Open Door

One of the big sticking points in the 1955 merger of the A.F.L. and C.l.O.

was building-trade union discrimination against Negroes. Last week the civil rights question still divided labor's leadership. Walter Reuther, who had quit the A.F.L.-C.l.O. executive council over this and other issues and may ultimately lead his 1.5 million-member United Auto Workers out of the federation, told the Congressional Joint Economic Committee that craft union leaders were "hiding behind pious declarations on paper." His "greatest disappointment since the merger," said Reuther, "has been the failure of the labor movement to solve the problem of minority groups in the craft union setup."

As a onetime Bronx plumber who became president of the A.F.L.-C.l.O., George Meany, 72, is the biggest craft union boss of them all. Yet, at a meeting of the executive council in Florida, Meany said: "We make no claim to perfection. I have always said there is discrimination in the labor movement. But we have made tremendous progress."

Reuther's seat on the council went to William Pollock of the Textile Workers Union, but another place might be vacated if Reuther wanted it. Meany remarked dispassionately that the U.A.W. chief should register his complaints through "appropriate channels" within the A.F.L.-C.l.O., where they would get a fair hearing. Asked if that constituted leaving the door ajar for Reuther's return to the fold, George said: "I would accept it as that."

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