Service Employees Union President Ends Reelection Bid; Battle Averted

Richard Cordtz said Monday that he will not seek reelection as president of the Service Employees International Union, heading off a bitter fight for control of the militant 1.1-million-member labor organization.

Cordtz, 74, announced his decision at a board meeting, clearing the way for the election of Andy Stern, 45, a vice president who has headed the SEIU’s organizing efforts.

Stern was a major architect of the Justice for Janitors campaign that marked the SEIU as one of the nation’s most militant unions. It is California’s biggest union.

Three months ago, Cordtz was named president, succeeding John Sweeney, who was elected president of the AFL-CIO. Many union members had assumed Cordtz would serve until Stern was elected at the union’s April convention. But Cordtz decided to run himself, and he named as his running mate Gus Bevona, a local leader in New York.

Stern last week announced a complete slate of candidates, most of them activists in their 40s. By the end of the week, it was clear that Stern’s slate had the votes.

Union sources said Sweeney urged Cordtz to step down rather than throw the union into a political battle.

Union leaders representing 650,000 of the 970,000 convention votes supported Stern.

Stern said Monday that he plans to further open the union to the membership and that he will cut the president’s $210,000 salary.