Sam Stein Talks Labor, Movement's Senate Allies

HuffPost political reporter Sam Stein appeared on "The Ed Show" Tuesday to discuss the U.S. labor movement and SEIU president Andy Stern's decision to step down from the organization.

Ed Schultz argued that labor lost its biggest advocate when Sen. Ted Kennedy died and since then no one has stepped up to replace him. Stein said that it's not for a lack of allies.

"I think there's a lot of people in the Senate who, philosophically are right alongside where Sen. Kennedy was," Stein said. "The problem is they don't have the charisma and they don't carry the message like he did."

Stein pointed to senators like Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), as allies to the movement.

Schultz told Stein that he believes labor leaders like Stern are frustrated that the movement has contributed towards Democratic victories, and received relatively little in return.

"I think one of Andy's great frustrations toward the end was that he didn't see the results," Stein said."...All this work and effort that he and other unions had put into electing all these Democrats hadn't been paying off."

Schultz suggested that Stern's departure could hurt Democrats in upcoming midterm elections.

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