The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-15
Misleaders in
the American
Labor Unions
By WILLIAM 2. FOSTER

business agent of the Fixture Hang
ers' Union, was a crony of Tim
Murphy's in many of his deals. Mad
er's shady activities were multitu-
d;nCus. He had a hand in the "easy
money" in the building trades and
was connected from TIME to time
with the saloon business, gambling
Joints, bootlegging outfits, and other
undef'a Grid enterprises. He had a
long police record as crook and a
thug. In 1921 Nader did Stretch
in Joliet penitentiary for extorting
money from employers. Upon his re
lease he, in company with Tim Muir
ply and other gunner, seized the
presidency of the Building Trades
Council, which he held for short
time. He wa.i an active advocate
of the Lands Award. F'inal!v con-
demned by his international union,
he was fined $4,000 and suspended
from membership for five years.
Nader complained of the hardness
Of his lot and the ungratefulness of
the labor movement, saying (Chi-
cago Tribune, May 80, 1929:
"If L had devoted my time to
the real estate business and not be-
come labor leader l would be
worth $500,000 today and not the
100000 I've accumulated. No more
labor stuff for me. From now on
it is me for the real estate bust
ness"
Tom Kearney. business agent Of
the Plumbers Union, was protege
of Skinny" Madden. He also work
ed closely with Isl" O'Donnell and
put over many of the latter's big
deals. REPORT of Illinois Building
Investigation Committee, PIP. 50-58).
Kearney became, president of the
Building Trades Council upon the
compulsory resignation of O'Donnell.
He accepted the Lands Award, but
resigned in 1922 when the fight
against it grew hot. He was indicted
in 1921 as an extortionist and was
also involved in the Walsh and En-
ney was worth 100000, including a
store and apartment house valued at
$4,000 Gncumbrances S92,050),
l72 shares of Balaban and Katz mo-
tion picture theatre stock, $50 shares
of the Kearney-Dailey Glass Co., and
695 shares of the Ajax Rubber Co.
stock. He died in 1924.
Peter Shaughnessy, president of
the powerful Chicago Bricklayers'
Union, is also head of the Wash
ington Construction Co., a firm do
ing man-hole contract building. For
many years Shaughnessy, who is
one of the dominant forces in his
International Union, has used the
power of his union, industrially and
politically, to direct business into the
hands of his company. Thus he has
almost succeeded in setting up a
local monopoly of this class of work
in Chicago. This has led to COM
plications. In 1923, when the head
of the Board of Local improvements
tried to divert some of this business
to the Unisn Contrao ting Co. Zone
of the officials of which is Arthur
Wallace, former bodyguard of the
wealthy Lirdelof, head of the Paint
ers District Council Il, Shaaghnessy
promptly struck the Jobs of the ri
val company. He is one of the rich
est of Chicago's many wealthy ''la-
Dor leaders" He also has a jail
record for extortion.
Michael Artery, business agent of
the Metal and Mac inery Movers
Union and a president of the
Structural iron Workers Interna-
tional, is one of the bright stars in
the constellation of Chicago build
ing trades labor takers. Artery has
been involved in various extortion
trials. He was a specialist in "strike
insurance" and in collecting "fines"
against non-union made machinery
before it could be installed. Artery
was the man who made the motion
in the Building Trades Council to
accept the Lands Award. How
much the employers paid such lead
ers in order to "put across" this
Infamous award has never been d.
vulged. Like most of corrupt union
officials, Artery is in the real estate
business. The Chicago Daily News,
April 5, 1924, cites him as selling
"a apartment building to G. Bethke
for 100000. The daily papers of
March /, 1925, announced that Ar
terry had just bought a $4,000
apartment building from Louis nul-
sky, giving in part payment an IS
apartment building valued at $780,
900. His realty holdings are estim-
ated to total at least 100000. Moth
ing slow about this "proletarian."
To the foregoing corrupt Chicago
building trades officials could be
added the names of scores of others,
many of them rich, such as Shields,
Curran, Lindelof, Cleary, Brine, Jen-
sen, Como, Tagney, Redding, Walsh,
Hahn, Gunther, Sullivan, Knot, Sta
ley, Kane, Hanson, etc. But those
cited suffice to paint the picture.
There are many honest officials in
the building trades and they do
much to offset the harm done by
The grafters. But the burglars" as
they are popularity termed are the
typical and dominant element. Their
evil influence spreads far and wide.