The largest union in Newfoundland and Labrador is poised to deal with another bitter leadership contest, as a veteran organizer has stepped forward to oust the sitting president.
Chris Henley, an employee relations officer with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Private and Public Employees, announced on Thursday he will challenge president Carol Furlong for the top NAPE job in 2007.
Chris Henley says Carol Furlong has already caused NAPE to lose its way.
(CBC)
"I'm suggesting that Carol Furlong has not shown the leadership in NAPE that NAPE needs in order to maintain its voice within our society," Henley said.
"Our great union is losing its way. It lost it way in two short years."
Just last year, Furlong toppled flamboyant NAPE president Leo Puddister to take the union's presidency.
NAPE, which has about 20,000 members, represents most employees of the Newfoundland and Labrador government and its agencies.
Henley was flanked by party members who say Furlong has allowed NAPE to get soft.
"When you don't have a strong leader, you don't have a strong union, and unfortunately that's been the case for the last couple of years," said Rhonda Dooley.
Carol Furlong said parts of NAPE's old guard have never accepted her leadership.
(CBC)
Furlong makes no apologies for a style that strikes some as quiet. She said the rowdy style of Puddister and Henley doesn't work at the bargaining table.
"I don't believe that, you know, we should be roaring into a microphone every time we are looking for something, when we can have more success in the backrooms talking to the powers that be," Furlong said.
Furlong was able to topple Puddister by tapping into resentment of rank-and-file members over Puddister's sometimes bombastic leadership style.
Puddister took on Premier Danny Williams soon after the Progressive Conservatives took office, but a month-long strike in March 2004 brought not only a concessionary contract but a feeling of humiliation.
Furlong, who has butted heads with Henley and Puddister's supporters since taking office in 2005, said NAPE's old guard is looking again to take power.
"This is a new era in NAPE. Some people find this very hard to accept," she said.
After taking office, Furlong ordered a round of internal spending cuts at NAPE, and cancelled many discretionary programs. She said the union had run up debt during the 2004 strike.
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