TARPINIAN TO STEP DOWN AS CTW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Friday, May 30, 2008

(PAI)TARPINIAN TO STEP DOWN AS CTW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

WASHINGTON (PAI)--Greg Tarpinian, Change to Win’s executive director since its founding in 2005, will step down from that post on July 6 to return to the New York-based Labor Research Association, the 7-union group said on May 27. UNITE HERE chief of staff Chris Chafe will succeed him.

“Tarpinian’s vision was instrumental in creation of Change to Win” and “helped develop and unify it,” CTW Chair Anna Burger said. He will remain as a senior advisor to the group, which includes UNITE HERE and Burger’s SEIU. Chafe, a 17-year organizer in the textile industry, had left UNITE HERE for a top post in the now-ended John Edwards presidential campaign. Burger said Chafe helped hammer out the “solidarity charters” that led to the joint 2006 AFL-CIO-CTW political strategy. ###