David Sullivan (labor Leader) - SEIU Presidency

SEIU Presidency

Sullivan was elected president of the BSEIU on May 5, 1960, after McFetridge retired. Local 32B had grown to 37,500 members, while BSEIU had about 275,000 members.

McFetridge did not, however, retire quietly. He returned to his home local in Chicago and was elected the local's president. He also refused to give up his seat on the AFL-CIO executive council. McFetridge continued to assert effective control over BSEIU from afar, challenging Sullivan's decisions, interfering with his choices for staff and elected positions, and undercutting his policy choices. McFetridge was an advocate of the Marina City mixed-use development in Chicago, which he believed would provide numerous jobs for his members. McFetridge asked that BSEIU invest pension funds in the development, a plan which Sullivan opposed. Although he won BSEIU backing for the Marina City development, McFetridge lost control of BSEIU to Sullivan thereafter. McFetridge retired from the union in 1964, leaving Sullivan in unchallenged control.

BSEIU grew to 40,000 members during Sullivan's first four-year term in office. In 1968, the international union dropped the word "Building" from its title, adopting its current name.

Despite McFetridge's retirement as Local 1 president, he signaled that he wanted to retain his position on the AFL-CIO executive council. For much of 1965, Sullivan lobbied AFL-CIO president George Meany and other union leaders to dump McFetridge. But media attention to the average age of executive council members probably contributed more to McFetridge's retirement from the federation council. Sullivan was elected an AFL-CIO vice-president on December 14, 1965.