UFT Leader's Path Clear to Run AFT;

McElroy Retiring
UFT Leader's Path Clear to Run AFT


American Federation of Teachers President Edward J. McElroy announced Feb. 12 that he would retire when his term expires in July, making United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten the clear front-runner should she seek to succeed him.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: May go national.

"Ed McElroy has been a tremendous leader of the AFT," said Ms. Weingarten in a statement. "I am honored by the talk of my potential candidacy, and I will certainly give national union service serious and careful consideration. Before making any decisions, I want to reach out to other AFT leaders across the country and my own members in the UFT."

2nd Top Officer Leaving

The UFT leader has said she would stay through her current term, which expires in 2010, making it possible that she will hold both posts at once.

Secretary-Treasurer Nat LaCour will also step down, and AFT delegates will elect a new slate of officers, including an executive vice-president and 39 vice presidents, at their national convention July 10 to 14 in Chicago.

EDWARD J. McELROY: Strengthened AFT.

Mr. McElroy, 66, became AFT president in 2004 after the late Sandra Feldman, whose health was failing, decided not to run again. For the 12 years prior, he was the union's secretary-treasurer. He began his career as a social studies and English Teacher in Warwick, R.I. and was elected president of the Warwick Teachers Union in 1967. Five years later he became president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. He held both positions until 1992, when he became a national AFT officer.

When asked Mr. McElroy's reason for retiring, an AFT spokeswoman said that "the time was right."

Part of the AFT's president's legacy is the creation of the Activists for Congressional Education program, which has encouraged AFT members to build relationships with the Congressional members in their districts, instead of all the political lobbying going through the Washington, D.C. legislative office.

Helped Locals Fight

In 2002, under Mr. McElroy's guidance, the AFT created the Solidarity Fund, which has given state affiliates the money to counter local efforts to cut education budgets and Teacher benefits.

He has been a member of the AFL-CIO executive council since December 2001 and served on the boards of Education International and the National Endowment for Democracy.

"From my time as a newly minted junior high school teacher, I knew that being a part of the AFT would help me make a difference," Mr. McElroy said in a statement. "It has been a tremendous honor to serve my entire career as part of this fine union."

Mr. LaCour, 70, was AFT executive vice president from 1998 until 2004, when he was elected secretary-treasurer and became a member of the AFL-CIO executive council. Prior to taking national office, he was the president of the United Teachers of New Orleans for 28 years.

The southern trade-union leader chaired the AFT Organizing Committee and pioneered an organizing model still in use by the AFT nationally. He is a founding member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and sits on several other boards, including those of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

Led Disaster Fund

Mr. LaCour led the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, which is a union-wide effort to assist members and their families affected by catastrophes, such as Hurricane Katrina. "I have seen what can be achieved through the union under the most difficult of circumstances," Mr. LaCour said in a statement. "I started my career trying to surmount the lack of collective bargaining for school employees, and I end it working to overcome the devastation of a natural disaster made worse by human indifference."

John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, called both AFT leaders "effective champions for their members."

AFT spokeswoman Janet Goss said that it had not yet been decided what roles, if any, Mssrs. McElroy and LaCour would play in the AFT after the July election.