Introduction

Emil Rieve
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - On all Union decisions, Rieve would consult with the people involved, both individually and collectively. He was a great listener. By getting considerable input, he would also get agreement and loyalty on the decision. He had established this pattern while he was President of the Hosiery Workers, and it carried over to his presidency of TWUA. This openness and consultation was unusual in the labor movement.

Fiester - Rieve distinguished the roles of the headquarters staff and the field staff - service troops and line troops. In some ways, he felt that headquarters staff had more sense than some of the field staff.

Rogin - The importance of the field staff was evidenced by such decisions as the first increase in the per caps, because it was the field staff who had to implement this with the members.

Salary Levels within TWUA
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - All salaries were low, but headquarters staff Department heads were paid more than Regional Directors, which is unusual in the labor movement.

Fiester - TWUA paid minimum Guild scale on Textile Labor, which was also unusual in the labor movement.

It Was Not Necessary for TWUA to Pay High Salaries in Order to Get Good Staff
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - Even if salary levels had been set up differently, good, dedicated people would have gone to work for the Union, which is what happened in the International Ladies' Garment Workers (ILG) and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers (ACW). This was a characteristic of unions with a social viewpoint.

The 1930s Generation of Young People Who Got into Union Work as a Social Cause
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - The people who sought jobs with TWUA, ILG, and ACW represented a certain generation of people who got out of school in the 1930s and got “the social consciousness bug.” This changed later; this type of young person stopped coming to unions for employment.

Rogin - These people were less likely to get positions with heavy-industry unions. It was harder for them to get jobs with the Steel Workers, for example, but many did - both Communists and Socialists. The labor movement was a movement. Work with the NLRB in its early days was considered to be similar to working with a union.

Communists and How They Hurt the Labor Movement
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - Although not a Communist, David Saposs had had books published by International Publishers. Communists identified him as a Communist to the House Un-American Activities Committee, and Congress then punished him by cutting off appropriations for some of the work he was doing. The Communists did this to protect their own positions.

The Labor Movement as a Social Cause in the 1960s
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - The academic community lost interest in the labor movement when it became successful. That is, unions became better equipped to deal with management, which meant developing various sophisticated departments to help cope with labor-management relations. With this development, academics began equating labor with the corporate structure. Conditioned by this kind of thinking, the youth of the 1960s were as willing to tear down the labor movement as they were the universities.

Rogin - Students of the 1960s found labor on “the other side,” especially with the issues of the Viet Nam War and civil rights. Even anti-war labor leaders like Walter Reuther hesitated to break with labor's “hawk” stance. Also, by then people were no longer making any distinctions between unions. This was a great error of judgment, particularly in view of TWUA's attempts to organize the South and the political change that would have been brought about had TWUA been successful. With the 1970s, however, this distinction is again being made, and the TWUA is attracting young people. This is due partially to the United Farm Workers (UFW).

The Merger of the AFL with the CIO Made It Difficult to Distinguish Between Unions
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - After the merger, there was no longer any open discussion of basic issues facing workers as there had been even before the creation of the CIO.

Fiester - Labor at this time was also faced with the growing strength of the corporate body and with Taft-Hartley, the McClellan Committee, etc.

More on TWUA'S Attempts to Organize the South
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - Had the Union been successful, TWUA “could have done earlier what the civil rights movement has finally done now.”

Introduction

The Image of the Labor Movement and Bringing Young, Radical People Back into It
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) attracted many former 1960s radicals, though many did not stay. AFSCME attracted these people because of its crusade quality and its kinship to the civil rights movement. There is, however, no established opposition in the labor movement today, unlike in the 1930s when CIO unions provided this. Corruption, civil rights, and union democracy are all issues which are avoided in union hierarchies today.

Democracy, Corruption, and Civil Rights in Unions Today
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Most unions, contrary to the impression Rogin might have given, are democratic; but few people take an active interest in their unions and this makes unions appear undemocratic. Civil rights also has long been a concern for “our kind of unions,” despite a certain amount of backlash.

Rogin - The problem is not that all unions are wrong on these issues, but that there is no discussion of these issues. The union movement should set its own standards on these issues and not just wait for the government to set and enforce standards. This is difficult for the AFL-CIO because no large union still believes membership in the AFL-CIO is very important.

