LETTERS

...Editors: William Kornblum, writing in the spring Dissent on "Why the Insurgents Lost in Steel," offers some, but by no means all, the reasons why Lloyd McBride soundly defeated Ed Sadlowski in the Steelworkers' union election...

...The new administration in the Steelworkers has brains, experience, integrity, and considerable imagination...

...Yet, the terribly skewed results from Texas and Quebec made this virtually impossible...

...Traditionally, any "opposition" candidate for national office in the union seems able to pick up about 30 percent of the vote...

...at other times, his principal complaint was that it failed to provide for rank-and-file ratification procedures...

...He does seem to believe that their use of the "outsider" issue was more than self-serving campaign rhetoric...

...The issue is hardly the success or failure of a fundraising drive, nor is it the social aim of a particular election, whether in government, the unions, professional organizations, fraternal societies, etc...

...The comments by Jules Kolodny and Henry Fleisher are proof that at least in this prediction I was correct...

...In the delegate elections, prospective candidates ran as supporters of one or another presidential aspirant, in accordance with legal requirements...

...The nonvoters, it can be argued, were casting a tacit endorsement, for whatever reason, of the union's record and of its administration's probable future track record...

...McBride did well, in addition, throughout the southern states—not just in Texas alone...

...By the formalism of Mr...

...To do otherwise is to run the risk of granting to monied interests outside of a particular electorate a disproportionate voice in the election outcome...

...The McBride campaign began supporting this position at the time of the union's Las Vegas convention...

...Messrs...

...Note that when numerous unions and church groups wanted to affect corporate policy and / or elections in the J. P. Stevens situation they bought blocks of shares in order to become part of the electorate...

...Beyond that, the latter groups can also, qua citizens, lobby in Congress for appropriate legislation to accomplish their goals...

...Kornblum sees no distinction between the involvement of those who are eligible voters in an election contest and those who are not...

...The principal functional purpose of a union is to win economic progress and protection for its members...

...Certainly, this minority of basic steel employees may have been less likely to vote for the insurgents than was the vast majority of workers whose incomes, even with killing amounts of overtime, does not approach that magic figure...

...I am far from convinced that he is right...

...The poor showing in the basic steel mills to which Mr...

...Over the years the public relations firm in which he is a partner has done a good deal of business with the USWA...

...Perhaps this failure to press aggressively for so important a reform of status quo labor-management relations is one reason the basic steel local union presidents first voted 148 to 143 not to ratify the 1977 Agreement...

...Wherever there were traditions of locallevel democratic competition, the insurgents generally won...

...An alternative position is that all of the criticisms are valid and deserved mention...

...As for the ENA and Sadlowski's criticism of it, I think Fleisher is incorrect in thinking the insurgents' criticism amounted to a failure of focus...

...Finally, the extremely impressive advances in basic pay and benefits negotiated by President I. W. Abel, who retired on June 1, appeared as an indication to the union voters that ENA could not be as totally evil as Sadlowski tried to paint it...

...To do otherwise is to intrude on generally accepted principles of democracy and law that have stood us in good stead these many years...

...Kolodny's logic, these are legitimate gifts, since the staff men are also union members...

...Rauh and Mr...

...The Sadlowski side also involved a number of their friends in the campaign...

...Victor Reuther, Joseph Rauh, J. K. Galbraith, and Arthur Schlesinger—all of whom signed fund-raising letters for the Sadlowski side— have come under special attack by Meany, Shanker, and others...

...As one who was associated with the McBride campaign, perhaps I can offer a few additional observations...

...Some of these arguments may have appealed to romantic observers of the labor relations scene who, as part of the current nostalgia craze, long for the heroic "proletarian" struggles of the 1930s...

...Lynn Williams, the director of the big central Canadian district—not the union's Canadian national director, as Kornblum stated—and a leading figure in the Canadian labor movement, could have been expected to give strength to the McBride slate north of the border...

...and John Kenneth Galbraith, it is clear that they did have a considerable impact on the media...

...In most democratic electoral systems, a voter turnout of less than 45 percent is a sign of legitimacy problems, an erosion of the belief in the right of the leaders to exercise power in the name of the members...

...I refer to the way in which he handled the issue of the solicitation of funds by and from persons who were not members of the union...

...The involvement hypothesized above relative to a possible Georgia election might raise considerable sums and accomplish its purpose...

...The principle that justifies the "good guys" according to Kornblum's perceptions becoming involved in an election where they are not part of the electorate would also permit the "bad guys" to do likewise in another contest...

