Voice of the Dock Wallopers

Ever since its depredations were exposed by the New York State Crime Commission last spring, the gangster-ridden International Longshoremen's Association has had to endure one stunning haymaker after another. The A.F.L. ordered it to clean up the New York waterfront--which was something like asking a tattooed man to wash that sailing ship off his chest--and took its charter away when it failed (TIME, Oct. 5). The Federation set up a competing longshoremen's union, sent gangs of tough A.F.L. men along the piers to add vigor to its organizing efforts, and began wooing dock workers from their old union.

The I.L.A. ran low on money. Thousands of longshoremen, once held in complete subjection by gun-toting musclemen, began openly attending A.F.L. meetings. But even so, A.F.L. President George Meany expected that his new union would be completely snowed under last week when the NLRB held an election to name a bargaining agent for the New York and New Jersey piers.

The Key Card. The new union had been in existence for less than four months, was still being run by sailors, machinists and teamsters rather than bona fide dock wallopers. And I.L.A.'s new president, Tugboat Captain William V. Bradley, played a key card with neatness and effect: on the eve of the election, he met with John L. Lewis and announced that the miners' chieftain had extended his blessing. "Our financial worries are over," Bradley said, and added with satisfaction that he favored ducking permanently under Lewis' muscular wing.

Confident of victory, the I.L.A. transported thousands of longshoremen to the polls in special buses. Ex-Convict Anthony ("Tough Tony") Anastasia, I.L.A. boss of the Brooklyn piers, brought hundreds of his men to one voting place in a body, with a brass band at their head. In brawls over the election, some men were stabbed and others battered. The NLRB had hardly begun its count before it became obvious that many an I.L.A. longshoreman had voted for the A.F.L.

Double Take. At week's end, with the outcome still unclear, the A.F.L. had 7,568 votes to the I.L.A.'s 9,060, with a block of 4,405 challenged ballots (an important point at issue: eligibility of men who had worked part-time on the piers) still to be processed. Obviously startled, the I.L.A. hurriedly set out to nail down a contract from their old friend, the New York Shipping Association, and threatened to strike this week if negotiations were not begun.

Meanwhile--though there seemed to be a faint chance that the A.F.L. might pick up a winning margin from the challenged ballots--President Meany immediately began fighting for time to do more organizing. He protested the election, charging that it had been "conducted under circumstances of intimidation and violence by known criminals." New York's Governor Tom Dewey leaped to his side immediately by ordering an investigation of the election by state agencies. "Reports have come to me," said the governor, "of the presence of gangsters and hoodlums in the vicinity of polling places." Whatever the Labor Board's decision, it was clear that a substantial number of New York's longshoremen had served notice that they were extremely tired of pistol rule.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.