
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110129
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

TEAMSTERS CANDIDATE STEPS ASIDE IN POWER STRUGGLE

The power struggle in the embattled Teamsters union is continuing with the announcement by the union's second-highest ranking officer that he is dropping his bid for re-election in this year's government-supervised elections.

Weldon Mathis, the Teamsters' secretary-treasurer, months ago joined a slate headed by presidential front-runner R.V. Durham, but this week said he decided to step aside so he could retire.

Durham, in a telephone interview Wednesday, said he has not settled on a new running mate.

Some Teamsters have suggested that Mathis' withdrawal was a maneuver by the Durham slate to garner more support from union members who are demanding change.

"Mathis is perhaps most symbolic of the old guard. I think they're cleaning up their slate," said Ken Paff, an organizer for Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a dissident group pushing reform candidate Ron Carey of New York.

Durham denied that Mathis' withdrawal was politically motivated.

"I do not view it as a move that cleans up anything. Weldon was very supportive of the platform we were running on, and the platform calls for reforms," Durham said.

One of Durham's opponents for the union's top job, William Genoese, said Wednesday that Mathis' withdrawal "marks the beginning of the end for Durham."

"It's part of the cemetery ticket falling apart," said Genoese, who heads the union's airline division.

The new officers will be selected in December in the first direct, secret-ballot elections in Teamsters history, which the union agreed to as part of the settlement of a civil racketeering suit brought by the Justice Department three years ago.

by CNB