SEIU’s Andy Stern Has a New Gig Fighting Teachers’ Unions

SEIU's Andy Stern

As teachers mount the biggest wave of strikes in recent US history, SEIU’s President Emeritus Andy Stern has jumped onto the side of anti-union forces backed by billionaires.

That’s the news from Hamilton Nolan, a Senior Writer at Splinter News. Earlier this week, he published a piece detailing Stern’s latest move. (Hamilton Nolan, “High Profile Labor Leader Has a New Gig Fighting Against Teacher's Unions,” Splinter, July 23, 2019.)

What’s going on?

Earlier this year, Stern became an official advisor to a “front group” that’s pushing for the privatization of public schools and is driven by “virulently anti-union elements,” according to an article by Maurice Cunningham. (Maurice Cunningham, “Keri Rodrigues Goes Coastal with Plans for National Parents Union,” MassPoliticsProfs, April 22, 2019.)

The front group -- called the “National Parents Union” -- is funded by the right-wing billionaire family that owns Wal-Mart.

Here are some details from Nolan’s article:

The most prominent and powerful American labor actions of the past year were the teacher’s strikes that swept the nation, from West Virginia to California. Public school teachers have, more than anyone, been the most visible engine of recent union militancy. And as all of that was happening, here is what Andy Stern did: in April of this year, he was announced as an official adviser of the National Parents Union, an education reform group with deep ties to the Walton Foundation, the charitable arm of the family of Walmart heirs, the single richest family in America. (Charter schools are a major focus of the Walton Foundation; the NPU’s board members are affiliated with a variety of groups that have received significant Walton Foundation funding, and its co-leader is an executive at Green Dot Public Schools, a charter group funded in part by the Waltons.)

The National Parents Union—which, in the release containing the news of Stern’s appointment, said that it seeks to “define the education conversation in the 2020 election cycle,” using the language of “empowering families” to erode support for the public education system—is not an actual union. Quite the opposite. It is a classic astroturf-style vessel created for the purpose of giving a political campaign a sheen of grassroots respectability. Its advisers and “Founding Members” are a grab bag of prominent charter school advocates. Andy Stern’s name stands out—his listed title is not from an educational group, but rather, “President Emeritus, SEIU.”

Stern is lending his union-world credibility to a group that says this in its organizing document: “In the same manner that teacher strikes and mobilization are commanding headlines, we have a vision of having parent rallies and mobilizations in the spotlight, redirecting the conversation from one about adults to one about students. The teacher unions currently have no countervailing force. We envision the National Parents Union as being able to take on the unions in the national and regional media, and eventually on the ground in advocacy fights.”

In other words, the former head of one of America’s most politically active unions is using his resume in organized labor to support a group that explicitly aims to undermine teacher’s unions—at a time when teacher’s unions have done more to revive militancy in organized labor than any other group. It is a testament to the contempt in which Andy Stern is already held by much of the labor movement that his involvement in the NPU, which was revealed three months ago, has not yet caused a louder uproar. (It is also a testament to the fact that there seems to be no evidence that the NPU has accomplished anything of note so far.) Stern did not respond to emails seeking comment on his role with the new group.

If you’re curious, here’s the NPU’s press release identifying Stern as SEIU’s President Emeritus and describing him as an “Adviser” to the Wal-Mart family-funded organization. On the second page, it states:

The teacher unions currently have no countervailing force. We envision the National Parents Union as being able to take on the unions in the national and regional media, and eventually on the ground in advocacy fights… We see a significant need for a national body that provides centralized technical assistance and encouragement and also harnesses the collective power of our efforts in important national fights where teachers unions have a monopoly on the conversation.

The press release criticizes teachers for opposing the NPU’s privatization agenda, which it calls “education reform.” And it describes NPU’s plan to organize an “aggressive earned media strategy” to broadcast the “NPU message” via national media outlets, targeting those states where teachers have mobilized for improved funding, limits on classroom sizes, investment in school facilities, and livable wages for teachers and school staff.

So what does SEIU President Mary Kay Henry say about this?

After all, SEIU represents tens of thousands of public school staff, including teachers’ aides, cafeteria workers, school bus drivers, maintenance staff and others. And SEIU is trying to unionize instructors in higher education across the nation. 

Do SEIU’s top officials endorse Stern’s use of the union’s name to support an anti-union agenda backed by right-wing funding sources?

