Victory at Schenectady

The Red-led United Electrical Workers, whose biggest local (No. 301) has been in General Electric's plant at Schenectady, last week was dealt a crippling blow. The local, which represents about 20,000 General Electric workers, voted to leave its tainted union and join the C.I.O.'s International Union of Electrical Workers. The final tally: 9,005 for the I.U.E.. only 5,179 for the U.E.

The vote was a big victory for Business Agent Leo Jandreau, who once refused to tell a congressional committee whether he had ever been a Communist as charged. But last February, Jandreau went over to the C.I.O. and then testified freely, denying that he had been a Communist (TIME, March 22). U.E.'s leaders promptly read Business Agent Jandreau out of Local 301 and the union. But it made no difference, since Jandreau's power in Local 301 was so strong that he took his workers with him.

While a triumph for Jandreau, the vote was an even bigger one for the C.I.O.'s I.U.E. in its battle against U.E. With Schenectady won. the I.U.E. has wooed almost 100,000 electrical workers away from its Red-tainted rival, now has a total membership of 425,000. third biggest in the C.I.O. (after the Auto and Steelworkers). The I.U.E.'s next target will be the remaining 20,000 General Electric workers under U.E.'s crumbling control in plants at such cities as Elmira, N.Y., Bloomfield and Newark, N.J., Scranton and Erie, Pa.

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