House in Order

In Atlantic City's Convention Hall last week, 879 delegates representing the massive A.F.L.-C.I.O. met with scarcely more than one piece of meaningful business to act upon. The big organization (more than 15 million workers) was clearly a disordered house, thanks to the loss of public confidence in trade unionism engendered by revelations of corruption in the Teamsters Union and other unions. The business: whether or not to boot out the mighty Teamsters (1,400,000 claimed members), who had arrogantly elected Tough Boy Jimmy Hoffa their president (TIME, Oct. 14). Under the relentless prodding of President George Meany, a tough guy of another stripe, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. voted to throw out the Teamsters by a 5-to-1 margin.

For four hours the debate droned on. One by one, Teamster partisans pleaded for charity, invoked in lofty prose the memory of bleeding feet at Valley Forge and treachery among the Twelve Apostles. It was all useless. Word came, too, that even cocky Jimmy Hoffa had tried surreptitiously to work out a last-minute deal with George Meany, but Jimmy had been too busy to settle on a date. He was busy, in fact, in Manhattan federal court, where he was standing trial on wiretapping charges. (Teamster ex-President Dave Beck was tied up in Seattle, where he was on trial for embezzlement of union funds.)

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. verdict: out. Gruff George Meany let it be known that the door would be open for the Teamsters' return after expulsion if they should get rid of Hoffa. Nonetheless, the delegates were well aware that their decision might plunge Big Labor into a near civil war as they trudged out of the Convention Hall to a tune barked out by the organ: Anything Goes.

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