SEIU officials refused to comment, says Nolan. 

Without some sort of clarification, SEIU's silence appears to indicate its support for NPU’s agenda as well as Stern's use of SEIU's name to back the organization.

Nolan got a response from Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers.

“There must be some misunderstanding for a respected labor leader, who spent a good part of his life helping working people, to embrace a Walton-funded group dedicated to attacking them,” she told Splinter via a spokesman. “I urge Andy to take another look at what exactly he’s got himself into.”

Tasty’s reaction?

Andy Stern is a foul-smelling piece of fecal matter.

We should count our blessings that progressive forces in the US labor movement, including California healthcare workers led by Sal Rosselli and hotel workers at HERE, took on Stern’s pathetic sell-out ass more than a decade ago.

Is SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan On the Take from his Billionaire Buddies?

Here’s the latest from San Francisco, where SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan has joined forces with tech billionaires, real estate titans, and the billionaire CEO of a cryptocurrency company in an effort to defeat pro-worker candidates running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Last month, Regan dumped a quarter million dollars of SEIU-UHW members’ money into a Super PAC associated with tech billionaire Ron Conway. In the past, Conway’s Super PAC has “netted five-figure donations from Facebook, Google, and Airbnb,” according to the SF Weekly.

In recent weeks, Conway’s Super PAC dumped $640,000 into “Independent Expenditure” campaigns aimed at defeating two pro-labor candidates, according to campaign records published by the California Secretary of State. 

One of the targeted candidates is Gordon Mar, the Director of Jobs with Justice San Francisco, which is part of a network of pro-labor nonprofit organizations across the nation. The second is an anti-eviction lawyer who serves on the city's Board of Education.

The avalanche of Super PAC donations from Regan and his corporate buddies has already prompted multiple complaints alleging campaign law violations, according to the SF Weekly.

San Francisco is an especially illuminating stage for Regan to flaunt his love-acts with tech billionaires and plutocrats.

Using data from the US Census Bureau, the city’s Human Services Agency concluded that San Francisco has more income inequality than Rwanda and other sub-Saharan countries. And the Brookings Institute found that San Francisco’s income inequality is growing faster than any other city in the nation.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s housing costs are off the charts. City officials discovered that 42% of the city’s Latinos are living doubled-up with another family in one unit.

So why the f*ck is Regan working with billionaires to attack pro-worker candidates in the city with the highest income inequality in the nation?

Hotel workers striking Marriott in San Francisco

And how can Regan's $250,000 contribution to the Super Pac possibly be in the interest of SEIU-UHW's rank-and-file members?

Perhaps Diamond Dave is on the take.

After all, his timing is impeccable. 

Regan dumped SEIU-UHW’s quarter million dollars into anti-worker campaigns at the same time that thousands of UNITE HERE members are striking Marriott, the largest hotel operator in San Francisco.

So Dave, what kind of secret deal did you make with your billionaire buddies?

We want to know.

Ten Years Later...

This month marks the tenth anniversary of some of the headline-grabbing events that led up to SEIU's disastrous trusteeship of SEIU-UHW.

Ten years ago, SEIU-UHW -- then led by president Sal Rosselli -- was one of the most successful healthcare unions in the nation. Labor journalist Steve Early called SEIU’s takeover of SEIU-UHW “the mother of all trusteeships.” Unfortunately, it gave birth to a Frankenstein-like child headed by Dave Regan, who quickly drove the once-powerful union into the ground.

So what happened ten years ago?

During August 2008, a reporter named Paul Pringle published eight articles in the Los Angeles Times detailing a massive corruption scandal perpetrated by Tyrone Freeman, one of Andy Stern’s closest allies.

Freeman’s corruption was stunning. It ranged from union-funded jaunts to Hawaii with his personal assistant, $175 glasses of cognac and cigars at an exclusive cigar club frequented by Los Angeles movie stars, no-show jobs for relatives, and kickbacks from corporations in exchange for deals that sold out low-wage healthcare workers.

During the months leading up to August 2008, Freeman had served as Andy Stern’s attack dog in Stern’s campaign to “implode” SEIU-UHW. A boatload of Stern’s staffers also worked on the campaign, such as Stephen Lerner, Dave Regan, Bill Ragen, Tom DeBruin, Josie Mooney, Debbie Schneider, Steve Trossman and Denise Poloyac.

