Massachusetts AFL-CIO Vice President Mary Mahoney Named OPEIU Secretary-Treasurer

Statement of Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes on the Appointment of Massachusetts AFL-CIO Vice President Mary Mahoney as Secretary-Treasurer of OPEIU:

“I would like to offer my congratulations to Massachusetts AFL-CIO Vice President Mary Mahoney on her appointment to the office of Secretary-Treasurer for the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). As President of OPEIU Local 6, Mary has proven to be a capable and effective labor leader representing professional workers in both the public and private sector throughout the commonwealth, including the staff of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. I am certain that Mary will meet this new challenge with the same level of commitment that she has shown to her own members here in Massachusetts and I look forward to continuing our work together as she assumes her new role.”

Click here to read a story from the AFL-CIO blog on Mary Mahoney's appointment to OPEIU Secretary-Treasurer.

Press Release from OPEIU:

New York, NY -- The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, CLC Executive Board named Mary Mahoney to serve as Secretary-Treasurer, effective January 1, 2010, following the retirement of Nancy Wohlforth. The appointment was made at the Executive Board’s meeting in Miami, Florida in October 2009. Mahoney has served as a Vice President for Region II since 2001.

“I would like to thank the Executive Board for its decision to appoint me as Secretary-Treasurer,” said Mahoney when accepting the appointment. “I’m very excited about this new chapter in my life. I have been on the Executive Board for many years and have learned a lot and seen firsthand the responsibility of the Secretary-Treasurer position. I know in this new role I’ll be faced with many challenges and I love a challenge.”

Mahoney has been a member of Local 6 for more than 30 years, and has served as President since 1995. During her time as a member, she was an employee of the Massachusetts Trial Court, which is Local 6’s largest bargaining unit. She began as a steward for Local 6, and later became an Executive Board Member, and was eventually elected to the position of Executive Board Vice President.

Mahoney became Business Manager of Local 6 in 2001. She also serves as a Vice President to the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and received that organization’s highest honor in 2006, is a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), and serves on the Executive Council for the Greater Boston Labor Council as well as a number of central labor councils in Massachusetts.

Allen Byron, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 32, Union, New Jersey, will replace Mahoney on the OPEIU Executive Board representing Region II.

Nancy Wohlforth Retiring After 31 Years of Service to OPEIU

Nancy Wohlforth will be retiring after 31 years of service to OPEIU. “Retiring from OPEIU is so hard to do because I’ve had a love affair with this union since 1978 when I started out with Local 3 in San Francisco,” Wohlforth told the Board members. “And, as Secretary-Treasurer, I’ve had the most difficult, most exciting job of my life. I got the chance to help build this union of ours, and to fight for things we believe in like health care for all, domestic partner benefits and social justice, and to try to strengthen our pension funds both in good economic times and disastrous times.

“I’m feeling sad about leaving this union that’s been at the center of my life all these years, but am delighted and very, very relieved that the new Secretary-Treasurer will be Mary Mahoney. I can’t imagine a better person for the position.”

ABOUT OPEIU
The Office and Professional Employees International Union represents more than 125,000 members in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. OPEIU represents employees and independent contractors in banking and credit unions, insurance, higher education, shipping, hospitals, medical clinics, utilities, transportation, hotels, administrative offices and more.

Professional organizations and Guilds affiliated with OPEIU are a diverse group that includes physicians, pharmacists, chiropractors, appraisers, podiatrists, clinical social workers, hypnotists, teachers and helicopter pilots.