[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2390-E2391]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ON THE DEATH OF JOHN N. STURDIVANT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 13, 1997

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, it was my privilege to speak at the funeral 
for John Sturdivant on November 4, 1997. I knew John as a friend and as 
the leader of one of America's great trade unions. His death from 
leukemia impoverished all of us who knew him and the countless number 
of Americans who benefited from his work. The foundation he laid was so 
strong it is bound to be lasting. Many Members of Congress knew and 
respected John Sturdivant. I know they will join me in paying tribute 
to his work and his lasting legacy.
  Mr. Speaker, I am submitting these comments that I made at the 
funeral.

       Working people have lost a champion before the fight is 
     over. It was not a fair fight. John never lost those.
       There was a reason that John was such a winner. Look at 
     what John had to fight with--just about everything, beginning 
     with that disarming, broad grin. He had it all--the talent, 
     the sophistication, the charisma, the energy, the ability to 
     think outside the box, and the unfailing dedication to 
     workers.

[[Page E2391]]

       John Sturdivant represented the same people I represent: 
     federal and D.C. government employees. John's work often 
     wasn't much different from mine. If so, I knew I'd hear from 
     him.
       When I first met John, however, we were not on the same 
     side--at least not structurally. I was cast as the manager of 
     a troubled agency, John as the local union president. 
     President Carter had named me to chair the Equal Employment 
     Opportunity Commission when the Commission had gone though 
     perhaps the most troubled period--a huge backlog, firings by 
     the President at the top of the agency, the whole ball of 
     wax. Though entirely a management problem, it could not be 
     fixed without top to bottom change and a wholesale make over. 
     As a civil rights lawyer and a veteran of the movement. I did 
     not look forward to tension with the employees, and there 
     inevitably was some. The union never missed a beat, but John 
     had a lot to do with the mixture of wit and determination 
     that made it all work. In the end, the agency got rid of most 
     of its backlog, not by fighting the union, but by empowering 
     the workers with new, upgraded duties.
       John Sturdivant rose through the ranks of his own union the 
     way unions insist that employees should move up in the 
     workplaces that unions represent. But, John rose the way that 
     yeast makes bread rise--because, by conviction and ability, 
     he could not be contained. John Sturdivant was made for the 
     modern era of American unionism. He knew how to do it by 
     fighting, he knew how to do it by negotiating, and he knew 
     how to do it in ways nobody had thought of. He was a 
     strategic thinker who knew how to pick his fights while 
     keeping the others alive to be fought another day. Without 
     that kind of smarts, he would never have achieved the 
     landmark changes the occurred when I chaired the old 
     Subcommittee and that John wore on his sleeves like stripes; 
     the political empowerment of government workers through Hatch 
     Act reform, locality pay, and the first government-wide 
     buyouts.
       In the end, John Sturdivant, who was a leader in 
     reinventing modern unionism, was not about to let government 
     reinvent itself without the union as a partner. And the man 
     who had risen to leadership with the rise of public sector 
     unionism was not about to preside over its decline. John 
     Sturdivant had a quality union leaders seek in these tough 
     times for workers and that public officials with a movement 
     background like mine most admire. John knew how to work the 
     inside with the vision of an outsider. Now if the rest of us 
     could only learn to beguile our opponents with a broad, 
     disarming grin.

     

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