Local 3 member confirmed as new President of the Central Labor Council

Vincent Alvarez receives a unanimous vote to run the organization, just a year after resigning as chief of staff over objections to the preceding leader.

Vincent Alvarez, who resigned last year as chief of staff of the Central Labor Council after raising questions about the ethics of its president, was unanimously elected Thursday night as the next leader of the organization.

A 21-year member of Local 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a native of Staten Island, Mr. Alvarez won the esteem of union leaders over two decades of volunteer work with the Council. And his move to stand up to former Central Labor Council President Jack Ahern—and ultimately resign over Mr. Ahern's use of a limousine and other questionable leadership decisions—helped cement his reputation within labor circles. I pledge to you that working together as one movement—public sector, private sector and building trades—we will redouble our efforts to find effective solutions to complex problems affecting working people," Mr. Alvarez said in an address to the 318 delegates who elected him.

Before electing Mr. Alvarez, the delegates voted to approve a constitutional amendment allowing the umbrella organization representing the city's unions to have a full-time president. Previous presidents also held leadership positions with other unions, and two—Brian McLaughlin and Mr. Ahern—ended up embroiling the organization in scandal.

Mr. McLaughlin was sentenced in 2009 to 10 years in prison for racketeering, and Mr. Ahern resigned his position in March under pressure after concerns emerged about his leadership, including a report from his own international union that questioned his expenses, which topped $200,000 a year. Delegates also elected Janella Hinds, a member of the United Federation of Teachers, to the newly created position of secretary treasurer. Ms. Hinds has been a labor activist for 15 years and served on numerous negotiating committees with the federation.

Mr. Alvarez, 42, is the first Hispanic president of the Council since it merged with the AFL-CIO in 1959. His father emigrated from Cuba, and his mother is Irish-American.

For years, he volunteered to coordinate the annual Labor Day parade. Central Labor Council insiders often joked that his salary, which was $0, should be doubled because of all his work. About four years ago, he was finally hired by the Council to serve as its chief of staff, a position he resigned in November. He remains a dues-paying member of Local 3 and had been working at the state AFL-CIO since he quit the labor council. “He is the most honest and decent guy you'll ever meet,” said Ed Ott, a former executive director of the Council who is now a distinguished lecturer in labor studies at the City University of New York's Murphy Institute. “This is what the Council needs. It will reassure the members that the place is now in good hands.”

Other Central Labor Council staffers followed him out the door, putting in motion a process that prompted state AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes to temporarily take the reins of the organization. For several months, Mr. Hughes had been working to put a process into place that would help the Council regain its footing and ensure problems that plagued it in the past are not repeated.

Mr. Alvarez, whose four-year term starts immediately, becomes president at a time when the city's unions are facing stiff battles over pensions, layoffs and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s attempt to open stores here, among other contentious issues. He was elected the same night some two dozen construction union contracts expired following a contentious run-up to the deadline. “Our city, state and country are continuing to struggle through one of the most difficult economic periods in the last 80 years,” Mr. Alvarez said. "It's time the New York City labor movement raises its collective voice and says 'enough is enough' to policies that adversely affect working people.”