A Stern Rebuke

The Congressional Black Caucus is to be commended for telling the Service Employees International Union to back off. I obtained a copy of the letter SEIU's secretary-treasurer sent to the CBC asking it to distance itself from Wal-Mart:

I am writing on behalf of the 1.8 million members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to express our disappointment that the Congressional Black Caucus has given Wal-Mart an opportunity to fashion a false image as a friend of African Americans and of working people generally.

Mind you, I fully support the campaign against Wal-Mart (and here). It’s outrageous that taxpayers are subsidizing (here, here and here) the health care costs of the world's largest retailer. In Maryland, for instance, Wal-Mart’s human resources people counsel employees on how to apply for Medicaid (and here).

 

That said, it's sheer arrogance for SEIU to lecture the CBC about friendship and disappointment. As I’ve written, Andrew Stern, SEIU's president, is the biggest backer of Steve Rosenthal and America Coming Together. The dues of SEIU's members, who are heavily people of color, were used to undermine established minority voter empowerment groups (and here). Rosenthal burned through $200 million in the last election cycle and now wants to institutionalize his failure.

 

SEIU should put its own house in order (here, here and here) and leave other people's business alone.