NEW LEADER STEADIES SHAKEN LABOR FEDERATION.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

Los Angeles' largest labor organization has remained unified after a year of leadership upheaval and national division, but economic and political realities are putting new pressures on the movement.

At the helm of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Maria Elena Durazo has taken a low-key approach to stabilizing the organization.

Her quiet but steady influence has held together a group that was shaken after the death in May 2005 of her husband and longtime leader, Miguel Contreras, and further rocked by the resignation last February of Contreras' successor, Martin Ludlow, amid a federal campaign violation probe.

At the same time, the national umbrella group was grappling with a prominent split within its ranks and local unions made some self-admitted election missteps.

``It's been a difficult year for Maria, personally, and for labor,'' said Kent Wong of the UCLA Labor Center. ``She lost her husband. Her best friend was forced to leave and she's had to work with a major split in the labor movement on a national level.

``She stepped up to the plate at a difficult time and has kept the union together.''

But Durazo and the federation, which includes more than 300 affiliates and 800,000 members across Southern California, now are grappling with new issues.

``They are faced with the problem of globalization and the loss of the higher-paid jobs in the area,'' said David Abel, publisher of two newsletters on business and government.

``They have to reach out to find new members at a time when private-sector taxpayers and homeowners are asking how they can afford to pay government workers more and more.''

Appointed interim director in March and formally elected in May, Durazo has begun to imprint her own style on the union. She is seeking to add members in the service industry -- security guards are a priority -- while making sure the organization's core-building trades and food workers remain united.

``I think I'm doing OK,'' said Durazo, who's still in the process of moving into her second-floor office at the union's downtown headquarters where boxes stacked with files and mementos sit in a corner.

``I realize every day how much more there is to this job and I keep trying to remember all that Miguel told me.''

She said she is purposely keeping a low public profile and unlike her predecessors does not want appointments to government panels or commissions.

``I don't want to be conflicted in any way,'' said Durazo, who previously headed the Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Local 11, and became known for her tough negotiations and sometimes controversial efforts to bring attention to her workers.

Durazo was also instrumental in other labor actions over the years, which heightened her visibility and helped broaden the union movement into service sectors that now include home-care workers, janitors and security guards.

Continuing to broaden the union movement will be key for its future, experts said.

While the effects of the national schism in which Service Employees International Union locals split off from the AFL-CIO were not prominently felt in Los Angeles County, SEIU locally is changing.

The union, which primarily represents government workers, is creating a new local to bring together the city and county locals.

``It will bring together about 100,000 workers,'' said Julie Butcher, business manager of SEIU, Local 347, which represents city workers. ``It will be all public workers, with the idea being of pooling our resources and seeing what can be achieved with an economy of scale.''

Government officials are uncertain what that will mean, including whether the unions' ability to affect broader shutdowns or work stoppages will give it increased bargaining power.

To Abel, it reflects what has been happening for years.

``Los Angeles still has a lot of manufacturing, but it is nowhere close to what it was even only 30 years ago and it's declining all the time,'' Abel said.

``And what you've seen since the passage of Proposition 13 is the growth of government, with no real responsibility locally. All the main spending decisions for government are now made with the state and it feeds down to the schools, counties and cities.''

Abel said he sees a fractured union movement struggling to recruit new members who do not necessarily relate to the longtime labor movement.

The recent two-day strike by members of the city Engineers and Architects Association illustrated that division. At its peak, an estimated 1,600 of 7,400 EAA members were believed to have walked out -- but they got little support from other city unions or the federation.

Durazo said the federation is carefully choosing its steps, particularly in the political arena after what many said was a disastrous primary election in which the union took sides in several races where both candidates were pro-union.

``We learned from that,'' Durazo said. ``Now we are focusing on November and helping our friends.''

She said the union plans an all-out effort on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides.

And it is in politics where most observers believe the union excels and which will prove to be its salvation in the months ahead.

``On the one hand you have to ask, how much better can it be for unions?'' said Joel Kotkin, Irvine senior fellow at the New American Foundation and author of ``The City: A Global History.''

``There are two ways to look at the unions: Who are the members of labor and who are the working people? You'd have to say they have a lot of the players.''

At the same time, Kotkin worries about the impact of the local economy.

``I'm not sure we are seeing any expansion of the economy and the unions are taking the jobs from someplace,'' Kotkin said. ``Who is benefiting from our economic expansion and are we creating a labor climate for upwardly mobile jobs? If we are, I don't see it.''

Kotkin said he also sees competition between traditional blue-collar union jobs and those in government represented by unions.

``Those in government are doing extremely well,'' Kotkin said. ``But it's the blue-collar folks who pay their salaries who I don't think are doing all that well.''

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said he believes Durazo and union leaders need to rethink their strategies.

``I would say to them, sit down, take a look at the economy and examine what is going on in each of our key sectors and what can they do to maintain its health,'' Kyser said.

``It has to be a two-way street if the unions are going to survive and succeed. They need to have a more enlightened view on what is going on in the economy.''

That view was echoed by Jamie Johnson, a labor relations attorney with Bryan Cave LLP, who warned unions cannot demand too much.

``The risk unions always run is are they creating an opening for a nonunion operation to come in and do it more cheaply,'' Johnson said.

``If they put their cost structure completely out of line, it makes it difficult to compete.''

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Maria Elena Durazo serves as executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, the largest umbrella union organization in the state. Here she is in her offices in Los Angeles.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer