THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020356
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
The blue-collar union at Newport News Shipbuilding reaffirmed its choice of Thomas Crudup for local president.
Members of Local 8888 of the United Steelworkers of America voted in a rerun election that ended early Wednesday morning. The vote, overseen by the U.S. Labor Department, was a rerun of an April election that Crudup won by 26 votes.
The loser in both races was former Local 8888 President Raymond Coppedge. After losing as an incumbent in April, Coppedge complained to the union's international management and then to the Labor Department that Crudup had violated federal labor law in the election.
The alleged violations include illegally using the Steelworkers' logo on campaign literature and gathering a list of union member names that wasn't shared with other candidates.
Crudup admitted some violations and agreed to Tuesday's rerun election.
In the vote Crudup got 1,286 votes, or 61 percent of the 2,123 votes cast for president. Coppedge got 837 votes.
Neither Crudup nor Coppedge could be reached for comment.
Voting for the offices of vice president, recording secretary and one of the guards were also rerun. In each, the winner of last April's election won again.
In his complaint, Coppedge said that Crudup illegally used the Steelworkers' logo on his campaign literature and gathered a list of names of union members that he didn't share with other candidates. by CNB