Stern Calls Senators Who Don't Support EFCA "Terrorists"

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, took a swipe at Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Tuesday, calling the senators “terrorists” for their opposition to the card-check bill, which Democrats call the Employee Free Choice Act.

“There are a lot of terrorists in the Senate who think we are supposed to negotiate with them when they have their particular needs that they want met,” Stern told Bloomberg News. His comments, which also appeared in BusinessWeek magazine, apparently were prompted by the senators' reluctance to support the union-sponsored bill.

Stern and others in organized labor have always had a penchant for hyperbole, but the fact that Stern has access to the West Wing at will, and indeed has had more visits to the White House than any other person who doesn't actually work there reveals more about the Administration than it does about Stern.

Bottom line? The battle over EFCA is not over. Organized labor doesn't intend to go away empty handed.