Women Gaining Leadership Role In Calif. Unions

Running a union is still largely a man's game.

But slowly that's beginning to change. In the 1980s, forinstance, a handful of Southern California women rose to theleadership of big, local unions.

In June, they were joined by one more: Angela Keefe, who'sunusual not just because she's a woman but because she's only 29.

Keefe beat a male incumbent in an election for president of theHotel and Restaurant Employees Union local that covers Orange Countyand Long Beach. The local has 5,000 full-time members.

It's not clear whether Keefe's victory is part of a trend.Nobody, in fact, keeps statistics on how many women hold unionleadership positions in the …