Arizona sun., 1960-11-24
Labor And Civil Rights

Talk by Toor0e Meanv. pres
dent AFL CIO at 25th Annivers-
ary Convention of Jewish l. a b o
Committee.
We in the AFL CIO sincerel.
appreciate the honor which is b c
'ng paid to the labor movement tc
night. No one person in the ranks
Of labor earned this honor. 1t wa:
indeed a united effort of the e n.
tire AFL CIO.
You in the Jewish Labor Con
lnittee and we in the AFL Ci(
have far more in common tn a {,
the word Labor" in our names
We have sought shoulder to shoul
der on many issues and for many
causes.
But there is one of our common
bonds, our common principles
that gives me a special sense o
pride, as l am sure it does you
IAlthough our enemies sometime
claim otherwise, neither of our or.
ganizations is a special interest
group.
What we want for ourselves, we
want for all humanity
In your case, you have fo u g h I
Ivaliantly to preserve and extend
individual rights against all forms
of bigotry and totalitarianism
mot just Jewish rights, but tn e
rights of every man.
In our case, whether at the col
Elective bargaining table or in the
Legislative halls, we fight for h e
economic and social progress OF
the people as a whole. We h v e
said may times and it is our
deep conviction that what S
good for America is good for h e
labor movement.
| You will concede, | think h a
the problems of the labor move :
ment are more diverse than yours.
I'VE must, by nature of our move
ment, undertake so many C a m :
lpaigns, and wage our battles on so
many fronts, that we find it diff
cult sometimes to give a single is
sue the concentrated attention 1t
deserves, for fear of neglecting the
lOtherS.
| know it sometimes seems o
our friends that we move very
slowly indeed on matters that are
of deep, primary concern to them.
Are we doing enough on the mil
mum wage law Some of our own
affiliated unions would say we
ought to be doing more. Are we
doing enough on the Forand Bill?
Not enough to satisfy everyone
who is interested in medical care
for the aged. What we are doing
is the very best we can in the light
of all the problems we face.
We find the same situation when
we come to an even more funda-
mental issue = the issue of civil
rights, of equal opportunity. 1t has
been said by some, as you wei |
know, that while the AFL CIO
supports civil rights legislation j n
Congress, we have not been vigor-
Gus enough in ridding our o w n
movement of practices based on
bigotry and discrimination.
| want to make two points abso-
lutely clear.
First, on this matter, as in S o
many others, | have nothing in
common with the southern Sena :.
tors. | do not propose to argue, a
century after the Civil War, n a t
discrimination will disappear if
we just leave it alone. We haven't
left it alone; we're not leaving it
alone today; and we will ver
leave it alone until we wipe it out.
Second, while l do not pretend to
enjoy criticism, l do not resent it
when it is honest and factual, a |
though sometimes / wish our
friendly critics would keep in mind
the ground we have already Gov :
cred, as we'll as the distance W e
have yet to go.
| think the record proves W e
have come a long way. Many OF
our older unions were born a n &
grew up in an earlier and less en-
lightened period. They e t e C :
ed the attitudes of their commun-
tiles = prejudice based on ignor-
ance. Discrimination was not only
accepted; it was respectable.
It is a measure of our progress
that where discrimination still |
survives in the labor movement, 1t
is bootleg product, sneaked in by
subterfuge. Even those who prac