Andrew Stern, head of SEIU, says foreign as well as U.S. workers should share in employers' success. - By Molly Selvin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Andrew Stern, maybe the most powerful union boss in the country, doesn't always act the part.

As president of the Washington-based Service Employees International Union, Stern, 57, has attracted attention for standing with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive H. Lee Scott Jr. and other corporate leaders, some of them decidedly anti-union, to push for a healthcare overhaul and for meeting with government officials in China in an effort to help improve working conditions there.

In Los Angeles and across the country, Stern has helped negotiate significant wage increases and benefits for janitors, nurses, security guards and others in the fast-growing service sector. Unlike most other unions, SEIU has grown -- to 1.9 million nationally -- in part by reaching out to low-wage and immigrant workers and with in-your-face tactics, including the Justice for Janitors walkout in Los Angeles 17 years ago.

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