...For example, Quebec's approximately 50,000 Steelworkers represent 20 percent of Canada's USWA membership, but their votes accounted for 50 percent of McBride's margin in that country...

...But Fleisher's association with the campaign as a strategist and media adviser was that of a private citizen and friend of the candidates...

...Certainly, qua citizens, they were all included in the electorate in the general election the following November...

...1 am proud to be numbered among them...

...One can offer various theories as to why 60 percent of the union's members failed, or declined, to vote in the union referendum election...

...I hope for the good of Steelworkers in this country and in Canada that the McBride leadership does not believe this foolish assertion...

...The basic issue is that those who are not part of a particular electorate should endeavor to become part of that electorate, if possible, or to modify legislation to accomplish their purpose—or stay out of the campaign...

...As it turned out, the Sadlowski campaign could barely afford to keep its Steelworker volunteers supplied with leaflets...

...Sadlowski's effort to suggest that the Steelworkers under Abel had failed to do so, and that McBride would be no more productive, clearly could not fly...

...While Kornblum derides the union leadership's concern about pro-Sadlowski efforts of Joseph Rauh, Victor Reuther...

...Kolodny's faith in the sincerity of the incumbent Steelworker leadership should be commended...

...Sadlowski did a little better...

...After all, Abel and his staff, along with other AFL-CIO officials, indeed made no secret of their opposition to the McGovern candidacy in 1972, and their massive financial support for the Jackson presidential campaign is public record...

...The procedures established in the Sadlowski-McBride campaign adhere closely to this pattern...

...Wherever the insurgents were able to campaign, the turnouts were much better than average...

...They hoped to do well enough there, however, to protect victories scored in the major industrial corridor of the Great Lakes basin...

...This was one sign that the insurgency was having a positive effect...

...Abel's response then was to thank Rauh for his contribution...

...So be it...

...The Experimental Negotiating Agreement does indeed put the strike method on the shelf, but for clearly defined periods of time...

...Henry Fleisher does not raise here the issue of "outside" influence in his comments...

...Those named as "outsiders" are strenuously defending their rights to support the candidate of their choice in this important election...

...Many labor leaders were delegate candidates to the Democratic National Convention...

...I. W. Abel and George Meany made much of Sadlowski's solicitation of non-Steelworker funds...

...However, Rauh, Galbraith, Schlesinger, and Reuther were not members of the Steelworkers' union and, as such, could not by law be part of that electorate...

...Indeed, in the socialist society of the future, I am sure there will be many more ways than now exist for all of us to work for the improvement of our lives as working people...

...Furthermore, in a union where only about 40 percent of the members voted in the election, despite urgent efforts by both teams of candidates, the issue of ratification voting obviously did not cut very deep...

...Such a policy would run counter to the recent trend to place limitations on contributions in the general political arena and in the intent of such legislation as Landrum-Griffin, which mandates that political caucuses within unions raise funds from the caucus membership in election campaigns...

...After all, in the record of depositions gathered during the U.S...

...Whether, as Kornblum suggests, the "insurgent" movement will flourish in the years ahead will be determined largely by the success, or lack of it, in the McBride Administration...

...At times he criticized that agreement—which substitutes arbitration for the strike method—because he said it imperiled the right to strike...

...Some 39,000 of the margin came from all of Canada...

...Likewise, Jewish and non-Jewish organizations interested in effectuating a change in corporate policy relative to the Arab boycott bought stock in order to become part of the electorate of the corporate structure...

...But I would feel differently if over 75 percent of the McBride funds came from rankandfile union members, who do not feel threatened about any staff positions...

...Another issue that interested me a good deal was the promise of "due process" on the job, the guarantee for workers to retain their rights as citizens during disciplinary actions...

...Consequently, those labor leaders could be included in the convention electorate...

...This initial vote, taken before arm-twisting could reverse it, was also a no-confidence vote for the ENA...

...to steelworkers, however, who have vivid memories during the last 15 years of tremendous stockpiling before contract expirations, followed by long postagreement periods of unemployment while the stockpile was depleted, the ENA offers obvious advantages...

...Rauh, Reuther, and Galbraith constantly demeaned I. W. Abel—seeking to cast him in an image about half-way between those of Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa...

...It was reflected in the large number of articles and television programs that enthusiastically reported how a Sadlowski victory would "turn around" both the union and the entire AFL-CIO into militant progressivism...

...I suggest that Fleisher compare notes with Quebec Director Jean Gerin-Lajoie before attributing this degree of strength to Lynn Williams's role in the campaign...

