Red Stronghold Demolished

At International Harvester, a key fortress of the Red-led Farm Equipment-United Electrical Workers union has been the Rock Island (Ill.) Local 109, with more than 3,000 workers employed at the Farmall tractor works. Two years ago, Local 109 leaders had such a firm grip on the rank and file that the C.I.O. United Auto Workers withdrew an application for an NLRB election for fear of being trounced. Last week the U.A.W. went into a second NLRB election with no intention of quitting.

On the side of the U.A.W. was the Rev. William ("Father Bill") O'Connor, a labor priest who has fought for 22 years in Rock Island for what he calls "vigorous American unionism," often over the protests of Quad-City* businessmen. In the last seven years Father O'Connor has set up 30 labor schools for workingmen in his district to fight Communist infiltration, notably in the Farm Equipment Workers union, which was thrown out of the C.I.O. in 1949.

With the election in doubt, Father O'Connor called on his friend Msgr. T. J. Jordan, dean of ten Rock Island-East Moline Roman Catholic churches for support. On Sunday before the election, the parish priests read an announcement of Msgr. Jordan from the pulpit: "The issue is simple--the choice of C.I.O.-U.A.W., a good American union, or Communist-dominated U.E.-F.E. Good Catholics, who know the evils of atheistic Communism, should vote . . . C.I.O.-U.A.W." Across the Mississippi in Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, another seven priests joined the campaign. After the sermons, two U.E.-F.E. shop stewards bolted to the C.I.O. Next day at Farmall, though no more than 15% of the workers are Catholic, U.A.W. buttons blossomed everywhere, and the result no longer seemed in doubt. The C.I.O.-U.A.W. won by 1,740 to 760.

The C.I.O. had broken the back of the Red-led union in the farm-equipment industry. U.A.W. claims some 19,000 Harvester workers, v. 9,000 for the U.E. The U.A.W. also thinks that it is a sure winner in another contest this week with U.E. for 600 workers at Harvester's Richmond (Ind.) plant. Said a triumphant U.A.W. organizer: "They'll be coming in so fast we'll have to bar the door."

*Rock Island, Moline, E. Moline (Ill.) and Davenport (Iowa).

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