SEIU's Frane tapped for international job

Leslie Frane, executive director of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 in Oregon, has been appointed director of SEIU’s Public Services Division by the union’s new president, Mary Kay Henry.

Henry was elected president of SEIU earlier this year following the retirement of longtime leader Andy Stern.

SEIU represents 850,000 public sector employees in the United States.

“We have big challenges ahead as we implement health care reform on a national level and look for solutions to the crisis facing workers all around this nation,” Henry said, “and I have asked Leslie Frane to help replicate the extraordinary accomplishments we’ve seen in Oregon over the last eight years.”

SEIU Local 503 has nearly doubled in size during Frane’s eight-year tenure, growing to 44,000 members.

“The economic crisis we face puts human services, education and public safety services at risk across the nation,” Frane said. “I can think of no more important work than leading public employees’ efforts to protect and improve the services our communities rely on.”

Under Frane’s leadership, SEIU Local 503 has increased its focus on improving public services, addressing problems at such agencies as Oregon State Hospital and the Oregon Youth Authority and expanding access to affordable quality child care for working parents and long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities.

“The lessons of Oregon are important, and we want the voices and visions of people like Leslie to help us move forward,” Henry said.

Frane will stay on through Local 503’s biennial convention in August. The union’s Board of Directors will elect an interim executive director for the final three months of her term, and union members will elect a new executive director, along with other statewide officers, this fall.

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