In his first interview since being voted out as president of Colorado’s largest grocer’s union, Ernie Duran Jr. said today that he will step down when his term expires at the end of the year, even if his planned challenge of the election results hasn’t been resolved.
Duran said he would continue to fight the results of the election, however.
Duran’s re-election bid was marred by allegations of nepotism and misuse of union funds under his watch. Members this week elected rank-and-file challenger Kim Cordova as their new president and approved her entire slate of officers and board members.
“I’ve always said it’s a democracy,” said Duran, the longest standing president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union, which represents 23,000 members, including 17,000 grocery-store workers.
Duran vowed not to use union dues to fund a fight to effectively overturn the wishes of his own membership and seek a new election.
“Anything that’s related to the challenge will be personal money,” Duran said.
That contradicts remarks made Wednesday by his daughter, union attorney Crisanta Duran. She said some union dues would be used to fund the fight because defamatory claims were allegedly made against the “organization as a whole.”
She said the dispute will initially be filed with the UFCW International Union in Washington, D.C., and then with the U.S. Department of Labor if action hasn’t been taken in three months.
Ernie Duran said the challenge will cost an “insignificant amount” of money. In 2007, Duran, his daughter and his son all earned six-figure salaries working for the UFCW Local 7, according to Labor Department records.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
