Labor Elects Kirkland to 6th Term

WASHINGTON — Lane Kirkland, the 67-year-old president of the AFL-CIO, was unanimously reelected Wednesday to a sixth two-year term by 765 delegates to organized labor’s biannual convention.

Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers Union, which reaffiliated with the AFL-CIO last summer after a four-decade absence, was elected to one of five open vice presidential seats on the AFL-CIO executive council.

Latino delegates to the convention expressed disgruntlement that a Latino labor leader, Jack Otero, vice president of the Transportation Communication International Union, was not among those named to the 33-member council.

The executive council has no Latinos, only three women and two blacks, a fact that irks minorities, who note that women and minorities are the prime targets of current union organizing efforts in the United States.

“I’m very disappointed. It’s inconceivable to me that if you have 1.4 million Latino members affiliated with the AFL-CIO you can’t find one to sit on the executive council,” said Rick Icaza, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a delegate to the convention. Kirkland “has to realistically sit down and encourage the executive council that the time is now.”