Ott's Role Amplified
Say Charges Won't Still CLC's Voice

By REUVEN BLAU

Union officials and labor experts last week asserted that the Central Labor Council will continue to be a powerful advocate for workers' rights despite last week's charges of widespread theft levied against the group's longtime president.

ED OTT: Will overhaul operations.

"I think that the institution is bigger than the individual," said Bill Henning, a vice president of Communications Workers of America Local 1180.

'Ott Will Be Key Player'

Joshua B. Freeman, a labor historian who teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center, agreed. "I don't think this represents a major long-term setback to the Central Labor Council," he said during a phone interview last week. "Solutions seem to have been crafted to allow the council to move forward, perhaps even more vigorously than it has in more recent years."

Edward F. Ott, the longtime public policy director of the CLC, has officially taken over many of Brian M. McLaughlin's administrative duties. He was named executive director in September. The group's meetings will be conducted by Denis M. Hughes, the president of the State AFL-CIO.

"The key player will become the executive director," Mr. Freeman said. "That's the solution that they chartered a while ago." Mr. Ott said that the CLC would be "overhauling" many of its operating procedures in light of the charges. "We are very cognizant of the presumption of innocence, but we have read the indictment and the institution needs to get on with its business," he remarked during an Oct. 20 phone interview.

He added that the CLC will be involved in the upcoming elections supporting the candidates it has endorsed. The Council has meetings regarding veterans and health and safety issues scheduled in the upcoming months. "Life goes on," he said.

CLC officials have also announced plans for ethics reforms designed to help prevent any potential future problems.

Union leaders associated with the Council emphasized that Mr. McLaughlin has not been convicted, but many of them noted the significance of the allegations, which included charges that the Assemblyman stole $2.2 from the CLC and various other organizations, including a Little League association in Queens.

"If any of them are true, it's a sad day for working people," Mr. Henning said. "We ought to be able to control our own finances."

But he continued, "Ninety-nine percent of the people who serve their members as union leaders don't engage in the type of behaviors that are being alleged here." He noted that most union shop stewards throughout the city work without pay.