Ethical Practices Committee of the AFL-CIO
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - This committee has the constitutional authority to meddle in the affairs of member unions, as does the Civil Rights Committee, but it has been moribund for some time. The general feeling now is that the Landrum-Griffin Act takes care of ethical practices problems.

Labor's Use of Young People from within Its Own Ranks
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - As a democratic institution, the labor movement should be attracting young people from its own ranks. The Farm Workers are a prime example. While outside forces were vital factors in its establishment, the UFW must now bring people up from the ranks in order to make itself a viable organization. AFSCME is currently making a mistake by continuing to bring in outside people at the expense of internal, upward mobility. When Rogin and Fiester got into the labor movement, the situation was different - there were many openings and a paucity of people from the ranks to fill these openings. Today, with the labor movement declining, there is not much room for young people from outside the labor movement.

Fiester - TWUA during its declining period was a good example of the paucity of positions for young people.

Rogin - It is getting harder and harder for President Jerry Wurf to attract young people into AFSCME because they see no permanent future there.

Organizing as the Key to Creating Favorable Attitudes Toward Labor Unions
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - This is true so long as the organizing is done amongst underpaid people. It is not as true for organizing government workers whose pay increases come from taxes. For example, AFSCME's District Council 37 in New York City, which had always been on the right side of social causes, lost a good deal of support when the financial crunch hit the city.

Nepotism in the AFL-CIO
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - You cannot even be interviewed for any job in the AFL-CIO headquarters building unless you are “related to somebody.”

Reuther and Wurf as AFL-CIO Consciences
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Reuther served as a force within the AFL-CIO with which everyone had to contend; he prevented AFL-CIO leadership from getting too conservative. Jerry Wurf currently could serve the same purpose, but he is so abrasive that his natural allies on the AFL-CIO Executive Council are reluctant to follow his lead.

Rogin - Wurf will probably mellow but in the wrong way - “he may decide... that the protection of jurisdiction is more important than fighting the Establishment on issues.” This is too bad because he did raise some important issues. Because affiliation is loose, it is unlikely that Wurf will leave the AFL-CIO.

Introduction

George Baldanzi
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - He had few principles. This became quite evident after he was elected President of the United Textile Workers (UTW). He was more interested in maintaining a viable union that could pay salaries than he was in organizing textile workers. Had he favored merger between TWUA and UTW and had he exerted the leadership necessary to overcome obstacles to that merger and had he lived long enough, with his charisma he could well have become president of the merged organization.

Fiester - At the time TWUA was still located in the headquarters of the ACW but looking for its own headquarters building, Baldanzi suggested in the Executive Council that TWUA buy some property in the New Jersey meadows away from the city, which was either “an indictment of his intelligence or his commitment to the romantic gesture.”

Baldanzi's Speaking Ability
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - He must have studied speaking because he had the “professional tricks.”

Rogin - When Rogin first came to TWUA, he wrote many of Baldanzi's speeches. Baldanzi would record them and then listen to them; he worked very hard at it and was very good at sensing how his audience was reacting.

Fiester - It is odd that his speeches denouncing the Communist influence in the CIO became less effective as time went on.

Baldanzi Could Not Have Been Used by TWUA Just for His Oratorical Abilities
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - TWUA was not that kind of union, and Baldanzi would not have been satisfied being that kind of person. “He was good at any issue he concentrated on, if it wasn't interrupted by other concerns.” He did good work on the Southern Drive.

Fiester - Being a team player is very necessary in administering a union; Baldanzi, however, was not a team player.

William Pollock
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Pollock was a difficult man to work with; he was petty and did not have Rieve's broad view. This pettiness may have been due to the years he spent as Secretary-Treasurer. He was, however, a nice man.

Rogin - Two kinds of unionists came out of Philadelphia - social unionists and honest, hard-working, narrow trade unionists. Pollock was one of the latter and that was why Rieve did not want him as Secretary-Treasurer. However, Pollock represented the old UTW; and, since it was necessary to have a representative of the UTW in TWUA, Pollock was the choice. Rieve saw in Pollock a good secretary-treasurer - one who was willing to “deal with petty things.” This seems to be the character of the work of a secretary-treasurer: no matter how broad one's interests are originally, one ends up being petty. The United Auto Workers' (UAW) Emil Mazey was an example of this. Pollock was aware that many people in TWUA were brighter than himself, which was difficult for him to accept.

