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17 December, 2000Leo Gerard will take over as union president after the departure of George Becker.
NORTH AMERICA: The international president of the United Steelworkers of America, George Becker, has announced he will resign his post at the end of February 2001. Becker, 72 years old, will be succeeded by Leo Gerard, the union's international secretary-treasurer since 1994, who has been unanimously endorsed for the position by the USWA International Executive Board.
Gerard, the son of a union organiser, was formerly a miner in Sudbury, Ontario and has been an active member of the steelworkers' union throughout his professional life. He was elected twice as director for the union's District 6 (Ontario) in the 1980s and served as USWA national director for Canada from 1991 to 1994. He is the second Canadian to hold the position of USWA international president, the first being Lynn Williams, who was president from 1984 until his retirement in 1994.
Source: USWA, Toronto, Canada