Interestingly, Ms. Featherstone judged SEIU and Andy Stern without talking to the most important group of people--us, SEIU members. Perhaps she should have interviewed me and my colleagues in New Jersey, where we clean commercial office buildings. Just a few years ago, most of us were making only $5.50 or $6 per hour with no health insurance. Today, thanks to a card check campaign, we have a union contract and many of us are earning more than double what we used to make. In addition, I now have family health insurance paid for by my employer, so I can take my kids to the doctor and not have to use the emergency room. I've taken ESL and computer classes through our training fund. And many of us are active in our union's political program, fighting for prevailing wages and healthcare for all. All of these benefits help me and my co-workers support our families, get ahead at work and be involved in our community. I'd say SEIU is doing right by its members, and this side of the story should be told.

Maria Cristina Rodriguez
Local 32BJ SEIU

Bayonne, NJ

After years of research trying to prove otherwise, we now know that most problems in society are not reducible to simple "either/or" paradigms. Human development is influenced by nature and nurture, illness is a function of mind and body. And, contrary to the current Administration’s conceptualization, the world is not divided into countries composed of people who are all good and all evil.

Conceptualizing the efforts of Andy Stern, President of SEIU, as “Savior or Sellout” reflects a primitive defense against the possibility of change. Leading the union through a process of investigation and cooperation in an effort to define a solvable problem need not be interpreted as a threat to solidarity.

I am a member of local 1199 SEIU. I am both a healthcare worker (psychologist in a Mental Health Center) and a patient (living with metastasized breast cancer). I am alive and continue to work because of healthcare benefits through SEIU, as well as job protection subsequent to short-term disability.

With full acknowledgement and appreciation for what the union has given me, I also recognize that there are significant limitations in the current system. With health coverage tied to work, what happens if I can’t work? With health coverage limited to geographic location, how can I move closer to family and loved ones if my health deteriorates? With negotiated payments to doctors below what other providers pay, how will I find good doctors willing to take my insurance?

I agree with Stern, we need a new system of healthcare that is "not built on the back of government." However, staying with the current system will jeopardize the health of our citizenry and break the back of employers. Let’s move past our "either/or" way of thinking and sit down together to come up with a shared definition of a solvable problem and workable solutions. It just might take some saving and selling.

Barbara A. Principe, PhD

New York, NY

Liza Featherstone's tireless work documenting the abuses of Wal-Mart are well received and appreciated, but I feel that her recent article attacking SEIU head Andy Stern is unwarranted. For better or worse, Wal-Mart is a corporate "leader," and the decisions made by men like Lee Scott are scrutinized and often imitated by CEOs the world over. The fact that Mr. Stern is able to see that the interests of the union members he represents dovetails with the financial interests of Mr. Scott's corporation on universal healthcare does not represent a betrayal of labor but rather a strategic choice that will hopefully benefit the SEIU's membership as well as working Americans in general.

It is high time that progressives face the fact that the fight for universal healthcare, human rights and living wages for working people in this country will not be won in the pages of left-leaning publications or college classrooms. Unfortunately, the form of liberalism represented by Ms. Featherstone's article only serves to alienate the very people who have the most to gain from the alliances that people like Mr. Stern are working so hard to build.

We improve real people's lives when the average man at the bottom and the leaders at the top come together, and this is what an effective social grassroots movement is going to look like in the twenty-first century. The successful progressive is able to convince opposing groups that they are on the same team. Compromises between left and right, top and bottom--in essence, good industrial relations--have been the cornerstone of the progress made by labor and the middle class in Western Europe for last several decades. Confrontation also has its place, but if the interests of labor and capitalism converge, why not go for the easy win?

Enough ink has already been spilled about how pragmatic "deals" such as this one undermine our "progressive ideals." Of what use is ideological purity without solutions to real-world problems? I certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the ideals of my forebears who fought for the forty-hour work week that I enjoy. But didn't providing working people with the leisure time to consume and enjoy the products of industrialization represent a convergence of the interests of both worker and industrialist?

Progressives should not seek to exclude their potential supporters and allies by ignoring the issues that motivate them to act. We can't improve the social conditions of American labor if we alienate the very workers we are allegedly fighting for. We must build a broad base of support--which entails being inclusive and open-minded, not intolerant and dogmatic.

Kevin O'Briant

Washington, DC

Based on my firsthand experience as an SEIU member in Los Angeles, I can say that the vast majority of Featherstone's statements in "Andy Stern: Savior or Sellout" simply aren't true. In California, the labor movement has been a success story time and time again--thanks in large part to the involvement of SEIU. Since SEIU members started advocating for responsible legislation, California state workers have received the first raise in years and there is real movement towards building statewide health care.

Despite the biased rhetoric, I still think Andy Stern emerges from the article as a leader who is right on the ball! The only way to achieve dignity and respect for workers is by achieving (and negotiating) a balance. Stern's ideas that employers and employees need to walk hand-in-hand is very necessary. A strong partnership between the employer and employee is the ultimate goal of any good working situation.

To be labeled as a sellout is really unfair. The real issue isn't even about Andy Stern being a savior or a sellout: It's about our jobs, our combined voice and the future of this country! It will take initiative and hard work to meet these objectives, not criticism and opinion--which in the end are nothing but hot air.

As a Delegate of the General Council and a certified job steward, I am doing my part. Every day I'm working to build this movement for dignity and for respect in the workplace. I invite you to join me. Our future--yours and mine--depends on our ability to grow our numbers and work together.

John Huetteman
SEIU Local 1000

Los Angeles, CA