John Chupka Was a Viable Alternative to Pollock after Mariano Bishop's Death in 1953
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - Rieve could have made Chupka take the position of Executive Vice President; but perhaps Rieve had pinned greater hopes on Bishop than anyone realized, so that after Bishop died, Rieve just did not care any longer.

Mariano Bishop
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Bishop was a narrower trade unionist than Pollock, but unlike Pollock, Bishop began to broaden. “He was conscious of the possibilities of the labor movement in a way that Pollock never was.” He supported Walter Reuther for CIO President, even though he personally would have been more comfortable with Alan Haywood.

Fiester - He was a good listener and would draw out a person's views without appearing to do so. He was a great negotiator. He purposely tried to acquire many of Rieve's good qualities.

Introduction

More on Mariano Bishop
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - He was a man of his word who was respected by his adversaries. The future of the Union was much on his mind after he became Executive Vice President.

Rogin - Like Pollock, Bishop had a good rapport with the rank and file. Though he was too loyal to his friends, as was Rieve, Bishop was the type of person who could have taken the steps necessary to clean up the Union's weak spots.

More on John Chupka
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - He was an intellectual with a broad-ranging knowledge of, and interest in, everything from music and literature to being the best poker player in the Union. Chupka's varied interests came up in conversation only with “safe” people. A fun guy to be around. Anecdote concerning Chupka negotiating a contract with a synthetic plant. When a synthetic plant is shut down, various preparations must be made to keep the liquid in the pipes from solidifying. Negotiations went right down to the deadline, but Chupka was imperturbable, held out, and got what he wanted. Then he raced to the plant to inform the Union membership of the settlement so that work could continue and the plant would not have to be shut down, management being such that the workers would not have obeyed a no-strike order given over the telephone.

Rogin - Chupka was a Socialist when he was young. During the Depression he quit his job, joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and rode the rails around the country. For a period of time, he was a house dealer in Reno. All of his interests were kept separate - no matter what he was doing at a given time, that was the most important thing to him at that time. Union business always took priority. He literally kept separate poker and horse-racing accounts, which were very useful when the Landrum-Griffin people took an active interest in him because of his gambling notoriety. They could find nothing amiss. Rogin feels Chupka was aware that if he ever became President of TWUA, he would have to give up many of his interests because of the all-consuming nature of the presidency; but Chupka would have been willing to do this if the Union needed him. “He was a whole man.”

Fiester - Chupka actively participated in the debates between the Rieve and Baldanzi forces during the 1950-1952 internal fight, “and he chewed everybody up on the Baldanzi side.”

Rogin - Chupka had a sense of humor, and, therefore, he had a sense of proportion.

Herbert Payne
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - When Payne was sick, at the 1950 convention, he lost his sense of proportion and made a “tragic speech” on the floor of the convention.

Emil Rieve's Speech at the 1964 Convention
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - Cannot speculate on why the speech was delivered.

Sol Stetin
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - “The Union was his life.” At the beginning of the 1950-1952 internal fight, Stetin was very torn because he had always been close to Baldanzi, but there was never any question that his loyalty was with Rieve. He gave many people an opportunity to work in the Union. He gave the Education Department the opportunity to do a lot of work in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania; Stetin and Rogin used to discuss the limits of education. He was a good negotiator and “had a feeling for what would keep the Union in the plant.” He was popular with the membership because of his enthusiasm. At the time he was elected President of TWUA, Stetin was the best choice; and he was as good as most union presidents. Rogin almost returned to work for the Union, as a part-time consultant, at Stetin's request after he became President; but Rogin “went up to the headquarters and met all the ghosts,” and he could not go through with it. He is a better president than Pollock and perhaps as good as Chupka would have been.

Honesty in TWUA
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - It was assumed, except for the Dyers.

Fiester - In the CIO, the phrase was, “We got the Commies, but they got the crooks.”

Comparison of Stetin as President of TWUA with Other TWUA Presidential Possibilities: Chupka, Bill Belanger, and Harold Daoust
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Would rate Chupka above Stetin as a potential president.

