SEIU’s Lerner Chides PE Firms During M&A Interview

Early last week, I had a chance to talk with Stephen Lerner, the director of the Service Employees International Union’s private equity campaign. For the uninitiated, in April, the SEIU issued a report that looks at the enormous amounts of money the private equity industry generates. Then in early May, Andy Stern, the president of the union, spoke before the U.S. House of Representatives about private equity’s effect on workers and companies. While the SEIU is targeting the big buyouts—it will only look at deals that are more than $1 billion—if the SEIU keep lobbying Congress, laws could be passed that impact all private equity shops, big and small.