City Councilman Martin Ludlow has emerged as the leading contender to head the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the powerful union organization that was left leaderless with the sudden death of Miguel Contreras.
Rick Icaza, president of the county federation, said Monday that he has called a special closed session of the executive board for today to ask the panel to recommend the executive secretary-treasurer's job be offered to Ludlow.
"He's got my support," Icaza said. "I'm really excited about the potential of him coming on board."
Icaza is so confident the board will approve Ludlow, an ally of Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa, that he and other labor leaders have scheduled a noon news conference to announce their pick.
The next head of the federation, which represents 345 local unions with 800,000 members, will take over an organization that is struggling to maintain its influence in Southern California. Organized labor suffered a significant setback last year when the supermarket strike failed to win the concessions that union leaders demanded.
If the executive board recommends the first-term councilman, more than 300 federation delegates would vote June 20 on Ludlow, and the board would vote once more to ratify it, said Icaza, who is also the president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770.
Ludlow, the federation's former political director, is seriously considering whether to resign his council position and accept the job if it is offered, sources said. With the behind-the-scenes maneuvering still playing out, the councilman would not comment.
Herb Wesson, the former state Assembly speaker, is reportedly considering a run for Ludlow's seat if he takes the labor job.
Others who have been mentioned as possible contenders for county federation chief include Charles Lester, who is the acting secretary-treasurer of the federation, and Tyrone Freeman, president of Service Employees International Union Local 434B, which represents homecare workers.
However, in a widely distributed e-mail, Mike Garcia, the head of Service Employees International Union Local 1877, wrote that Lester had agreed Monday not to compete with Ludlow.
"This leaves an open road for Martin Ludlow. We had garnered over 70% support for Martin," Garcia wrote.
A two-thirds vote is needed to give Ludlow the job.
