New SEIU President: Mary Kay Henry
Mary Kay is also an active champion of , immigration reform, gay and lesbian rights, and health care reform and a founding member of SEIU's gay and lesbian Lavender Caucus. She and her partner, Paula Macchello, have been together for almost 20 years.
A handful of undecided SEIU locals swung to California nurses leader Mary Kay Henry today, turning the giant union away from the Washington-based political and policy engagement that made it a major ally of the Democratic Party under retiring President Andy Stern.
Key locals in New York, Los Angeles, Oregon, and Washington State committed crucial votes to Henry, choosing her over Stern's protege, Anna Burger, who had promises continuity with Stern's leadership.
"It's done," an SEIU insider emailed moments ago.
Henry benefitted from a sentiment in the union's constituents across the country that Stern had become a divisive, and even exhausting, figure. Final negotiations included ensuring peace between Henry's
California nurses' union and a long-term care workers local in the state led by Laphonza Butler. Butler and building workers leader Mike Fishman met in New York today with the leaders of other large undeclared locals, including the largest Chicago SEIU chapter. (Was Holway there for this meeting?)
One person familiar with the deliberations said the swing voters decided that Henry was closer to a consensus choice, as opposition to Burger had already begun to divide the union. If Burger was to win,
they decided, she would have had to win cleanly, and it was already too late for that.
Henry remains a largely unknown quantity on the national political
scene, and some officials predicted that she would allow power to
return from the Washington headquarters to scattered local unions (one can hope I suppose but, NAW... my money is on...); others suggested she'd emerge as a charismatic, central figure in Stern's tradition.
Henry herself wasn't immediately reachable Friday night, and none of the officials were ready to comment on the record on the local leaders' decisions.
Henry will lead SEIU
A handful of undecided SEIU locals swung to California nurses leader Mary Kay Henry today, turning the giant union away from the Washington-based political and policy engagement that made it a major ally of the Democratic Party under retiring President Andy Stern.
Key locals in New York, Los Angeles, Oregon, and Washington State committed crucial votes to Henry, choosing her over Stern's protege, Anna Burger, who had promises continuity with Stern's leadership.
"It's done," an SEIU insider emailed moments ago.
Henry benefitted from a sentiment in the union's constituents across the country that Stern had become a divisive, and even exhausting, figure. Final negotiations included ensuring peace between Henry's
California nurses' union and a long-term care workers local in the state led by Laphonza Butler. Butler and building workers leader Mike Fishman met in New York today with the leaders of other large undeclared locals, including the largest Chicago SEIU chapter. (Was Holway there for this meeting?)
One person familiar with the deliberations said the swing voters decided that Henry was closer to a consensus choice, as opposition to Burger had already begun to divide the union. If Burger was to win,
they decided, she would have had to win cleanly, and it was already too late for that.
Henry remains a largely unknown quantity on the national political
scene, and some officials predicted that she would allow power to
return from the Washington headquarters to scattered local unions (one can hope I suppose but, NAW... my money is on...); others suggested she'd emerge as a charismatic, central figure in Stern's tradition.
Henry herself wasn't immediately reachable Friday night, and none of the officials were ready to comment on the record on the local leaders' decisions.
When asked why Local 282 was holding a meeting on: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 "At 4:00 PM" (a very awkward time for the working stiff), i was told
ReplyDeleteby the president of Unit 6, local 282
" I’m working within the time constraints of the National Union. Sorry. "