Andy Stern

Earlier in the summer of 2008, Freeman was riding high after Stern initiated a maneuver to transfer 65,000 union members out of Rosselli’s SEIU-UHW and put them in Freeman’s union… without a democratic vote by the workers. 

Following the transfer, Freeman would have led one of SEIU’s largest local unions… and he then would have delivered all of his union’s votes to Stern at SEIU’s conventions where Stern sought reelection as the international union’s president.

But in August 2008, the curtains were finally pulled back on Freeman’s years-long corruption scandal and he plummeted to earth like a flaming meteor.

Stern, angry at the loss of his loyal ally, announced on August 25, 2008 that SEIU was launching trusteeship hearings against Rosselli’s union. During the preceding years, SEIU-UHW’s members had caught Stern and his DC-based staffers making backroom deals with healthcare corporations that sold out workers and patients, and violated democratic principles.

In 2010, Stern resigned as the President of SEIU after launching yet another disastrous attack, this time against UNITE HERE. Freeman, in turn, ended up in federal prison. "May God have mercy on me," said Freeman at the time of his sentencing. "I am accountable for these bad decisions."

Meanwhile, Rosselli and his crew of rank-and-file leaders launched the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) as a militant, member-led, democratic alternative to SEIU.

Ten years later, this history stands sharper in our collective memory.

Here’s a link to the series of articles in the Los Angeles Times from August 2008.

UNITE HERE Leaders: SEIU Is Undermining the U.S. Labor Movement

Andy Stern: Pimping for the plutocrats

Two leaders at UNITE HERE have penned a sharp critique of SEIU.

The piece, entitled “Labor’s Neoliberal Caucus” in Jacobin Magazine, criticizes SEIU for pushing a boss-friendly, “neoliberal” style of unionism that’s undermining the US labor movement.

The authors -- Warren Heyman (an international vice president of UNITE HERE) and Andrew Tillett-Saks (the organizing director for UNITE HERE Local 217) -- define “neoliberal unionism” as “a unionism that espouses collaboration with corporations instead of conflict and upholds free-market capitalism as reconcilable with labor’s interests.”

According to the article, the “modern wave” of this boss-friendly unionism “is rooted in SEIU and its former president Andy Stern’s push for neoliberal unionism in the 2000s.”

Stern, who made backroom deals with CEOs as SEIU’s president and also tried to stamp out internal critics through trusteeships, has continued walking down the same ideological path since his retirement.

Only days after retiring, Stern accepted tens of thousands of shares of stock and a fully paid job from Ron Perelman, a billionaire corporate raider who’s one of the world’s richest men. Perelman has showered Stern with gifts in apparent exchange for sweetheart labor deals that Stern negotiated from SEIU's Purple Palace in Washington DC, including a deal with one of Perelman's many companies, AlliedBarton.

Here’s an excerpt from Heyman’s and Tillett-Saks’ article regarding Stern’s role in pushing neoliberal unionism:

Stern explicitly and aggressively pushed the labor movement to adopt a “collaborationist” approach towards capital; according to the Stern ideology, workers and unions don’t have to fight corporations, just build “relationships” with them and cajole them into a mutually beneficial partnership.

In this spirit, Stern and SEIU amassed a lengthy record of striking deals with corporations that sold out workers’ ability to fight in exchange for promises of union recognition… SEIU expanded, but what expanded was a neutered shell of a labor movement, full of members with preposterous contracts and little ability to fight for better.

Stern is gone but his ideological legacy remains… From embracing free-market capitalism to embracing employers to embracing their political representatives, the political and intellectual lineage is clear.

SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan is clearly one of Stern’s disciples.

Regan famously inked a secret deal with the California Hospital Association that banned strikes, forced workers into pre-negotiated contracts with stripped-down wages and benefits, and imposed a gag clause that blocked SEIU members from criticizing their employers or mentioning their CEOs’ sky-high salaries.

On Labor Day of 2014, Regan famously told NBC-LA TV News that the idea of strikes and “adversarial relationships” between workers and corporations is “outdated.” Instead, says Regan, unions must “collaborate” with corporate CEOs to create a new “teamwork” economy.

Below, see a two-minute excerpt from Regan’s NBC TV interview in which he describes his vision of SEIU's idea of "21st century" unionism.

