The Meany-Reuther Conflict

...Meany, on the other hand, acting through Jay Lovestone (who is notoriously preoccupied with rooting out every last trace of proComintern sentiment even where it seems nonexistent) eschews any form of cooperation with unions which are, in his judgment, suspect on this score...

...The revolt of the airline mechanics against the leadership of the IAAI might have been averted, had the union developed less archaic methods of bargaining and brought local leadership into direct participation at national levels...

...Many of them, however, will probably show less stomach for the game if it begins to create headaches for them in their own constituencies, and it will if Reuther really decides to build an opposition...

...His need for recognition will not be met, but it will be more nearly fulfilled than if he continues along present paths...

...It is from this source that $60,000 a year for the California grape strikers is drawn, and money to support overseas activities rivaling, perhaps exceeding in scope the work of the entire AFL-CIO...

...Reuther would try to negotiate with the devil himself if the alternative was to go to war...

...Reporters have made much of the votes inside the Executive Council, but these votes have limited meaning...

...He tries to persuade, and he does have enormous gifts of persuasion...

...Whatever Meany's disposition, many old-line AFL-CIO leaders will not be eager to part company with the UAW...

...It is hard to believe that he will follow this course, since he has nothing to gain...

...With the exception of the two major parties, it may have more political activists in its ranks than any other organization in the country...

...What seems more likely to happen is that Reuther will go his separate way...

...The IUE and IAM, for example, whose presidents are said to be in the Meany camp, conduct joint negotiations with UAW in General Motors, Ford, General Electric, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft, and other large corporations...

...UAW is no longer as dynamic as it was in the thirties, nor even the forties, but it is still quite a force...

...While none of these will support a split of the AFL-CIO, more often than not their power and influence will be on UAW's side...

...The effect of Reuther's open opposition probably will be to move Meany somewhat to the "Left...

...As UAW moves openly, Meany may find himself on somewhat less solid ground than he now occupies...

...The Council votes mean little...

...They will more actively support campaigns to organize farm workers and the working poor generally...

...Meany is a craft unionist...

...Again, the differences are linked to background...

...They remain there on sufferance of the UAW...

...They will act more independently in the political arena and will seek recognition in places where influence and power count...

...There is a tradition of public unanimity at the Council level, and it is precisely this tradition of unanimity with which Reuther is breaking...

...A successful leader in national collective bargaining must continuously share leadership with others...

...At any recent National Democratic party convention, for example, going back at least to 1952, the number of UAW members seated as delegates almost certainly exceeded the total for all other unions combined...

...The total number of new workers organized by UAW since January, 1964, now exceeds 100,0001 It pays per capita tax on nearly 1.4 million members to the national AFL-CIO...

...The union has financial muscle, too...

...Before final settlements are arrived at, they are first presented to a meeting of this Council and are not sent to local unions if the Council disapproves —as it has been known to do...

...We hope to print other articles, with various interpretations, in later issues.—ED...

...In the automobile centers, members of craft unions work alongside UAW skilled tradesmen as a supplementary work force during model change periods...

...The UAW's ability to use this base effectively shows up at critical moments...

...It is the bread and butter of craft locals in cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Toledo...

...How significant this will be for the nation and the trade union movement it is not possible now to foretell...

...This exclusion is, by now, resented to the point of obsession...

...Meany's foreign policy attitudes are probably not much different from those of the average Irish workingclass Catholic—still untouched by the influence of Pope John and the currents of change set loose by Vatican II...

...Because he is the product of a union which, out of tradition and preference and early recognition of necessity, has always sought to draw local leadership into policy and decision-making, Reuther has tended to make few significant decisions without consulting others...

...But the difference in their trade union backgrounds may be even more significant...

...Similar procedures are followed in all UAW negotiations...

...Reuther and the UAW will make no revolutions...

...It is also probably the largest single union in Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey...

...Reuther, of course, is social demoocratic in orientation, even if not ideologically...

...There will, instead, be a gradual drawing apart...

...Acting for President Kennedy, he even tried it with Castro in the abortive attempt to trade American-made tractors and bulldozers for those prisoners captured in the Bay of Pigs fiasco...

...Meany—as his treatment of Reuther would indicate—is the more intransigent, though he almost certainly would not be if he'd been trained as a leader of workers engaged in collective bargaining...

...The differences that have caused the break are not in any sense ideological —though they are, in fact, significant and sharp...

...Similar currents are running in other places...

...Meany, on the other hand, proudly states that he has never walked a picket line...

...Reuther is the kind of man who feels compelled to go along so long as he is part of a "leadership team," but now he wants out, wants more elbow room, and so he has moved for greater independence...

...Union demands are formulated by a General Motors Council of about 500 local union delegates, and this Council is generally called into session two or three times when negotiations are in progress...

...It is strongest in the Middle West, not only in Michigan, but in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin as well...

...In bargaining with General Motors, for example, Reuther consults continuously with the popularly elected rankandfile negotiating committee...

...Or, if he felt forced to make a quick decision, he would have been in touch with other leaders as soon as possible, by phone and in person, to explain his decision and to try to persuade them that it was a correct one...

