Rank-and-File Movement Wins Election in SEIU Local 36, Incumbents Refuse to Leave Office

On December 13, members of Local 36 of the 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest in the AFL-CIO and originator of the national "Justice for Janitors" campaign, elected a new president, secretary-treasurer and 23 Executive Board members. This came in the 18th month of a national SEIU trusteeship over Local 36, which represents over 4,300 janitors, building maintenance workers, technicians and professionals in Philadelphia and its suburbs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The 4,300-member local chose longtime Local 36 organizer and officer Denys Everingham as their new president over the national SEIU's appointed trustee, Wyatt Closs. Closs, a former staffer at SEIU's national headquarters, lost to Everingham by a 60%-40% margin. More than 1,000 of Local 36's 4,300 members came out to vote on a cold December day the largest turnout for any election or contract meeting in the Local's 80-year history. Another Local 36 member, former rank-and-file building engineer Wayne MacManiman, defeated Wyatt Closs' running mate, Aquel Brisbane, for secretary-treasurer by the same 60%-40% margin. Everingham and Brisbane are part of a diverse local coalition slate called "The Philly Home Team." The election shows an overwhelming support of the local autonomy of the union and a rejection of SEIU's trusteeship takeover. Despite their election on December 13, 2003, Everingham, MacManiman and the new Executive Board many of whom ran on Closs' slate have not been sworn in because of protests filed by the national SEIU trustee Wyatt Closs, calling for a rerun. National SEIU's trusteeship over Local 36 expired legally on December 24, the 18-month deadline having been passed. National president Andrew Stern declared in his call for an election in Local 36 that it is now appropriate to end the trusteeship of Local 36 and to return the Local Union to self-governance. However, the unpopular national trusteeship has not yet been lifted