Old-school Pa. union leader is bowing out

William George is old school.

He got his first union card in 1960, when he was 18 and went to work at the old Jones & Laughlin steel mill in his hometown of Aliquippa, Pa.

"He was always driven by his roots - a solid attitude on working-class family issues," said Henry Nicholas, a fellow union leader.

Still gruff-talking and blunt at 68, George announced yesterday that he would step down after 20 years as president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO when the labor federation holds its state convention next month in Pittsburgh.

He said that, after a half-century in the union movement, it was time for him to hand over leadership. But he said that he planned to remain on the federation board as president emeritus and that he looked forward to helping pro-union political candidates across the state this fall.

Remembering what he called a big fight over his election in 1990, he said he has tried to smooth the way for a peaceful election of his top deputy, Richard W. Bloomingdale, now the AFL-CIO political director.

Union leaders yesterday praised George for never losing the working man's outlook he brought from the mill.

"He was a very, very progressive trade unionist," said Nicholas, president of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees.

"He'd always open a meeting by asking, 'What time is it?' " Nicholas recalled. "And everybody would go, 'Union time!' That was his signature."

Jim Testerman, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said: "The passion and enthusiasm and commitment he brings to the table when talking about working men and women in Pennsylvania is unrivaled by anyone I've seen."

AFL-CIO membership in the state has been in decline for decades, mainly from the loss of manufacturing jobs, especially in steel. But enrollment was up in each of the last two years, George said, largely as a result of organizing efforts "in hospitals and clinics and university campuses."

"The largest percent is health care," he said.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 15 percent of Pennsylvania's wage-and-salary workers are members of unions. That compares with 20.9 percent in 1989, the earliest year for which comparable statistics are available.

George said he believed that union growth could come from workers now in their 20s and 30s who see that they might not get the health-care and pension benefits that their parents and grandparents had.

"I think the longer we're in a recession, the more union membership is going to come back," he said.