Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260068
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Short
Sweeney, president of the Service Employees International Union, defeated his onetime friend Thomas Donahue, who had been president since Lane Kirkland was forced to resign in August.
Taking the gavel and control of the federation, Sweeney said the next year would bring ``massive efforts in the training of organizers, changing the face of our leadership and working together with our activists.''
During a four-month campaign that divided the 13 million-member federation, Sweeney promised to involve more women and minorities in federation business and intensify labor's recruitment efforts.
Before the vote, union leaders struck a deal to mend a rift the campaign had opened in their ranks.
Union membership and labor's influence declined during Kirkland's 16-year tenure, and Sweeney had sought to tie Donahue to that decline.
Sweeney had 7.3 million votes to Donahue's 5.7 million, but his climb to the pinnacle of the labor movement cost him a decades-old friendship with Donahue.
Sweeney said he hoped Donahue would continue to collaborate with the labor movement and said he would seek to re-establish their friendship.
In the secretary-treasurer's race, United Mine Workers President Rich Trumka, running on Sweeney's ticket, defeated Barbara Easterling, who had been Donahue's No. 2 since August.
by CNB