Ohio's labor leader stays loyal even as profile rises

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/05/10/rugola.ART_ART_05-10-09_D1_8CDPT29.html?sid=101

Union man's humble roots helped make him desirable director
Sunday, May 10, 2009 3:34 AM
By Joe Hallett

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The White House takes his calls, Gov. Ted Strickland considers him a "treasured friend" and business leaders respect him.

As a poor boy from Thompson No. 2, Pa., whose family used an outhouse until he was 15 and who even today says, "Being able to take a shower is like a big miracle," Joe Rugola might not have foreseen such acceptance by the high and mighty.

But make no mistake: Rugola, arguably the state's most powerful labor leader, is more comfortable in the presence of school janitors, cafeteria cooks and bus drivers. Labor allies want him to be the next president of the national AFL-CIO, but Rugola is determined to retire as executive director of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, the union he has represented for 31 years.

Even when Rugola was elected in 2007 as president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, the state's largest labor group, he insisted on remaining director of OAPSE, whose 38,000 members make an average of $24,000 a year.

"Every time I look at our members, every time I have a chance to speak for them, I see the folks I grew up with," Rugola said. "I guess that's why I've stayed home with OAPSE all these years."

Rugola, 59, who goes to Mass on Sundays, works out fanatically weekday mornings at 5 and usually ends the day with a glass of McCallum 18 scotch, is mentioned among the top candidates to replace national AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, whose retirement is expected this fall. But Rugola does not want to move his family to Washington and has ruled out the job, throwing his support to current AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka.

FULL story at link.