LAS VEGAS, Nev.—The Office and Professional Employees International Union re-elected Richard Lanigan as president for a four-year term June 11. Delegates to the union’s 28th convention here also re-elected Secretary-Treasurer Mary Mahoney to her fourth term.
Lanigan, who also serves as business manager of OPEIU Local 153 in New York and is a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, became the union’s president after the retirement of Michael Goodwin in 2015, and was elected for a full term in 2016. Since taking office, he has implemented an innovative model that focuses on building local union power to organize a new generation of working people. Lanigan has also expanded benefits for OPEIU members, including a 401(k) program and a national health-insurance plan.
About 300 OPEIU leaders attended the convention, which was held June 10-14 in Las Vegas and had the theme of “A New Model for a New Union.” Speakers included former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who served from 1993 to 1997; Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida in 2018; Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale, the first woman elected to head the state federation; Arizona #RedForEd leader Noah Karvelis; and Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau.
The OPEIU represents more than 103,000 members in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada, including the staff of LaborPress.
