ASK MR. SUN:

Why are many labor leaders called “secretary-treasurer?”

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Ask Mr. Sun

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Dear Mr. Sun,

Steve Ross is a Las Vegas City Council member and executive secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council. Why is Ross known as “executive secretary-treasurer” (a mouthful!) when really his role at the Trades Council is what we would usually call “president”? This seems to be the case with a lot of union leaders.

•••

To paraphrase “Scarface,” the guy with the money is the guy with the power.

The term “secretary-treasurer” goes back to the 19th century, according to Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A union’s president would often come from the working ranks whereas the secretary-treasurer would be staff, the person charged with overseeing payroll and collecting dues.

Presidents were often subject to electoral turnover, but secretary-treasurers held power for long periods of time, outlasting the titular heads of their unions. “It was the decisive position,” Lichtenstein said. “The secretary-treasurer is the detail person with the real power because they are dealing with money and strategy.”

Over time, the position became elective and that remains the case with most major unions across the country, including the Culinary Union and the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council.

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By neiman1

3/17/09 at 6:35 a.m.

Suggest removal

Are you sure it's not just honor to the leaders of the Communist Parties that they admire.
By minerjoe

3/17/09 at 6:51 a.m.

Suggest removal

Run Neiman run
By Johnathan_Abbinett

3/17/09 at 1:24 p.m.

Suggest removal

Yeah, Neiman, how come you don't post in the open using your full name? And why haven't you run for some office? Or, perhaps, you have run for office under some silly moniker no one even remembers - and, now, you're just all about the sour grapes?
By redferret

3/17/09 at 2:03 p.m.

Suggest removal

Of course labor unions are communist. It explains why they thrive in capitalist societies and in mixed economies like the ones in Europe. I mean there were real functioning ones in the USSR right? Right? Oh wait there were none.
By gregoryabutler

5/6/09 at 8:41 p.m.

Suggest removal

Uh, Neiman - Communist Parties had "General Secretaries" - a post originated by Josef Stalin in the 1920's.

American labor unions have had "Secretary Treasurers" since the 1860's.