Defeat for Labor

Among U.S. city governments, few have been more strongly controlled by big labor than Minneapolis (pop. 560,700). Endorsement by the city's Central Labor Union (representing 166 A.F.L. locals, 75,100 members) has all but guaranteed election-day victory since the mid-'40s. But last week, to its pained surprise, the C.L.U. discovered that its political clout was sadly diminished.

In an upset citywide election, with labor domination the issue, Minneapolitans clobbered Incumbent Mayor (since 1948) Eric Hoyer, 59, a C.L.U. stalwart and onetime house painter, handed a solid 6,000-vote majority to his opponent, Conservative Republican Lawyer P. Kenneth Peterson, 42. Some other C.L.U.-endorsed candidates fared as badly: three lost aldermanic races to independent liberals, and, more surprising, labor's representation on the school board was cut from five to two.

C.L.U. leaders were quick to blame defeat on antilabor "smears" and the exposures of labor racketeering by the McClellan committee. But the Minneapolis Tribune had a more accurate postmortem: "The voters want independent officials . . . The overall effect of the election was a crushing defeat for C.L.U. bossism."

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