Check out US Uncut's video of its smackdown of SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern at last week's event where Stern teamed up with corporate execs to push for tax cuts for giant corporations (see the full story below). B/t/w, doesn't Andy look quite comfy up there on the stage with the Big Bosses in suits?
Along with the Congressional investigation into SIGA Technologies (see below), SEIU's President Emeritus Andy Stern took a few more smackdowns this week for showing his true pro-business colors.
On Wednesday, Stern appeared alongside the CEO of Duke Energy in Washington, DC to throw his support behind cutting taxes on the $1.3 trillion of profits that US corporations have stashed in the Cayman Islands and other overseas hideouts (b/t/w, it's really "TRILLION").
The pro-business publication "Bloomberg Businessweek" described it this way: "Former SEIU President Stern Splits with Labor, Backs Tax Holiday." In the article, the AFL-CIO delivered one of Stern's smackdowns, saying: “This is a really, really, really bad idea.”
And at the DC press event on Wednesday, a grassroots organization called "US Uncut," which fights corporate tax abuses, publicly confronted Stern, telling him: "You, sir, should be ashamed of yourself." Check out US Uncut's press release about the incident: "US Uncut Confronts Former SEIU President Andy Stern."
Tasty can just imagine the scene in the VIP room after the DC event: Andy, after pimping for the Big Boss during the press event, tries to pal around with all the CEOs in fancy suits. “Wanna go to lunch?,” mumbles Andy, as he stretches out his sweaty palm in search of more gigs on corporate Boards of Directors so he can expand the 35,000 stock options that he's already pocketed at SIGA Technologies.
Tasty wonders which of Andy’s buddies at the Purple Palace will be next to board the corporate gravy train. Hmmm...
SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern is in the hot seat again – this time for his role in a controversial $2.8 billion government contract awarded to SIGA Technologies, a bio-warfare firm that gave Stern more than 35,000 stock options to sit on the for-profit company's Board of Directors.
CNBC is reporting that two Congressional committees have launched probes into how SIGA got the no-bid federal contract to produce small pox antiviral medicine.
CNBC's coverage discusses both Stern and his cigar-chomping billionaire buddy, Ron Perelman, who owns 30% of SIGA's shares. Last year, SIGA brought Stern onto its board reportedly because of the extensive relationships he developed with government officials while on SEIU's payroll.
After SIGA got the $2.8 billion contract, the company's stock price jumped. According to a journalist at Forbes, Perelman stands to make $140 million in profit if SIGA's stock price increases by $10 per share. As for Andy's profits, good question.
The Huffington Post has written about Stern's cozy relationship with Perelman, who's the 64th richest person in the world (estimated net worth: $12 billion). As president of SEIU, Stern reportedly cut a sweetheart labor deal with Perelman, who owned a giant security firm called AlliedBarton. The HuffPo writes:
In September 2006, the SEIU surprised the labor movement by agreeing not to organize 10,000 security guards working for AlliedBarton, largely in the Philadelphia area, in exchange for organizing opportunities elsewhere. In 2008, the SEIU again surprised observers by not standing in the way of the sale of AlliedBarton to the private-equity firm Blackstone Group...Observers speculate that Stern's cushy gig at SIGA may be Perelman's way of paying off for Stern for his earlier sweetheart deal on AlliedBarton. It also raises other ethical questions… like whether SEIU's President Emeritus is using his SEIU rolodex to make millions – the kind of revolving-door ethical violation that SEIU likes to criticize when other people do it.