Rogin - Stetin was the best available in 1972 because the leadership ranks had been thinned by the 1964 fight.

Fiester - Harold Daoust would have been a possibility after his Canadian experience, but not later on.

William DuChessi
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Honest and hard working, but limited.

Fiester - He was a man who did what he was told to do.

Joe Hueter
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - “Pollock without the pettiness.”

Introduction

Reba Gilpin Canzano
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Her influence in TWUA was indirect and exaggerated. Though she was important internally and may have had an influence on personnel decisions - especially weaker personnel - she did not have any influence on Union policy.

Fiester - She was not a political asset to the Union with her haughty, high-handed manner. She made it difficult for lesser joint board managers and people below them to get to Rieve. She influenced Rieve on borderline personnel decisions.

Rogin - Because of his shyness, Rieve had a reputation as unapproachable, and Reba's attitude only accentuated this.

More on Emil Rieve
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Rieve did not lack in social graces; when the occasion warranted it, he could be very gallant.

Rogin - CIO staff looked on Rieve very favorably, because he could be relied on to understand what they were talking about and to give them guidance when they needed it. This is particularly true of Stanley Ruttenberg (CIO Education and Research Department Director) and Kitty (Mrs. Katherine) Ellickson (CIO Education and Research Department staff).

Changes in Rieve in the Mid-1950s
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - His decision in 1953 to permit Pollock to succeed him was an indication that he was beginning to feel defeated. “The death of Bishop had an impact on his total thinking.” His speech at the 1964 convention was “a speech of a disappointed old man.”

In 1953 Rieve Discussed the Possibility of Naming an Executive Assistant to the President, Who Would Be His Representative in the Field; But He Never Acted on It

William Gordon
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - “Good soldier.”

Fiester - “A reasonably competent administrator.”

Victor Canzano
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - a great guy; a good joint board manager; ambitious. He used to send Fiester many pictures for use in Textile Labor.

Rogin - He came out of the Industrial Trades Union of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, an independent textile union. He was introduced to radicalism by Larry Spitz who was the public relations man for “Let Freedom Ring,” a theatrical troupe which was Communist-inspired. He was a bit like Chupka in that he had a broader range of interests than the average mill worker; but, though he was competent, “he somehow never fulfilled his promise.”

Wes Cook
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - He was one of Rieve's Philadelphia Socialists. He was a very able negotiator who was liked by the workers. Many people did not like Cook, however, because he was considered too “cerebral,” but he fit in well with the Synthetic Division because it was considered to be the most “thinking” division of TWUA.

Sol Barkin
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - At first, Barkin made Fiester uncomfortable when he complained about Rieve. “Just a brilliant guy who never finishes his sentence.”

Rogin - “He was the best Research Director any union ever had.” He made research work functional to the needs of the Union. He treated and paid his staff poorly. For a time Barkin was very disappointed he did not become president of the Union. Rieve's decision to keep Barkin on when TWUA was formed is an example of Rieve's wisdom. In the Amalgamated Clothing Workers tradition, where staff people became officers, Barkin would have become president of TWUA if he, rather than Rieve, had been named director of TWOC.

Introduction

More on Sol Barkin
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - Even though Barkin was still disappointed at not being made president of TWUA when Fiester first came to TWUA, Barkin ultimately concluded that he could not have done the job as well as Rieve. The reason Barkin did not pay his staff well was because he did not fight for them, but people stayed with him because he was such a stimulating person.

More on Herb Payne
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Unusual, thoughtful, moral. Payne did not work well with members, but he was a good person to discuss ideas with.

Fiester - Because Payne was a good person to discuss ideas with, he had a good relationship with Rieve. Payne was very distinguished looking; on more than one occasion he was mistaken for a management representative.

Rogin - “He would have never been president of a union,” but he was very valuable.

Rieve Was Not Threatened by the High Degree of Competence of All These People, But Pollock Was
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Union presidents like Reuther and Rieve were not threatened by this competence, but Pollock unquestionably did feel threatened by it.

Fiester - Many of Pollock's decisions were based on the fact that he was attempting to demonstrate who was in charge.

Boyd Payton
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - No comment.

