The Nancy Pelosi Effect: Time for Union Leadership to Change?

(Nancy Pelsosi pictured with President John F. Kennedy republished by Business Insider)

Once a union elects someone as president, that person stays in power for 20 or more years. That was my finding in a research study in the 1980s—and its probably true today.

Let’s look at two prominent labor leaders, Randi Weingarten (president of teachers union) and Leo Girard (president of steelworkers union).

Weingarden was never a teacher. She was a labor lawyer who worked on contract negotiations and arbitrations and then transitioned to union politics.

She was first elected to a national leadership position in 1997. She remains in a position of power as president of a national teachers union.

In 2003, Weingarden reportedly sold the UFT’s headquarters at 260 Park Avenue South and two other buildings at 48 and 49 East 21st Street for $63.6 million and moved the union's offices to Lower Manhattan, purchasing a building at 50 Broadway for $53.75 million and leasing the building next to it, 52 Broadway, for 32 years. The UFT also financed a $40 million renovation of both buildings.

With yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on unions dues, it seems like a good time to unwind the real estate holdings in lower Manhattan and move closer to teachers—closer in terms of how teachers work and live.

Leo W. Gerard was elected president of the United Steelworkers (USW) in 2001. He’s been president ever since.

The Democratic Party is stale. These union leaders are stale. Isn’t it time for a new generation of progressive leaders, people who are closer to their constituents in terms of life experiences?