Service Employees International Union has launched a blog dedicated to The Blackstone Group LP's planned initial public offering. Stephen Lerner, assistant to the president at S.E.I.U., told PE Hub's Dan Primack the purpose of the blog is "to help disburse wealth down the employment ladder" at Blackstone portfolio companies. The Blackstone blog is the second the union has established to keep tabs on a buyout firm. In 2003, S.E.I.U. started the now defunct GTCRwatch.com to spur on corporate governance changes at portfolio companies of Chicago-based mid-market firm GTCR Golder Rauner. The development is somewhat unusual amongst U.S. unions, but not as unusual in Europe, where labor remains more suspicious of buyout firms. —Matthew Wurtzel