...A good part of the comment about the dispute inside the AFL-CIO has been empty of understanding...

...During discussions at the last meeting of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, Meany was asked by one International Union president if it was reasonable to infer from a proposed policy statement that the AFL-CIO eval uated the political systems of Yugoslavia and China as identical...

...But if trouble threatens at local levels, or income is shut off, the local officials, so the argument goes, will want Meany to sue for peace with Reuther and will begin searching for ways to put the pressure on him to call off or at least minimize the conflict...

...Reuther supports and works with overseas unions, if they seen representative and legitimate, even when they are critical of American policy...

...His experience has taught him that negotiations of immediate quarrels can—if ideology is kept off the table—lead to a succession of tem porary settlements that, taken together add up to a continuing avoidance of all-out conflict...

...It has more than 1200 local unions operating in about 40 states...

...Ironically, Reuther's recent moves may enhance his standing and influence inside the trade union movement...

...If they are to be persuaded to accept compromises in bargaining, they must be convinced that proposed compromises are adequate to the situation, or unavoidable...

...it is what happens in the field that will be important...

...But he has almost never had to deal with the delicate problems of collective bargaining, and this makes all the differ ence in his way of operating and administering the affairs of the labor organization...

...Many people in the leadership of the UAW believe that he should have begun long ago...

...There is consequently reason to believe that if Reuther were the head of the AFL-CIO, he would draw others into close consultation...

...A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT...

...There will be no formal break with the AFL-CIO —unless Meany aggressively seeks one...

...After all, he has learned to live in relative peace—even if not always amicably— with General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, International Harvester—even with Kohler...

...Reuther's scorn for Meany's lack . of "real trade union background" almost matches that expressed by Jimmy Hoffa...

...The communication we print below is from a long-time trade unionist who describes himself as "a friend of DISSENT and the LID...

...A local business agent who remains unthreatened by UAW action at his level, or a state AFL-CIO official, whose organization is placidly supported by all UAW locals within his jurisdiction, is likely to remain neutral at best in any controversy between Meany and Reuther...

...The UAW is the only union that has always required its local unions to affiliate with and pay per capita to local and state labor organizations...

...UAW was a more or less critical force in the campaigns to nominate Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and John F. Kennedy in 1960...

...Reuther never before adopted a posture of opposition and it was, therefore, not possible to mobilize UAW's considerable power on his side of the argument on top...

...They will experiment with new techniques and alliances in attempts to organize communities of the poor...

...but many craft leaders may soon begin to feel the need to conciliate and to minimize tensions with the UAW...

...The two men are poles apart temperamentally, though on domestic political issues they are relatively close to each other, and both stand substantially to the Left of the American population...

...More often than not—in truth, almost always—his ideas and proposals have a way of prevailing, but he almost never seeks to impose them by fiat...

...The UAW, under his leadership, has been a pace setter in negotiating pensions, guaranteed employment plans, health and hospital insurance plans, as well as in wages, hours, and working conditions...

...The UAW is a large and powerful union...

...In many localities and states UAW per capita payments to city, county, and state labor organizations are critically important...

...As the subject matter of collective bargaining grows more complex and the groups of workers represented grow larger and are more dispersed, the need for consultation, explication, indoctrination, and persuasion grows too...

...It contends with the Steel Workers for first place in size among all unions in Canada, where in the past year it has rolled up a dazzling record of more than 40 consecutive wins in labor board elections...

...David McDonald lost the presidency of the Steel Workers because he persistently failed to consult with regional and local leaders of the union...

...Short of disaffiliation, Reuther has many weapons in his arsenal, and he is likely to use them...

...More affirmatively, the Steel Workers, IUE, Rubber Workers, Packing House Workers, Amalgamated Clothing Workers, Teachers, and others have strong ties with the UAW that are rooted in tradition and emotional identification...

...Because he is required to consult others, Reuther expects to be consulted...

...Here and there, at local levels, the UAW will go it alone, but in most places it will continue to cooperate with the AFL-CIO...

...Reuther supports official American policy, but he maintains a somewhat independent stance and is likely to be critical on details of State Department activities in foreign lands, especially in the underdeveloped countries...

...Reuther has, in effect, decided to give up standing in the wings while he suffered what he regarded as exclusion and abuse, waiting for a crack at a job that he knew in his bones he would never inherit...

...It has significant clusters of membership in California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee...

...Jay Lovestone does not, as many suppose, create policy for Meany—he rather provides the intellectual rationale and know-how to implement it abroad...

...A point that seems to have escaped most labor commentators is that until now Reuther has merely argued and debated with Meany at meetings of the Executive Council—a quite different thing from opposition...

...They are not looking for trouble and they will find ways to let Meany know they're not...

...So long as the differences between Meany and Reuther were expressed only at meetings of the AFL-CIO Ex ecutive Council, Reuther's peers could join the fun of "slapping the Redhead down...

...By any reasonable standard, Reuther is "entitled," but Meany has made no secret of his intention to block him at any cost...

