(The following report appeared at KUTV.com on November 27. Jeff Worthington is Chairman of the Utah State Legislative Board.)
The weekend death of Utah Senator Ed Mayne has left a big void at the local office of the AFL-CIO.
But leader’s at Utah’s Union Labor Center say they will carry on Ed’s legacy of leadership and compassion for others.
In West Valley City a viewing is planned for Wednesday night.
Before Senator Mayne’s funeral, before his viewing at the capitol, there will be a viewing here at the headquarters for the AFL-CIO on Wednesday.
This is where Ed Mayne spent 30 years of his life doing work to improve the lives of Utah workers and their families.
“The absence of Ed will be a huge void in my life, I’m not sure I’ll ever get over,” says Allan Ayoub of the AFL-CIO of Utah.
Ed Mayne’s office is empty, yet still alive with reminders of a life of meetings with presidents, influential leaders and of special honors, but his passion was always the workers of Utah.
Jeff Worthington of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen says, “He wanted a fair wage for everybody, wanted everyone to have health and welfare.”
Ed Mayne was born and raised in Utah. He married his love Karen and grew his family here. He was a hard rock miner for 14 years. At the age of 31, he was the youngest person ever elected to head a state AFL-CIO. For 30 years, he rallied laborers and helped strengthen unions in a state not friendly to organized labor.
“People began to accept organized labor in a totally different manner,” says Ayoub.
Those who worked closely with Mayne, say he taught workers to negotiate in good faith and helped achieve collective bargaining rules in Utah cities and counties.
Ayoub says, “So that employees and employers could work out conditions of employment.”
As state senator, Mayne was also a spoke for workers and the poor and others with no voice.
“You could bring Ed to tears with a picture of a dog with a mangled leg or a child that was hungry,” says Jim Judd, President of the AFL-CIO.
His door was always open.
“He had time, it was never ‘come back some other time’,” says Cal Noyce of the Central Utah Federation of Labor.
Filling this seat won’t be easy, but those who worked with Ed Mayne for years, say he taught them well.
Judd says, “Ed gave us a template for what a leader needs to be. It’s important to be a statesman. It’s important that we stand up for the working families of the state of Utah.”
The viewing for Ed Mayne will be held at the AFL-CIO headquarters, the Union Labor Center, will be on Wednesday night from 6-8 p.m. The address is 2261 South Redwood. It is open to the public.