One Big Union

In New York City last December 5, two men seized an oversized gavel, and, banging it on the rostrum, jointly called to order a convention of more than 1400 people. The men were George Meany and Walter Reuther; the convention was that of the newly-formed AFL-CIO, product of the merger of the nation’s biggest unions, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. This merger, forming one immense labor organization of 16 million workers, was viewed with mixed...