"I think people need to be prosecuted," said Stern.

SEIU's Stern: Solis' Absence Hurt Workers On Stimulus

One of the nation's most prominent union leaders says that working Americans were deprived a voice during the debate over the stimulus package and housing bill because Republicans in the Senate had obstructed the nomination of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
In an interview with the Huffington Post shortly after Solis was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon, SEIU header Andy Stern expressed rejoice that "a child of immigrants who went to a public college" could rise to the upper echelons of executive office.
But his glee was tempered, a bit, by anger with Republicans in the Senate for holding up the Solis nomination for weeks over concerns about her commitment to the Employee Free Choice Act. Calling the delaying tactics "the same old Washington that voters are trying to move past," Stern said that Solis' absence deprived the early administration debates of a much-needed working class anchor.
"I think working people did not have an additional voice in her absence and particularly as it related to some of the issues of training, unemployment, insurance," said Stern. "Her voice would have been a very important and welcomed voice in a community of obviously very different voices. And I think her voice was missing and we are pretty proud that it is now there."