...In contrast, the UAW convention, at Reuther's urging, has called for "a new look" at American policy overseas, and specifically endorsed the inclusion of Red China in the United Nations...

...He has a more open view of the world and rather expects that unions and nations outside the United States will tend to be more collectivist than he would choose to be...

...His talents were developed and displayed in political maneuvering (generally off-stage) as a very skillful representative of craft union interests in New York State politics...

...He will be under great pressure to compete and will very likely begin to place greater emphasis on the organization of agricultural workers, on the need for political action, and the broadening of the national organization's social and political programs...

...Reuther is accustomed to accommodation through negotiation...

...It is hard to believe that these factors will not find expression, if the argument on top begins to reflect itself in deteriorating local relationships...

...Much of the union's leadership believes that it can recapture a good deal of its old vitality as it begins to operate more or less on its own...

...Business agents in those towns will not be anxious to man battle stations in a war over "abstractions" that disturb the relationship of Meany and Reuther...

...One can be sure, for instance, that a number of the larger districts of the State, County, Municipal Workers will not silently accept attacks on UAW by the president of that union, if UAW spokesmen begin protesting vigorously—especially at moments when they are called upon by that union for support in critical struggles...

...Ironically, it is quite possible that Meany, in the coming months and years, will seek to avoid public con flict with Reuther, and that relationships between the UAW and the AFL— CIO will grow more, rather than less, placid...

...In some places, important political figures will learn, if they do not already know, that consultation with Meany is not enough, but that they'll have to talk with the UAW too...

...The unions have long had formal and informal mutual assistance agreements and arrangements, and their area leaders often work in tandem...

...Meany, according to some who were present, fudged his answer but finally did not boggle at the implication...

...His fundamental complaint against Meany is that he learns about too many AFL-CIO decisions through the newspapers, and that he and others do not learn about policy until it has been translated into action...

...His separation from the AFL— CIO leadership will make it possible for him to work more closely with nonlabor, liberal groups, and the influence of his union will very likely increase...

...Threats of withdrawal, expressed or implied, at these levels, will probably be enough to cause a good many leaders of these groups to begin to say openly that "George ought to lay off...

...At least a few presidents of international unions who have, even if covertly, opposed Reuther, are likely to begin hearing from significant local units which rely heavily on UAW for support and cooperation...

...Perhaps more than anything else, habits become reflexive through years of training and experience make it difficult for the two men to work together...

...It is precisely in this area that Reuther has had his greatest success...

...In foreign affairs, the differences between Reuther and Meany are hard to define—but they are significant...

...This work, recurring each year and sometimes lasting for months on end, is generally done under high pressure, with a great deal of premium time for overtime...

...Union leaders trained in large-scale collective bargaining necessarily learn to consult with others inside their organizations, or develop—as John L. Lewis seemed to—an acute sensitivity to the needs of their members...

...No matter what Reuther does, Meany will die in office, if that's what he chooses to do, and the power of the organization he leads can be greatly weakened only if he chooses to fight battles that can be avoided...

...He asks us to note that he writes with an avowed bias: "I think that Reuther has used his position constructively and honestly and has somehow contrived to remain uncorrupted (in the broadest possible sense) by position and power...

...This has led Meany to the absurdity of refusing cooperation with LatinAmerican worker organizations, some of which, though Roman Catholic in inspiration and orientation, are nonetheless sharply critical of the United States and its policies in that part of the world...

...It is just possible, on the other hand, that Meany's abiding dislike of Reuther (which seems very real and intense) will cause him to sweep aside all cautionary warnings and go after Reuther and the UAW in open war...

...A good many unions, accustomed to dealing with small, localized groups of workers, concerned with relatively simple problems, have found it difficult to adjust to the new complexities, have failed to involve local leaderships in the continuous education of direct participation and have, as a result, found themselves completely out of touch with their members at critical moments...

...He will, as a result, enjoy five or six years during which his influence in American life will increase...

...Jacob Potofsky of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers is recorded as supporting Meany's position, but his union has publicly declared itself for the recognition of Red China...

...He would not have decided, even momentarily, to withdraw from the International Labor Organization—as Meany did— without first consulting with the most important officers of the AFL-CIO...

...Not that the craft unions are likely to desert Meany...

...Does anyone really suppose, then, that he supports Meany's foreign policy...

...He is, in the literal sense, not much of a unionist at all...

...People who should know claim that he was the best labor lobbyist ever...

...He must be able to bring them along...

...They certainly owe no fealty to Jay Lovestone, who may often seem to them responsible for the friction on top...

...There are, of course, other important points of difference...

...Meany is solid, workingclass Irish Catholic—more or less radical in economic matters but conservative socially and, above all, theologically...

...In addition to dues payments, it leads all unions in the collection of voluntary political contributions from its members (about $500,000 in the recent non-presidential year), and the interest from its strike fund of about $45 million is spent to support international and community activities...

...Though most outsiders would probably think of him as more practical than Reuther, the truth is that AVleany has had little to do with bread-and-butter unionism, and almost nothing to do with policymaking collective bargaining...

...This is one reason that in recent years we have witnessed the rejection by union members of leadership-proposed settlements...