PROVIDENCE –– Another top union official has been ousted this week, the second casualty this month in an internal battle over contract negotiations with Governor Carcieri that has divided the ranks of organized labor.

Lucie Burdick, widely considered a rising star in the Ocean State labor movement, was narrowly defeated in a regularly scheduled election earlier in the week. She had served a single two-year term as president of Local 580, which represents social workers and is considered the second-largest state employees union.

“I was shocked,” Burdick said. “I think I paid for doing the right thing.”

This summer, Burdick urged her members to endorse a four-year contract brokered by union leaders and the governor’s office. The deal would have saved the state millions of dollars through increased health care co-shares, among other changes.

“I’m so proud of our contract. People have security through 2012,” Burdick said. “We tried to cooperate. I think we put a different face on labor.”

A handful of unions, including Local 580, approved the deal, but others voted no. State unions subsequently approved a similar deal at the urging of the state Supreme Court.

“It was pretty much the campaign issue,” Burdick said of her support of the original contract. “People have to put their frustrations somewhere.”

President-elect Phil Keefe will take over the 900-member union on Jan. 1.

Burdick said she was disappointed, but that she would support Keefe.

“You don’t hurt your union because your own feelings are hurt,” she said. “I wish him well. He’s got a lot of work ahead of him.”

Also ousted in this week’s election was Local 580 second vice president Kathy McElroy, the daughter of recently retired American Federation of Teachers leader, Edward McElroy.

Earlier in the month, the executive director of the largest state employees union was placed on administrative leave after the Council 94 board decided “to move Council 94 in a new direction,” according to president Michael Downey.

Meanwhile, the head of the correctional officers union yesterday also confirmed that he has stepped down, although his union was not involved in the recent contractual dispute.

“For personal reasons, I resigned,” said Richard Ferruccio, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers for the last nine years. “Being a union president, union official, it’s a lot of work. It’s an incredible sacrifice on you and the family; it eats you up.”

Ferruccio will return to his traditional duties as a correctional officer.

He said he also plans to resurrect a newspaper focused on public-safety issues.

speoples@projo.com