Heyman and Tillett-Saks conclude their article by issuing a call to arms to US workers and unions, who they say must confront and battle SEIU inside the US labor movement.

The proliferation of this model of unionism would spell disaster for the American labor movement. Our movement’s success depends on how widely and how militantly we can organize workers to fight corporate power and the 1 percent, not embrace them.

Union members and leaders must do everything in their power to halt the march of neoliberal unionism, before they march the labor movement straight into its grave. 

What does "neoliberal unionism" look like? Check out this 2-minute excerpt from Regan’s interview with NBC TV News on Labor Day, 2014:

SEIU’s Fast-Buck Entrepreneurs

SEIU's Andy Stern

After SEIU officials’ backroom lap dance with Airbnb execs was abruptly interrupted, Randy Shaw of “Beyond Chron” penned a piece that examines the profiteering of former SEIU and Obama administration officials.

SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern, for example, is involved in at least three for-profit ventures... including a biowarfare pharmaceutical company owned by his billionaire patron, Ron Perelman, the 78th richest person in the world. 

In addition, Stern recently became a high-paid consultant for Airbnb, which ostensibly hired him to grease the wheels inside the Purple Palace. Stern was reportedly helping Airbnb reach a deal with SEIU that critics say would have given the $25.5 billion company political cover for driving up housing costs, intensifying gentrification, and undercutting hotel workers' jobs.

Shaw’s article -- entitled “Key Obama Backers Shift to Private Profiting: Abandoning Fight for Change in Favor of Private Profits” -- begins this way:

What do Andy Stern, Jon Carson, David Plouffe, and Jim Messina all have in common? Each played key roles in Barack Obama’s campaigns promoting “Change We Can Believe In” and now work for for-profit corporations or conservative candidates. 

Why have these and others like former SEIU staffer Christopher Nulty (now at Airbnb) and former NextGen organizer Chris Lehane (also at Airbnb) shifted their energies from working for progressive change in the public sector to private pursuits?

SEIU's Christopher Nulty

Who’s Nulty? 

He was SEIU President Mary Kay Henry’s speechwriter and Chief Communications Aide, as described in this recent post. He left SEIU to take jobs at Yahoo and Airbnb, where he currently serves as Airbnb’s Public Affairs Lead for the eastern half of North America.

Shaw goes on to deliver a smackdown of Stern, whom he calls “the worst stereotype of the fast buck entrepreneur.”

Larry Cohen v Andy Stern

Let’s start with the most obvious contrast, that of the post-retirement actions of two leading union supporters of Obama in 2008: Larry Cohen, former head of the Communication Workers of America, and Andy Stern, who left SEIU in 2010. 

Since leaving CWA, Cohen has continued to work for progressive change. Cohen probably did more than anyone else to build labor support for the Bernie Sanders campaign, indirectly moving Clinton and the Democratic Party to the left on trade and other issues of concern to working people. 

Stern, in contrast, has gone from representing Big Pharma to his recent ill-conceived plan to forge a deal between SEIU and Airbnb on unionizing maids that bypassed UNITE HERE (and violated the jurisdictional agreement between the two unions). He’s become the worst stereotype of the fast buck entrepreneur… 

Stern was the labor official most passionate about Barack Obama in 2008. Yet today it almost seems unbelievable that he was even part of the labor movement.

Here’s a link to the full article.

SEIU Caught While Attempting to Ink Sweetheart Deal with Airbnb

SEIU's Stern and Henry

This week, journalists outed top SEIU officials as they tried to seal a backroom deal with Airbnb, a $25.5 billion company headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. 

By week’s end, the deal had exploded in flames after facing an “intense backlash” from housing advocates, elected officials, and unions, according to the London Guardian.

The week’s events were accompanied by jaw-dropping revelations including that SEIU President Emeritus Andy Stern is pulling down a fat paycheck as an Airbnb consultant. (Nice way to grease the wheels inside the Purple Palace, right?)

Meanwhile, it turns out that SEIU President Mary Kay Henry’s former speechwriter and Chief Communications Aide -- Christopher Nulty -- is now a corporate exec at Airbnb, where he played a role in the unsuccessful deal. This week, Nulty served as Airbnb’s main spokesperson regarding its negotiations with his former employer, SEIU.

