Paid Up

When a labor union gets sued, that's news. When a labor union pays damages, that's big news. It was big news last week when Branch I of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers agreed to cough up $110,000 for damage its members had done four years ago during a sit-down strike at the Apex Hosiery Co. plant in Philadelphia. The company had filed and won a suit for triple damages against the union, had been reversed by the Supreme Court. Last year a new suit was instituted to collect $1,171,957 from the union, and about the same amount from the city, on the grounds that the city had not provided protection for the plant.

By the out-of-court settlement last week, the city agreed to pay $15,000, the union to pay $30,000 now and the balance in installments of $2,500 a month. With the conscious pride of one who had done a rare good deed, Alexander McKeown, national president of the hosiery workers, declared: "We had a responsibility to the entire labor movement with our actions in this case. . . . We have forever answered those critics of trade unionism who delight in talking about the 'irresponsibility' of labor. . . ."

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