Disunity at Unity House

At the midyear conference of his executive council last week, A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany was asked about the growing split between his combine's craft and industrial unions. Growled Meany: "I haven't found anyone to heal the breach because I haven't found anyone who knew it existed."

But Meany must not have looked very far, for throughout the four-day conference -- held at Unity House, the 1,000-acre Pennsylvania resort owned by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union --signs of rift were all over the premises. On the excuse that he had to fire the opening salvos of the United Auto Workers' contract battle in Detroit (see BUSINESS), A.F.L.-C.I.O. Vice President Walter Reuther, who has long been at odds with Meany, snubbed the entire meeting; labor experts were quick to note that Reuther had set the timetable for his contract negotiations long after the executive council meeting date had been established. Top lawyers for the industrial unions claimed that relations between the A.F.L.C.I.O.'s wary and uncomfortable halves were "even worse than in the days before the merger.'' David Dubinsky of the I.L.G.W.U. and Jacob Potofsky of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers deplored the situation as "bad and ridiculous."

Grey Area. The reason for the widening schism between the A.F.L. and the C.I.O. is as old as the picket line: jurisdictional disputes. Faced with a decline in membership (from 15 million in 1958 to about 12 1/2 million now), the increasing threat of automation, and long-term unemployment in organized industries, A.F.L.-C.I.O. unions have come to ignore their no-raiding pledges, compete bitterly with one another for membership. A major new "grey area" of conflict: factory maintenance. Although building tradesmen have always held a monopoly on industrial construction, C.I.O.-formed unions have traditionally carried out essential maintenance. Recently, craft locals have bid for maintenance contracts by offering to do the job at lower wages and with no fringe benefits.

As the Unity House meeting ended, Machinists Union President Al Hayes submitted a report of a study committee on jurisdictional disputes. Hayes told the council that his group was agreed on limited arbitration as the best way to end intra-union battles, asked for (and got) more time to work out the right formula. But some union leaders suspect that the problem will get worse before it gets better. Moans Plumbers and Pipefitters Union President Peter Schoemann: "The 'grey area' and [the jurisdictional] 'scrambled egg' area used to be just a one-egg omelet; now it's getting too big."

Indecision. Annoyed by the council's indecision on jurisdictional skirmishes, many industrial unionists were complaining about the leadership of Craft Unionist (his trade is plumbing) George Meany, who nonetheless still seems likely to win any fight for the presidency at next December's A.F.L.-C.I.O. convention. But amid all the wrangling at Unity House, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. did achieve one demon stration of Solidarity Forever. In a blunt paper on "The International Crisis," the council supported President Kennedy's no-surrender statements on Berlin, and rejected Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield's suggestion to merge East and West Berlin into one free city. "The only way in which the Allied rights and access to West Berlin and the freedom of its people can be secure," read the statement, "is for the United States. Britain and France to take all measures necessary for protecting and assuring free and unrestricted access to West Berlin for their military personnel and supplies and for civilian travelers and goods."

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