For The Record 

More than a few connoisseurs of District Council 37's relationship with its national union were surprised when the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Judicial Panel ordered a new election for a seat on the executive board of Local 372.

The ruling was a political blow to Local 372 Vice President Veronica Montgomery-Costa, who had marshaled a dozen witnesses to testify in support of the decision by the local's election committee to bounce Tony Ferina from the ballot late last year. Mr. Ferina is a close ally of Larry Luther Davis, who twice has unsuccessfully challenged Ms. Montgomery-Costa's re-election and is expected to do so again this spring.

The Judicial Panel in the past has displayed what would be politely described as marvelous flexibility when it comes to cases brought against DC 37 supporters of AFSCME President Gerry McEntee. Perhaps the most notorious instance came when Judicial Panel Chairman John Seferian ruled against Mr. Davis's protest of the 2005 election by misquoting a section of the AFSCME constitution to make it appear that his appeal had been filed too late.

In this case, the panel concluded that the woman who nominated Mr. Ferina for the board seat was ineligible to do so because she was not a member in good standing, even though the circumstances under which she lost that status are curious, to put it kindly. That would have given it grounds to uphold the disqualification, but for once the panel considered the spirit of the rules and concluded that since Mr. Ferina could have nominated himself, he should be reinstated to the ballot and a new election held.

Our reading of the panel's sudden conversion to justice was that it might be a sign that Ms. Montgomery-Costa had worn out her welcome with her superiors. While she has been a staunch supporter of DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, her cantankerous personality has alienated more than a few Roberts loyalists, not to mention reform leaders within the union.

One of those reformers, who spoke conditioned on anonymity, said he believed the ruling was spurred by outside political forces. Referring to Mr. McEntee, he said, "Gerry's agenda above all else is to help elect Hillary Clinton President. He doesn't need distractions like embarrassing publicity on issues of union democracy appearing in your paper or the Times while the campaign is going on."

He also noted that it is AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Bill Lucy rather than Mr. McEntee with whom Ms. Montgomery-Costa has close ties, "and he could live without Lucy, too."

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The Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations will kick off its 2008 series of union leadership workshops with one on "Managing Your Union's Finances" Jan. 30 and 31.

The workshop, which will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, is aimed at giving officials who have limited experience with managing union funds grounding in sound financial practices.

It will cover the laws governing unions' financial management, the importance of planning budgets, making those budgets reflect unions' values and priorities, monitoring spending and adjusting it when needed, fiduciary responsibility, and how to communicate relevant information to union officers and rank-and-file members.

The primary speaker will be Vanessa Adams Kollock, a District Council 37 budget manager who has more than 20 years' experience advising unions and other non-profit groups.

There is a workshop fee of $350 that will cover classroom materials and food during the two-day seminar. For further information, contact Gene Carroll at (212) 340-2853.

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The deadline to apply for the AFL-CIO's Union Plus Scholarship is Jan. 31. The scholarships are awarded each year to union members or their family members who are continuing on to higher education. The application involves a 500-word essay describing the applicant's ambitions and role in the labor movement.

Sponsored by the federation's Union Privilege program, the awards are one-time payments of between $500 and $4,000.

The applications are available at www.unionplus.org/scholarships .