Stephen Lerner is the son of a secretary and a psychiatrist and the grandson of Jewish immigrants who fled anti-Semitism and the pogroms of Russian and Poland in the early 20th century. Lerner’s grandfather began his career in America as a waiter in New York and later became a restaurant owner in Miami.

Lerner’s father was able to afford college through his service in the ROTC program and Lerner spent part of his childhood living on a military base in Germany while his father served his country in uniform.

After high school, Lerner became an organizer with the United Farm Workers of America and worked on the grape and lettuce boycotts in New York.

Following his time with the Farm Workers, Lerner worked in the housekeeping departments of Long Island Jewish Medical Center and other healthcare facilities and became an organizer for the healthcare union 1199 in Rhode Island.

Lerner was fired for organizing a union while working as an extrusion machine operator for the jewelry industry. His wife was pregnant with his first child at the time. Following that, Lerner moved to North Carolina to become an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) and he organized workers throughout the south.

Lerner organized high-tech manufacturing workers and public employees in Ohio with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) before joining the staff of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 1986.

At SEIU, Lerner is credited with creating the Justice for Janitors campaign, a movement by janitors across the country to organize for better wages and working conditions, access to affordable healthcare, and full-time hours and sick time. Justice for Janitors improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of janitors and their families across the country.

Lerner also directed the union’s private equity project, a multi-year campaign to expose the business practices of private equity firms in the lead up to the 2008 economic collapse.

Following the 2008 financial crisis, Lerner became director of the union’s banking and finance project, organizing SEIU members and other community groups across the country into action to challenge the business practices of Wall Street and the big banks. Through this campaign SEIU also partnered with unions and groups in Europe, South America, and elsewhere to build a campaign to hold financial institutions accountable.

He currently serves on the International Executive Board of the 2.2-million-member Service Employees International Union.

Lerner has three sons and lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Marilyn.

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