Associated Press

 

LABORERS' UNION TO ELECT LEADERS

 

Author: AP

02/02/1996

NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department got the Laborers' International, one of the nation's 10 largest unions, to agree yesterday to elect officers by a direct, rank-and-file vote as part of an effort to eliminate organized crime influence.

Attorney General Janet Reno said the "effort to clean up labor unions that have fallen under the influence of organized crime . . . is still very much a priority" at the Justice Department.

The 425,000 members of the Laborers' International Union of North America will vote by secret ballot this fall. They will elect a general president and secretary treasurer in the first direct election in the union's 92-year history.

[end]