What Is Ed Thinking?

      The last couple of weeks, a lot of people have wanted to know what Ed McElroy is up to. As president of the American Federation of Teachers and, so far, a John Sweeney supporter, he carries 1.3 million votes. I did not believe one rumor that he was angling to run and instead, I believe, at least for now, that he's trying to figure out a third way that might mean supporting someone other than Sweeney.  Now comes a bit more confirmation from a top leader in the American Federation of Teachers who I spoke to.

    On May 19th, McElroy had a meeting with his top national leaders in Washington, D.C. When asked whether there would be an AFL-CIO after July, he replied, "there will be, I hope it will be the same as the one we have now," says my little birdie, who did not want to be named because the meeting was confidential.. McElroy also added that if there was a split, he thought it would be temporary. Ah, such an optimist. Guess you gotta be that if you lead a bunch of people who have to walk into the nation's classrooms everyday and wonder what the hell those kids are going to do for jobs in a Wal-Mart economy.

    McElroy, says my wag, is very concerned about how much of the debate is ideological and how much of it is about power and ego with an agenda. He is very dismayed about the layoffs, especially the closing of the international department "because the global economy means we have to be out there in the world." He's opposed to the insurgents proposal for a 50 percent rebate because "he doesn't believe the Federation can function on half the money." Since the de-funding of the Federation and the shifting of many of its functions back to affiliates is a core part of the insurgents proposal, it's hard to see where he breaks off from supporting Sweeney to support whatever unannounced cancdidate the insurgents might put forward. "He has already been ruled out by [Andy] Stern," says my source.

    As for running himself, my source says McElroy "is running away from it. As far as he's concerned, there's only one candidate," obviously referring to Sweeney.

    Of course, repeated denials of any interest in running are pretty common, particularly among people who really want to run. And there's no question that the conversations are happening, with perhaps something more concrete emerging at the June 13th Executive Council meeting. That will be one tense gathering. I hear Sweeney's considering bringing in Dr. Phil to be on call.

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Trackback from The Bellman: McElroy rumors
"Working Life ran a post yesterday following up on some rumors that had been circulating about AFT president Ed McElroy. The background to all this, by the way, is the ongoing power struggle that Andy Stern and the other..."