Word: becking
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...peaceful techniques began to work, the goons vanished almost as magically as they had appeared. Beck declared himself the foe of strikes and promised to prevent them-a promise which has gone virtually unbroken for almost a decade...
During the ten years of peace, Beck has bent every effort to gain popularity for himself and his unions. During World War II the teamsters' treasury was tapped to buy football uniforms for the 146th Field Artillery at Fort Lewis. Teamsters recorded the farewell messages of 60,000 soldiers who passed through the Seattle Port of Embarkation and sent the records to their families. Dave Beck ran the state of Washington's third war bond drive and exceeded the quota by $30 million...
Vociferous Critics. He still has vociferous critics-most of them now among union men. Some of his own minions grumble at his repetitious speeches, his peremptory commands. Said one teamster, of a campaign Beck waged to ingratiate himself with eastern Washington farmers: "For a while, everybody in the Teamsters' Hall had to have an apple in his mouth. Next year Dave had trouble organizing the apple sheds and you were canned if they found a seed in your pocket...
Seattle taxi drivers speak of him sourly. Since 1944, Beck has kept them under local trusteeship (a state in which the rank & file cannot initiate meetings) as punishment for holding a wildcat strike. Many teamsters complain that they have no voice in the union's affairs...
Officials of the C.I.O. are more outspoken. Harry Bridges has long accused Beck of running company unions for the benefit of the employer. Since Beck began organizing the Boeing Airplane Co. last spring during a machinists union strike, other union leaders have called him the hardest names they know: scab and strikebreaker. But despite this, every West Coast labor leader envies him the power his tactics have yielded, and none can deny that he has won teamsters both wages and prestige...