Early reports that California nurse leader Mary Kay Henry will take the reins of the powerful Service Employees International Union may have been premature. Outgoing president Andy Stern told reporters Monday that no successor has been chosen yet.
On Friday, the news outlet Politico reported that Henry had secured enough support to wrest the contest away from Change To Win president Anna Burger. Henry had negotiated an agreement between her nurses union and a California-based long-term care workers union, netting her the support of a number of undecided locals, according to Politico. The SEIU, with more than 2 million members in a variety of fields, is the single largest representative of nursing and long-term care workers in the country.
In a conversation with The Huffington Post Monday, Stern said that the outcome is still undecided. No votes have been cast for any candidate, he said. While they acknowledged that Henry’s position is strong, SEIU aides pointed out that the 73-member SEIU Executive Council will not vote until the middle of the month, and that the dynamics of the race could certainly change before then, the Huffington Post reported.
