andy stern is president of the service employees international union, seiu, as it s known, he s also known as president obama s closest allies in lab of. molly henneberg, what is the union saying about this? reporter: jane, not a lot publicly, but in a statement, the seiu said, quote, over the past few months there has been increasing speculation regarding seiu president andy stern s intention to step down as president at the end of his term in 2012. president stern will acrest these rumors at the close of the seiu executive committee meeting this week. the executive committee is meeting here in washington, so we ll find out at the end of the week what he plans to do what he plans to do at the end of his term. the seiu says it represents 2.2 million people, mainly in health care, state and local government employees, and workers such as janitors and food service employees. jane: why would he be stepping down? reporter: it s a big job, an exhausting job and it may be the right tim