Walter Reuther
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Reuther was invaluable to the labor movement because to the public he represented the best that people hoped the labor movement would be. It would have been a good thing if the merger (AFL and CIO) had not been necessary because it would have been good to have a CIO led by Reuther.

Rogin - Rogin knew the Reuther boys quite well; his sister-in-law was Walter's secretary. Reuther was unable to work with equals, and this made it very difficult for him to work in coalitions. Because of this Rogin feels, from many points of view, that Reuther would not have been a good CIO president over the long haul. George Meany treats all union presidents as equals, but Reuther “couldn't suffer fools.” This made his fight for the things he believed in less effective than if he had used caucuses and done other things which would have built up support. For example, Reuther failed to take advantage when Al Hayes brought the Machinists into the Industrial Union Department (IUD). Furthermore, he failed to explain to others what he was doing and why he was doing it when he left the AFL-CIO.

Fiester - Anecdote concerning how Reuther's treatment of the president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) drove that union out of the IUD.

Comparison of Reuther and Phil Murray as CIO Presidents
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - Reuther lacked Murray's ability to keep all factions satisfied.

Rogin - Murray recognized the necessity of running the CIO differently than he ran his own union; Reuther never recognized this necessity.

George Meany
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - Meany understood the nature of a federation. He took a leadership role in 1961 when the crafts and the industrial unions were at odds, by throwing his weight to the industrial unions. He is intelligent on economic issues. He insisted, over the objections of both President Kennedy and the Building Trades, that Title VII be included in the Civil Rights Act; he realized that the law would have to take care of unions on civil rights issues because the Federation could not discipline unions for their civil rights failures. He is “very decent to the people he works with.” Unfortunately, he is a unionist in the old tradition and does not understand the meaning of or the importance of education and organizing. A master politician; “he outwitted Reuther right and left.”

Introduction

More on George Meany
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Anecdote which illustrates Meany's lack of concern for or understanding of the need for organizing. AFL-CIO nepotism starts with Meany, but this is in the tradition of the type of union he came from. Nevertheless, no one else could have kept the merged Federation together.

Fiester - Anecdote concerning Meany's testimony, before passage of the Civil Rights Act, in favor of a bill to outlaw racial discrimination in the Building Trades, while Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg, as the Administration spokesman, opposed the bill. Meany, nevertheless, still views the labor movement from an elitist viewpoint; the most important people in the movement are from the skilled trades and “the others are more or less there by sufferance.”

What Meany Could Have Done to Make the Labor Movement More Progressive
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - He could have set up an effective Ethical Practices Committee to continually monitor corruption and the lack of democracy in member unions. He could have done more on discrimination. One could not, however, have expected these things from Meany, given his background. In regard to organizing, Reuther must take the blame for he decided the Director of Organizing would not be an elective position, and he selected for the job a person he wanted to get out of the UAW.

Fiester - The Ethical Practices Committee was put into the AFL-CIO constitution, but it was not given administrative machinery. Not only did the AFL-CIO permit Reuther to appoint a poor person as Director of Organizing, but it hindered the Department's effectiveness by permitting jurisdictional claims to thwart organizing efforts. These things could have been done right, but not by George Meany.

Sam Baron's Compromise Proposal of a Constitutional Change Providing for Five Executive Vice Presidents, Made at the Executive Council Meeting Before the 1950 Convention
Scope and Content Note

Fiester - That was not a great period in Rieve's life. It was too late to try to downgrade Baldanzi. The plan would not have worked.

Rogin - Baron probably made the proposal without consulting Baldanzi. Baron was the most torn and had the most to lose. He admired Rieve's strengths and understood Baldanzi's weaknesses.

Merger of TWUA and ACW
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - “A failed union should find a new cover.” Stetin's first choice was a merger with the UTW, but that was impossible. With the new leadership in the ACW, merger with that union was a wise decision. Stetin wanted to make a contribution as president.

Fiester - This merger was TWUA's only alternative. The ACW has young people in office, and the TWUA has no one of the stature of the old timers with which to replace Stetin.

J.P. Stevens Campaign
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - The Union seems to be doing a good job, and the company is helping.

Labor Law Reform Bill
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - One of his current bosses, Joseph Pollack, President of the Insurance Workers, claims labor will not compromise on the basics of the bill. One proposed compromise was on the early elections issue. Without that, “they might just as well not have a bill.”

