Redstate

What happens when you give up morality for

By Soren Dayton Posted in Economy | private equity | SEIU | unions — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Several years ago, there was a big split-up in the union movement. The "Change to Win" coalition, led by SEIU's Andy Stern decided that growing their unions was more important than an explicit political agenda.

The Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday, "Ever since the SEIU broke from the AFL-CIO three years ago, its ability to prosper has depended on growing the union." They care about growth so much that they are willing to throw their own retires under the bus:

Like the nurses, Calpers and Calstrs have had the sense and wherewithal to push back against the SEIU's bullying. As they see it, Andy Stern's war on private equity would kill the goose that lays golden eggs for their retirees. His bill would have prevented them from maximizing their returns, which happens to be their fiduciary duty. It's also what's best for working families.

What does this mean for the country?

First let me say, that I admire Andy Stern in some ways. He is willing to sacrifice some stupid ideas because he understands that control of the political process is not an objective in its own right, but only a tool in changing society.

Because he understands that the horses come before the cart, he puts his political agenda behind his agenda for organizing. He is pushing legislation to restrict the investment options for pension funds:

This month in California, the SEIU suffered a major setback when a bill that would have restricted state pension fund allocations to sovereign wealth-backed private equity firms was shelved by lawmakers. The measure was Mr. Stern's brainchild, and its ostensible purpose was to target sovereign wealth funds in countries with spotty human rights records.

You see, he doesn't really want to fight for human rights, he wants to organize shops.

The real impetus for the bill, however, was to help the SEIU organize employees of ManorCare, a nursing home chain owned by the Carlyle Group private equity firm. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, another private equity outfit and owner of the Hospital Corporation of America, has also been a major target of Mr. Stern's campaign. ...

Mr. Stern figured that by obscuring his real motives with lofty human rights concerns, the bill would surely pass the ultra-liberal state Assembly. But a list of human rights violators that included Singapore and Abu Dhabi but not China raised eyebrows. It turned out that Mr. Stern included Singapore and Abu Dhabi because they invest with Carlyle. China got a pass because its sovereign wealth fund invests with the Blackstone Group private equity firm, and the SEIU has negotiated janitorial agreements with Blackstone real-estate companies.

You see, it is one thing to get your priorities right. It is a whole different thing to lie about human rights concerns to protect your priorities.

And it is Stern's willingness to abandon human rights or basic morality, such as when he sent his goons to beat up on a bunch of nurses, for his agenda that you really have to wonder.

He doesn't like retirees. He doesn't like nurses. He doesn't really care about victim's of China's oppressive regime.

He just wants more union members. Even his own union members think he is a fraud.

I don't think that's going to work out well for him.