February 2, 2010: The IBT has added one new International Vice President and is preparing to lose another, Central Region VP Pat Flynn.

Rick Middleton was sworn in as the new Western Region Vice President on Jan. 27. Middleton was appointed to replace Jim Santangelo, of Los Angeles, who retired in disgrace after TDU revealed that the union paid $500,000 to secretly settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving him.

Middleton is the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 572 in Los Angeles.

Pat Flynn will reportedly be resigning as Central Region Vice President effective Feb. 28. His resignation will create a second vacancy in the Central Region. Walt Lytle, of Ft. Wayne, Ind. retired on Dec. 31, 2009. Flynn is reportedly retaining his position as President of Chicago Local 710.

Including Flynn, there have been six openings on the General Executive Board in the past year. Thus far, the Hoffa administration has passed on this opportunity to make the union’s top leadership look more like the membership.

The General Executive Board has 26 voting positions. None of those positions are currently filled by women. (Cheryl Johnson was replaced by Brad Slawson of Minneapolis when she retired.) None of these positions are filled by Latinos either.

Only one voting position on the General Executive Board is filled by an African-American—the recently appointed Al Mixon, of Cleveland, who recently replaced Carroll Haynes.