never be the same, thanks to standard of living and cost differences, they can still stand up for more than they're getting, and labor conditions, which when abhorrent save companies oodles of cash, are a universal issue; just because you're making less money, it doesn't mean you need to work in a sweatshop or 18 hour days. They went back to the US-China worker relationship a little later on, in fact.

As for manufacturing here, Meyerson asked if that industry was dead. Stern said that for national security as well as practical reasons, there will always be some manufacturing jobs, and it is important to fight for their rights. But the biggest growing sector is service workers (and as head of the SEIU, that puts him in a unique position) and we need to help them unionize to repeat the growth of the great middle class that occurred when unions were at their strongest; unions are the best way to redistribute wealth, which is what we did during a manufacturing economy, and what needs to be done in a different economy.

As for the tough organizing environment, and how people like those at YKos could get involved, Stern said that progressives are often so factionalized that they end up fighting separate battles against the same target; labor is fighting big corporations for better pay and benefits, while environmentalists fight to make corporations responsible for the pollution they create. Using that as an example, Stern called for a greater coalition of progressive issue group leaders to help devise a plan of attack against the common targets. In fact, as he later said in his closing statements, that's why a lot of unions are fighting the net neutrality battle that so many bloggers are passionate about; it's all about building coalitions.

Back to China, Stern was surprisingly bullish on the labor scene there, though he raised a few good points. I don't think he was saying there were great working conditions or pay for a vast vast majority of people, and a state run union isn't close to optimal, but the only unionized Wal-Mart in the world is in China; same with McDonalds, Eastman Kodak and Xerox. In fact, at least part (okay, a lot) of the problem comes from our own Chamber of Commerce going to fight fair labor laws the Chinese government proposes. It steamed me to think about that, especially when free traders say we have no right to meddle in the labor laws of sovereign nations when fair traders propose strong labor standards.

A lot of Americans don't appreciate the great economic power China is on the cusp of becoming (if their government can manage to keep control of an increasingly splintered environment, I would personally add); by 2010, there will be more English speakers in China than in the US.

Talking about Employee Free Choice, he says it's so important because the deck is stacked in the purported secret ballot "democratic" elections for unions, and sending in a card saying you want a union is democratic in itself. Stern noted that now more than ever people say they would join up if they got the chance. And with EFCA, they'd be introducing an entirely new world to many regions of the country with lax labor laws and uninterested state governments.

He didn't totally vilify business, though, addressing his alliance with corporations like Wal-Mart in fighting for universal healthcare. He said in '93, when the Clintons tried to do something about it, businesses stood for the status quo; bringing them on board would add to it a sense of it being an economic and not just moral issue (it's amazing to me that corporations that do offer healthcare don't fight tooth and nail for single-payer; the taxes would be far less than what they have to put out now for private insurance).

There is definitely an ideology that it's an individual's responsibility to get health coverage, but as Michael Moore showed, the rest of the world makes it universal and they're doing just fine.
The SEIU won't endorse a Presidential candidate without a comprehensive healthcare plan, and said Edwards and Obama had met that criteria.

On 2008, all the candidates have been invited to join the "Day in Our Shoes" campaign, where they'd go to dinner with a union worker one night and spend the next day on the job with them. Edwards already participated as an elderly care worker; Obama plans to work as a home healthcare worker, Hillary Clinton as a nurse and Chris Dodd as a headstart teacher.

For 2008, they're putting away $20-30 million to bankroll members to go work in different states on campaigns, working the grassroots for selected union-approved candidates. And for the ones they do help get elected, those new Senators and Congress critters will be held accountable for their votes and action by the "They Work For Us" PAC, which Stern said he was given a lot of shit for by Dem establishment types. But let's be honest; do you really think they're gonna abandon all the help the movement provides?