Fiester's Best Time in TWUA
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - From the first, Fiester developed a great deal of respect for his co-workers and for the job the Union was doing; there were good people at all levels. He enjoyed the paper and the freedom he had to develop it; he also enjoyed getting involved in campaigns and the new challenge of writing speeches. All of this then was combined with the political fight, which was exciting. However, things began to go downhill for Fiester after the 1952 convention and especially after Bishop's death. Fiester was resigned to the fact that Rieve would retire but felt that Bishop would have been an acceptable replacement; however, he had misgivings about Pollock. After 1952, going to the magazine format with Textile Labor was challenging and interesting, but “that was about all the fun there was.”

Introduction

Rogin's Best Times in the Labor Movement
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - When he first began working with the Hosiery Workers, Rogin was involved in all phases of that union's operation. This was due in part to the fact that the Hosiery Workers was a small union; but also it was due in part to the character of Rieve. Rogin's broad involvement in union affairs continued when he came to TWUA, and he got great satisfaction out of defining the role of the Education Department and making it functional to the needs of the Union. The increased staff and activities of the Education Department during TWUA's boom years had only been a dream to Rogin previously. The internal fight was an exciting time in the Union. Rogin's “troubleshooting” in organizing after 1952 was also a very rewarding experience. Rogin thought he would never again feel the exhilaration of being part of a growing union, but he did when he went to work for AFSCME during its growth period in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “I've been lucky in that I've had two CIO's in a sense.”

Fiester's Proudest Achievement with the TWUA
Scope and Content Note: Fiester - Can not single out any one thing. The most influence he had was whatever he contributed to the 1950-52 fight. His involvement in the Textron investigation, whereby the Union got a law to thwart the use of charitable foundations as capitalist covers, was rewarding. Like Rogin, for most of his life he has been doing things he enjoyed.

Whatever Rogin Was Involved with at the Time Was the Most Exciting; and It Is Still That Way Today

Problems with the American Labor Movement
Scope and Content Note: Rogin - Jerry Wurf outlined the problems at the 1975 AFL-CIO convention. Loss of union membership is not necessarily due to changes in the work force. There are problems within the labor movement itself - lack of democracy, etc. Today there is evidence to demonstrate the accuracy of Sol Barkin's theoretical analysis in The Decline of the American Labor Movement (1961) which was actually published when the movement was at its peak. Hopefully, people will begin to attempt to solve the internal problems of the labor movement and not merely rely only on changing the law to help labor.

The Basic Cause for the Decline of the Labor Movement
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - Labor grew in the United States because the business community had been discredited by the Depression. The labor movement was viewed then as one means of solving the problems blamed on the business community. People no longer see things that way and part of the reason is the weaknesses in the labor movement.

Fiester - a specific example of business' falling into disfavor during the Depression is the Telephone Company which previously had been considered an enlightened employer.

Rogin - Business regained its reputation during World War II. By broadening its goals and by making its structure more attuned to the times, the labor movement could begin now to recoup its own once-favorable reputation. Some unions are thinking in terms of organizing and are growing - IBEW, the Retail Clerks International Union, government employee unions. Still, though, the labor movement's structure could be changed to improve this - particularly in government employee unionism where a CIO approach would have prevented the situation of unions struggling against one another. Many more government employees could have been organized.

Fiester - Unions are too oriented to wages and should concentrate more on grievance procedures, etc. when trying to organize.

The Key to a Revival of the Labor Movement
Scope and Content Note

Rogin - The key is not the South. There is public employee unionism, insurance workers, bank workers, retail workers, etc. Conditions in the insurance companies and the banks are terrible, particularly with computers; but labor must approach the organizing of these workers with creativity because of the many obstacles. The Office Workers Union, which has only 100,000 members, can not organize these people alone because it does not have the resources. AFSCME was able to go through its great growth period, on its own, with borrowed money, because the opportunities were so great; also, given the present framework of the labor movement, other unions would have wanted “their piece of flesh” in return for any aid to AFSCME.

Fiester - In manufacturing, the Sunbelt is the key.

Rogin - An organizing committee should have been established when the President's Executive Order, permitting unionization of government workers, was issued. If it had been done, there would be many more organized government workers today.