Christopher Nulty of SEIU/Yahoo/Airbnb

(Who's Nulty? From 2010-2013, he worked inside the Purple Palace where he wrote hundreds of speeches and op-eds for Mary Kay Henry, according to his LinkedIn page. He left SEIU to work as the Senior Corporate Communications Manager for Yahoo’s CEO. Next, he jumped to Airbnb, where he serves as the Public Affairs Lead for the eastern half of North America.)

Here’s a quick sum-up of this week’s events:

On Monday, the London Guardian and the Washington Post broke the news that SEIU was trying to ink a secret deal with Airbnb. The news provoked an angry backlash from elected officials, housing organizations, and unions.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: "I'm worth $3.3 billion."

Why?

As CNBC notes, critics say Airbnb “displaces long-term tenants as some people convert scarce rental property into essentially motels and hotels for travelers — all without paying local hotel taxes, or meeting regulations as required for the hospitality industry.” 

And as tenants are displaced and neighborhoods gentrified, Airbnb’s execs and its venture capital investors pocket billions.

Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s 34-year-old CEO, is worth $3.3 billion.

On Monday, UNITE HERE -- the union of hotel workers whose jobs are being undercut by Airbnb -- issued this statement to the press:

We are appalled by reports that SEIU is partnering with Airbnb, a company that has destroyed communities by driving up housing costs and killing good hotel jobs in urban markets across North America.

Airbnb has shown a blatant disregard for city and state laws, has refused to cooperate with government agencies, and turns a blind eye to the fact that its business model exacerbates the affordable housing crisis. A partnership with SEIU does little more than give political cover to Airbnb. It doesn’t strengthen workers, and in fact undercuts the standards we’ve fought so hard to build for housekeepers in the hospitality industry.

UNITE HERE is not SEIU’s only critic. According to the London Guardian:

The Manhattan borough president, Gale Brewer, 18 members of the New York state senate and assembly, three New York City council members and 20 local housing organizations sent a letter to the SEIU president expressing concern with the deal and requesting a meeting.

“We find it troubling that SEIU is exploring entering into an agreement with Airbnb – a company whose business model displaces the very people you are seeking to represent and protect from their homes and communities,” the letter states. “Such a partnership would lend credence to Airbnb’s illegal manipulation of the housing market, and give the worst actors … a legitimate platform to conduct their illegitimate and harmful business activities.”

Other critics took to Twitter, the media, and online petitions to attack SEIU. In a tweet, UNITE HERE called SEIU’s pact a “sweetheart deal.”

After SEIU 32BJ President Hector Figueroa tweeted support for SEIU’s backroom deal with Airbnb, UNITE HERE’s Hotel Trades Council responded with this tweet:

SEIU’s Andy Stern re-tweeted Figueroa’s message, which prompted the following hilarious tweet from the San Francisco Tenants Union: “Have you read a newspaper lately?”

SEIU’s action even spawned a hashtag (#DontSellOutSEIU), an online MoveOn petition, and a letter from the tenants' union to Mary Kay Henry and Figueroa with statements like this one (see complete letter below):

You cannot build a national movement to improve working conditions for low-wage workers by engaging in backroom deals with a law-flouting corporation and selling out your natural allies.

On Tuesday, SEIU and UNITE HERE met in Las Vegas “to resolve escalating tensions,” according to Politico. After the meeting, SEIU pulled the plug on its sweetheart deal with Airbnb.

UNITE HERE issued this statement:

Earlier this week, we had a productive meeting with SEIU representatives, and it is our clear understanding that SEIU will not have a deal with Airbnb to represent housekeeping services. We will continue to work with SEIU to ensure that workers across the hospitality industry have opportunities to have a voice at work and provide for their families. We are encouraged by their commitment to stand with us and coalition partners to advocate for affordable housing initiatives and better jobs in cities across North America. Unite Here will continue to vigorously oppose any efforts by Airbnb to expand and push for commonsense laws to mitigate the devastating impact this company has had on our communities.

Yesterday (April 21), SEIU issued a statement that read:

Tuesday, representatives from SEIU and Unite Here met and have agreed to find a common approach to protect and expand the stock of affordable housing in all communities across the country and to protect and preserve standards for workers in residential and hotel cleaning while also growing opportunities for these cleaners to improve their lives.

