ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 13, 1995 TAG: 9512130061
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
The executive board of the 1.1 million member Service Employees International Union on Tuesday accepted the resignation of SEIU president John Sweeney, who rose to the top office of the AFL-CIO in October.
The board also elected Richard W. Cordtz as SEIU president and Betty Bednarczyk as secretary-treasurer. Bednarczyk becomes the first woman to serve in a top leadership position in the third largest and fastest growing union in the AFL-CIO.
Cordtz, who has been the union's secretary-treasurer since 1980, will serve out Sweeney's unexpired term. Bednarczyk, secretary-treasurer of SEIU Local 113 in Minneapolis and an international vice president of the Service Employees Union, will serve out Cordtz's unexpired term. Both terms expire at the union's next convention in April 1996.
"I can think of no greater partnership to carry on the organizing, innovation and growth of the union at this critical time for the labor movement," said Sweeney, who nominated both Cordtz and Bednarczyk.
Cordtz came to SEIU as an organizer in 1950 and was elected president of SEIU Local 79 in Detroit in 1956. He was elected to the SEIU Executive Board in 1968 and became a vice president four years later.
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