Evening star., 1955-11-06

ton, would be director Of publica-
tions.
There will be tremendous prob
lens Of union jurisdiction arising to
haunt the infant organization after
the merger agreement is all signed
and sealed. There are dozens Of
unions in the AFL and CIo with
overlapping Jurisdictions over work.
ers, and numerous instances where
two unions cover almost precisely
the same fields.
Helping to make things more
peaceful are "a the fairly effective
machinery the AFL has had in
operation for several years for
settling jurisdictional disputes with
out strikes. and t2) the no-raiding-
of-membership pact signed by most
AFL and CIO unions last year. The
latter plan has not been In opera
tion long enough to obtain q true
measure Of its effectiveness.
John L. Lewis mine workers and
the operating railroad brotherhoods
are the major unions which are not
involved in the unity move.
But Mr.. Lewis is by no means the
only labor leader who processes q
dim view OF the merger. There are
within the old-line unions of the
AFL number Of influential officers
who regard unity with considerable
suspicion and many reservations.
These are mostly so-called bread
and-butter unionists who, in their
thinking, are as far apart as the
poles from the brand Of unionism
practiced by Walter Reuther par
ticularly and the CIO generally with
its emphasis on social reform and
political action as well as on wage
matters.
The Critics
Then, there are in both the AFL
and CIO a few vociferous critics
Of the unity plan.
Among these is Woodruff RAM
dolph, president Of the AFL Inter-
national typographical Union.
Among Mr.. Randolph's fears is that
the new setup viii make it easier
for the big unions to become more
powerful by gobbling up the small
er unions.
The latest report was that Mr..
Randolph had sent word TO his
locals that the ITU would try living
in the AFL-CIO for couple Of
years. Then, If they don't like it,
they would get out.
Michael Quill, head of the Trans
port Workers. has been the loudest
CIO critic Of the merger. He takes
the position that the AFL is swal-
lowing the CIO. which may be true.
Mr.. Quill has suggested numerous
changes in the new constitution to
the CIO Executive Board. AS q
means of possibly getting on q
limb. Mr.. Quill has submitted the
question Of afiiliating with the
AFL-CIO TO q referendum Of his
membership.
George @. Lynch OF Washington.
president Of the AL Pattern
Makers League. has been fighting
the merger idea since it was just
d gleaIn in the eyes Of Mr.. Meany
and Mr.. Reuther. His Is one Of the
unions which has refused to sign
the no-raiding agreement. He de-
scfibes the pact as ''unrealistic"
and ''hypocritical."
There are those who believe. and
Mr.. Lynch Is among them, that
labor grew strong the past 20 years
because Of the competition for new
members between the AL and CIO.
They fear q unified labor movement
would become complacent.
Politics, 0rgonizotion
Eject Of merger win be felt
largely In two fields an increase Ia
political activity and In efforts TO
organize the millions Of workers
who now have no union aftiliation.
Politics is q comparatively new
field to the unions. Large scale
efforts were begun by the CTO only
IL years ago, while the AL has
only about half Of that experience.
Union political leaders are the
first to admit that the labor vote
cannot be delivered in q bloc to
any candidate. But they have
learned much since the 1850 effort
to defeat the late Senator Taft
when the labor politicians made
themselves so obnoxious In Ohio
that their opposition was worth
q couple Of hundred thousand votes
to the Senator. Where the labor
political effort has been well or
gainized it has been effective. as
witness Its success in Michigan in
electing Gov. O.. Mennen williams,
sometimes, as in 1852, against
strong Republican tide. There is
no doubt that labor's voice win be
louder in the 1856 elections.
As for organizing the morgan
lied, the efforts Of the AFL-CTO
will be directed. among other places.
toward assaulting the open-shop
strongholds in the South. There
in the past the divided AFL and
CIo organizers frequently have
worked at cross purposes. 1t is
expected the new organizational
drive in Dixie win take on q more
Southern approach - making use
Of local talent rather than import
ing Yankee" organizers. q