So what was Airbnb’s motive for cutting a deal with SEIU?

Just like Andy Stern’s embrace of Wal-Mart in 2007, an SEIU partnership with Airbnb would have helped Airbnb weather the political headwinds that are hindering its expansion across the nation. 

Here’s how the Washington Post describes it:

The deal would give San Francisco-based Airbnb, which has raised $2.3 billion and is privately valued at $25.5 billion by venture capitalists, new ammunition for its myriad political battles. In cities across the country, opponents of Airbnb have argued that the 8-year-old start-up is accelerating gentrification by reducing the supply of available housing units that would otherwise go to locals if they weren’t being rented out on Airbnb.

The agreement with SEIU allows the company to make the claim that it is creating good jobs for local residents. That’s one prong in a wider strategy to endear itself to local governments.

Earlier this year, the company’s policy chief, a former Bill Clinton aide named Chris Lehane, met with hundreds of mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors to make the argument that cities benefit from Airbnb homeowners’ tax contributions.

Finally, here’s a question that's still unanswered:

How much money is Andy Stern pocketing in exchange for pimping for Airbnb?

According to journalists, SEIU spokesperson Sahar Wali has declined to comment.

Washington Post: SEIU Blocks UNITE HERE from Unionizing Low-Wage Workers, Then Abandons Workers

SEIU's HQ in DC: Just blocks from Senate cafeteria workers

A pair of articles in the Washington Post shines a spotlight on SEIU's campaign to block UNITE HERE from unionizing low-wage workers in Washington, DC.  

It's quite a story. 

And it's an interesting sequel to Steve Early’s recent article about similar issues in California involving SEIU-UHW, the AFL-CIO, and NUHW.

Last month, a WaPo columnist penned an article entitled, "The Homeless Man Who Works in the Senate." The column tells the story of 63-year-old Charles Gladden, a food service worker who’s worked at the U.S. Senate's cafeteria for the past eight years -- but has been homeless for the past five years due to low wages.

Gladden takes home only $360 for 40 hours of sweeping floors, mopping bathrooms, cleaning dishes, composting leftovers, and transporting laundry. At night he sleeps at the McPherson Square Metro Station just 2,000 feet from the White House.

Last week, another WaPo reporter published a follow-up story that poses an interesting question: Why are Mr. Gladden’s wages so low? Shouldn't he have a union?

 

Charles Gladden

It turns out that the food service workers in the cafeteria at the U.S. House of Representatives do, in fact, have a union. 

They've been members of Unite Here Local 23 for about 20 years and earn wages that have allowed some workers to buy homes, send their kids to college, etc.

So why are the conditions so horrible at the Senate cafeteria?

Here's where the story gets interesting.

It turns out that two years ago, the Senate cafeteria workers began organizing to join Unite Here. Last year, the workers were preparing to go public with their unionization effort when SEIU unfortunately got wind of their efforts. Rather than supporting the workers' campaign, says the journalist…

the Service Employees International Union sued Local 23, accusing it of violating a legal agreement the two unions had struck divvying up the city’s workplaces. Technically, public service employees were supposed to be SEIU’s turf.

“We were told we had to get out by SEIU because it was their jurisdiction,” says Local 23 President Jim Dupont. So Local 23 backed off. “It’s horrible for those workers. We have to go tell them no. They were so mad at us, and they have the right to be. It’s kind of a silly thing. There are plenty of people to organize.”

For the record, Unite Here has represented food service workers at the Smithsonian museums, the Nationals Park, other government agencies, and Washington DC's universities for many years.

So... after SEIU sued Unite Here and put an end to the workers' organizing campaign, did SEIU step up and try to improve workers' pay and benefits?

Nope.

Here's what has happened during the past year, according to the journalist:

Jaime Contreras: "We just haven't gotten there yet"

SEIU has not been actively working to help the Senate cafeteria workers actually unionize.

"It’s on our radar. We just haven’t gotten there yet,” says Jaime Contreras, director of the Capital Area District for the SEIU affiliate 32BJ.

For now, that means that Senate cafeteria workers will probably stay at lower wage benefit levels than their House counterparts.

This explains why the WaPo reporter gave the following piercing title to her article: “Why House cafeteria workers are paid better than Senate cafeteria workers. Hint: It has to do with a union.”

That “union,” of course, is SEIU.