The Picket

When the A.F.L.'s Automobile Mechanics Union began organizing auto dealers' mechanics in Chicago in 1939, Carl Petersen's Chevrolet agency balked. Two of his employees struck and began picketing. After two years of it, they got fed up and quit. The union kept picketing anyway, using Alexander Orr, a ruddy, rotund little Scottish bachelor and professional picket.

Last week, after twelve years of walking up & down outside Petersen's, 69-year-old picket Orr's tour of duty finally came to an end. Dealer Petersen agreed to go along with an agreement signed by the Chevrolet Dealers Association and the union, and urge his few remaining nonunion mechanics to join up. Said Petersen: "I didn't care much one way or another." Orr, who reckoned that he had paced off 40,000 miles in twelve years, had worn out two signs and two dozen pairs of shoes. Said he: "Everybody was always nice to me. Mr. Petersen never said an unkind word to me all the time I was there." In return, Orr had helped out Petersen by walking his Scottish terrier.

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