AFT’S McElroy, LaCour To Retire
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Teachers President Ed McElroy will retire at the union’s 
convention in Chicago this July, he told the union’s board. His departure, and 
that of Secretary-Treasurer Nat LaCour, opens the way for new faces in two of 
AFT’s top three positions. The third, Executive Vice President Antonia Cortese, 
will seek re-election. 
The announcement, on Feb. 14, caught everyone by surprise at the AFL-CIO, 
spokesman Steve Smith said. But it did not surprise Democratic presidential 
hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who issued a statement commending McElroy 
and the union’s growth under his leadership and that of his predecessor, the 
late Sandy Feldman. AFT had endorsed Clinton’s White House bid.
AFT spokesman Chuck Porcari said there was no special reason for McElroy and 
LaCour to retire, except for age. “He’ll be 67 on St. Patrick’s Day,” Porcari 
said of the union president.
LaCour, former president of AFT’s New Orleans local and one of the 
highest-ranking African-Americans in the labor movement, will be 70 by the time of the 2,000-delegate Chicago 
convention, Porcari added.
“Both will continue to serve until then,” he explained.