HERMAN BENSON, UNION DEMOCRACY HERO

Herman Benson spent most of his long life on an endless quest: to make unions better through democracy. He died last week at age 104 still working to fulfill that noble goal.

          Five decades ago, Benson founded the Association for Union Democracy, a small but potent organization that has played a huge role in helping and inspiring reformers in the unending struggle to oust passive or crooked union officials.

          Benson’s crowning achievement came in 1991 when along with labor lawyer Susan Jennik, then AUD’s executive director, convinced a judge to direct a court-appointed elections officer to oversee every aspect of the first rank and file election for the top officers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Reformers were convinced that without outside supervision the union hierarchy and their local union allies would have rigged the election to keep the old guard in power. Instead, a clearly-honest election resulted in the late Ron Carey becoming international president of the IBT.

Local unions should be building blocks of democracy with Herman Benson remembered as the visionary of that ideal.