Anna Burger
Document Sample


Anna Burger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anna Burger (born September 27, 1950) was the Secretary-Treasurer of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and
Chair of the Change to Win Federation.
In February 2009, Burger was appointed as a member to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the
president and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn. [1]
Biography
Burger, born in Levittown, Pennsylvania, and daughter of a disabled truck driver and a nurse, began her activist career in
1972 as a welfare worker. It was there she became involved in her local union. Burger organized a walkout in efforts to
create a safer working environment for the office. Burger became more active in her union, and quickly moved through the
ranks of the local union. Burger became SEIU local 668's first full-time woman president before moving onto the SEIU
International office in Washington, DC, to work as National Director of Field Operations, under former SEIU president John
Sweeney. Burger successfully ran Sweeney's campaign for president of the AFL-CIO. She was elected Executive Vice
President of SEIU, and Secretary-Treasurer in 2001, and announced her retirement on August 11th, 2010. [2]
In her tenure at SEIU, Burger has worked with President Andy Stern to create the largest and fastest growing union in North
America. [citation needed] While union membership across the country has been continually dropping[citation needed] , SEIU is the
only union that has continuously grown. [vague] As well, Burger and SEIU are working to create ties with unions in other parts
of the world, especially Europe and Asia.
Burger and Stern called for a change in the AFL-CIO's strategies in June 2004. By the summer of 2005, 6 unions (including
SEIU) withdrew their membership to the AFL-CIO, and created a new labor coalition, the Change to Win Federation. On
September 27, 2005, Burger was elected Chair of the breakaway coalition. As the Chair of Change to Win, Burger became
the first woman to lead an American labor coalition.
In December 2009, the conservative Americans for Tax Reform organization formally requested a federal investigation of
Burger, claiming that she is an unregistered lobbyist, in violation of the Lobbyist Disclosure Act.[3] However, upon
investigating the matter, the U.S. Senate Secretary found the alleged charge of Burger as a federal lobbyist to be false, and
closed her office's file on the matter. [4]
Burger is married to Earl F. Gohl and they have one daughter, Erin. Anna Burger currently lives in Washington, D.C. with her
family.
References
1. ^ "Who's Who on new economic advisory board" . latimes.com. February 6, 2009. Archived from the original on 7 February
2009. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
2. ^ "Anna Burger to leave SEIU, Change to Win" . The Washington Post.
3. ^ Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF). "Investigation Request Filed Against Unregistered
Lobbyist SEIU Treasurer Anna Burger" . Retrieved December 8, 2009.
4. ^ Alliance for Worker Freedom. "Letter from Superintendent Pam Gavin to Grover G. Norquist and Brian M. Johnson, dated
December 29, 2009" . Retrieved April 14, 2010.
External links
Anna Burger's website
Anna Burger Biography at Change to Win
Change to Win Federation official site
Anna Burger Biography at SEIU
SEIU official site
V · T· E· Change to Win Federation
Chairs Anna Burger (2005 - 2010) · Joseph T. Hansen (2010 - ) ·
Leaders
Treasurers Edgar Romney (2005 - ) ·
Member unions Teamsters (IBT) · SEIU · UFW · UFCW ·
via Anna Burger
Get documents about "