...During the long campaign, I noticed that a number of platform planks that had previously been proposed by the insurgents had begun to appear in McBride literature...

...322 I began my brief analysis of the Sadlowski-McBride election by saying that "months, even years will pass before the dust settles over the issues raised by the Steelworkers' 1977 International Union election...

...A point we probably could agree on concerns the voting behavior of Steelworkers who make more than $20,000 a year...

...In the meantime the influence over the affairs of the Steelworkers will continue to be monopolized by a small group of corporate managers and an equally small group of union leaders...

...but to steelworkers who have the union to thank for wage levels that bring their annual income in large numbers of cases to well over the $20,000-a-year level, the memories of 50e-an-hour average wages in the depression years were less appealing...

...If outsiders can use their influence and financial resources, it would be possible and justifiable for a group of wealthy New England racists, for example, to get involved in a Georgia election in an effort to defeat a Julian Bond or an Andrew Young...

...There was very little about Sadlowski's campaign oratory or his rather astounding interview in Penthouse that would seem calculated to win support from Sunbelt workers...

...q 323...

...Kornblum's position was stated as follows...

...It is no particular surprise that Sadlowski did poorly in Canada...

...It is not altogether surprising that Sadlowski fared so poorly in the basic steel mills where he and his supporters thought they had maximum strength...

...The bulk of funding for the McBride slate came from contributions paid by union staff members...

...Thus the Steelworkers in Quebec contributed only about half the Canadian plurality for the winning slate...

...But it was a good deal more than that...

...Kornblum suggests that the Sadlowski defeat hinged on poor showings in just three areas: Quebec, Texas, and "the Pittsburgh region...

...What does the Steelworkers' election show...

...On the basis of his record and the fuzzy nature of his platform, it is well— for the union, the labor movement, and the country—that he did not achieve a larger vote...

...On their record, the McBride group's future looks good...

...Department of Labor investigation of the 1973 USWA election in District 31, Joseph Rauh reminded I. W. Abel that he had contributed to Abel's 1964 campaign against David McDonald...

...Editors: William Kornblum's article, "Why the Insurgents Lost in the Steel Union," raises many issues, to one of which I would like to respond...

...Kornblum does not see the potential dangers involved in the position he is defending...

...Many others, including 321 leaders of the United Automobile Workers, found the comparison overdrawn and ridiculous...

...The insurgent candidates expected losses in the South and in Canada...

...Fleisher's crystal ball tells him that the 60 percent of the union members who did not vote are content and were probably casting a "tacit endorsement" for the union's record...

...and at still other times he suggested that employees of the basic steel companies would have had much greater rewards if ENA were abandoned and the strike weapon were available to them...

...Yet one conclusion seems obvious: if dissatisfaction were bitter and widespread, more union voters might have cast their ballots...

...McBride's plurality, according to the official report of the tellers, was about 79,000 votes...

...Still, it is important to remember that the insurgents won handily in basic steel...

...In any case, failures like this leave me less than sanguine over the future of democracy and justice for Steelworkers...

...Reuther, in a soaring flight of fancy, agreed that Ed Sadlowski reminded them greatly of the Walter Reuther of "30 years ago...

...Many of us wondered where this position fell out during the union's recent negotiations with the basic steel corporations...

...He did...

...In the long run I might agree with Jules Kolodny's position that we should attempt to become part of an electorate we seek to influence...

...In contrast, few reporters—except some of the more experienced observers of the labor scene—took notice of the somewhat less than brilliant record that Sadlowski had compiled in his very few years as director of the Chicagonorthern Indiana district...

...Ralph Nader, whose credentials as an experienced observer of the trade union scene are exceedingly thin, joined in the attack on the union leadership...

...Fleisher refers is in fact a victory margin for the insurgents of about 60 to 40, rather than the 2 to 1 cushion that had been hoped for...

...There was no mention of it in reports of contract talks, and it does not appear anywhere in the new contract language...

...If anything, the incumbent officials in the union have the Sadlowski insurgents to thank for breathing some life into a dormant democratic structure...

...Throughout the campaign he appeared unable to get a steady focus on his criticism of the Experimental Negotiating Agreement between the union and the basic steel companies...

...Such Meany followers as Albert Shanker also castigated Sadlowski for accepting financial help from "outsiders...

...Who is involved is not the issue, nor is the fact that the involvement by outsiders in Steel was not successful in raising huge sums of money pertinent to the principle at issue...