Armistice at the Armory

Under the glaring canopy of lights in Manhattan's 71st Regiment Armory, the 1,500 A.F.L.-C.I.O. delegates bore decorously the immense power and affluence they controlled in the moment of their 15-million-member merger of 141 unions --the greatest assemblage of free labor's many mansions in one house.

Last week's merger of old rivals, amid the peace and plenty of the 1955-model U.S. they helped to forge, had about it a pride in the long way traveled from weakness to strength. Said Walter Reuther, ending the C.I.O.'s 17th and final convention a few days before: "We have brought sunshine into the dark places of America.

We have given millions ... of workers a sense of security and a sense of human dignity." Nominated by Reuther and elected unanimously as expected, the new coalition's first president, stolid George Meany of the 74-year-old A.F.L., expressed his hope for the future. He told the convention: "We have got to give some sober thought today to ... taking our place in the community life of the nation . . .

Labor not only has a right to raise its voice . . . We have a duty as citizens to take part in shaping the policies of our government.'' "Beautiful Thing." But the birth of what Meany likes to call the new "instrumentality" was accompanied by numerous Big Labor pains last week.

The first integration problem arose from the fact that the C.I.O. remained not only intact--as planned--but grew stronger. Thirty-one of its 32 frisky industrial unions (4,600,000 members) formed the new federation's Industrial Union Department, headed by ex-C.I.O. President Reuther. To gain a voice in the new I.U.D., 38 A.F.L. unions with 2.672,000 industrial workers quickly signed up with Reuther's outfit. This move was a surprise to the top A.F.L. leaders, including Meany.

"A beautiful thing," gloated the C.I.O.

Electrical Workers' James Carey, when he realized that the suddenly enlarged I.U.D.

had become by far the biggest bloc in the new A.F.L.-C.I.O.

"The First Instance." Not so beautiful was a scramble to board the I.U.D. bandwagon by the Teamsters Union, the A.F.L.'s biggest (1,400,000 members) and most sprawling affiliate (truckers, dockers, bakers, dairymen, grocers, laundrymen).

To form a counter power bloc, the Teamsters tried first to squeeze into the I.U.D.

with their entire membership. "We're going in lock, stock and barrel," bristled Vice President James R. (for Riddle) Hoffa, whose growingly visible power within his union suggests an undercover undercutting of Teamster Boss Dave Beck.

But in the federation's first internal fracas. Meany and Reuther proved tougher than Beck and Hoffa. As the Teamsters flexed furiously, Meany was asked who would solve the unexpected problem of evaluating which I.U.D. applicant unions were genuinely industrial. Grinned Meany: "Me. in the first instance." Beck and Hoffa soon slimmed their claim of "industrial" Teamsters to 700,000; when Reuther labeled that figure "insane," the Teamsters capitulated and settled for 400,000.

Facts of Life. Ahead lay scores of smaller jurisdictional impasses between rival A.F.L. and C.I.O. unions across the U.S. C.I.O. Lithographers (30,000 members) fear absorption by the A.F.L.'s 88,000-member Printing Pressmen's Union. A.F.L. telephone workers (100,000) think the C.I.O. Communications Union (300,000) is eying them. C.I.O. Brewery Workers (45,000) have already lost 20,000 members in raids by the A.F.L. Teamsters. Yet some disputes were already being solved by mergers within the Big Merger, which could go far to pacify the U.S. labor landscape and benefit every bystanding consumer or employer affected by inter-union strife. Example: 400,000 meat workers of the A.F.L. Amalgamated Meatcutters and the C.I.O. United Packinghouse Workers planned to team up as last week's convention ended.

More evidence of the federation's adjustments to the facts of U.S. life showed in the composition of its 27 vice presidents (17 presidents of A.F.L. unions, ten of C.I.O. affiliates). They included the A.F.L. Sleeping Car Porters' A. Philip Randolph and the C.I.O. Transport Service Employees' Willard Saxby Townsend --both Negroes, who assumed top executive posts never before granted Negroes in the old A.F.L. or C.I.O. The independent Brotherhoods of Railroad Trainmen and of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, planning soon to add their 300,000 members to the federation, were working to remove long-held anti-Negro discrimination clauses before they joined.

More difficult to face was another fact of U.S. life; only one out of three wage and salary workers is unionized. Organized labor's weakest areas: chemical, textile, service, white collar, construction, state and local government workers. By fanning 400 topflight organizers into these fields--particularly in the newly industrial South--the federation hopes to double its membership to 30 million in the next decade. Despite the immense difficulties of the tasks ahead it has set for itself, despite the many frictions and old feuds, the spirit of the new organization was generally moderate and harmonious. A lot of the A.F.L. delegates made no secret of their admiration for Walter Reuther's drive and brains. George Harrison, president of the A.F.L. Railway Clerks, said of Reuther: "He's done one hell of a job on unity. It takes a big man to bow gracefully out of a big position." Among C.I.O. delegates a feeling of respect and affection for George Meany seemed equally strong. He stood more than any other top man for effective labor leadership coupled with faith in the U.S.

system.

Outside organized labor, the main line of comment on the merger pointed to the danger that arose from the new power which unity conferred. The danger was real, but perhaps exaggerated. Organized labor was not merely bigger than ever; it was more secure than ever--and irresponsible labor acts of the past could be attributed to its sense of insecurity.

It was no accident that George Meany observed his elevation to the presidency of the merged union by making to the National Association of Manufacturers one of the most conciliatory speeches of his career (see BUSINESS).

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