Big Name for Big Baby

In Washington last week, the leaders of the 10 million-member American Federation of Labor and the 5,000,000-member Congress of Industrial Organizations met to clear away a big obstacle to their merger: What should the new organization be called? The 73-year-old A.F.L. jealously held out for its own name; the younger,19-year-old C.I.O. wanted a compromise, e.g., American Congress of Labor. Eventually, the leaders agreed upon a 24-syllable combination: American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (A.F.L.-C.I.O.).

C.I.O. President Walter Reuther called the new name "a happy solution." But other C.I.O. chiefs felt that it was "a conglomeration that we'll have to live with for at least two years." Almost everyone admitted it would present problems for a union like the International Association of Marble, Slate and Stone Polishers, Rubbers and Sawyers, Tile and Marble Setters Helpers and Terrazzo Helpers American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

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