Service Employees International Union Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger withdrew her candidacy for the union's presidency today, conceding that post to Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry. Her concession, which came in a statement to the union's executive board, comes several days after Henry received pledges of support from locals constituting about 60 percent of the union's members. In her statement, Burger says she'll continue to serve as secretary-treasurer, the union's No. 2 position.
Though Burger was backed by outgoing president Andy Stern, opposition to her candidacy formed quickly after Stern announced his impending resignation. The opponents consisted of two groups, according to one senior SEIU official – those favoring Henry's candidacy and those opposed to Stern's trying to impose, as they saw it, his successor on the union.
In her statement, Burger wrote that "the media is just wrong when they suggest that this contest represents a 'shift in SEIU's priorities' or a ‘rejection of the Stern/Burger agenda.'" She is probably more right than wrong in this assessment. Under Stern, the SEIU became the largest and most effective political organization in liberal America, playing a crucial role in Barack Obama's election and the passage of health-care reform, and there's no basis for believing that Henry wants to dismantle SEIU's political work.
But there is widespread concern within the union that Stern had gratuitously estranged allies (chiefly, other unions), and that SEIU's legendary organizing gains have ground to a halt. The union, many believe, needs new strategic directions. Some of Henry's backers, including her fellow executive vice presidents Tom Woodruff and Dave Regan, favor a return to traditional organizing. Others, including other fellow executive vice presidents Gerald Hudson and Eliseo Medina, favor the union immersing itself more deeply in a range of social causes (Medina has been a leading champion of immigrants' rights for years). At a recent Georgetown University forum on the labor movement (in which I participated), Hudson argued that expecting legislation such as the Employee Free Choice Act to pass on the basis of an inside-the-Beltway campaign was misguided and that the union needed to help create a larger social movement embracing a number of progressive causes before it would see its own priorities enacted. Henry, say several SEIU leaders, shares this perspective. Burger's statement is after the jump.
--Harold Meyerson
