Architect of the groundbreaking Justice for Janitors campaign, Stephen Lerner has spent more than three decades successfully uniting hundreds of thousands of janitors, farm workers, garment workers, and other low-wage workers into unions and lifting entire communities out of poverty.

Lerner currently directs SEIU’s banking and finance campaign, mobilizing SEIU members and other community groups across the country into action to break the decades-long stranglehold Wall Street and big banks have had on our economy and democracy. Through this campaign SEIU is also partnering with unions and groups in Europe, South America, and elsewhere to build a campaign to hold financial institutions accountable in a global economy.

In his previous role as director of the union’s private equity project, Lerner launched a multi-year campaign to expose the overleveraged, unregulated and unsustainable feeding frenzy of private equity firms during the boom years and the economic disaster that would follow once the bubble burst.

Lerner is a frequent contributor on national television and radio programs and has published numerous articles charting a path for a 21st century labor movement focused on growth and meeting the challenges of a global economy.

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