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Snapping Turtle. In his 20th year as head of the combined AFL-CIO, Meany is a phenomenon. His mind is quick, his memory is sharp ("I haven't forgotten a thing in my life," he told the conference last week), and he is so self-assured that he does not hesitate to speak for all American workers, even though only 13.6 million belong to the 110 increasingly disparate unions that make up his confederation. Meany used to be as grumpy with the press as a snapping turtle, but in his youthful old age he can charm Dick Cavett...
...saying that he was an anachronism 20 years ago. Meany's archenemy was Walter Reuther, the fiery and eloquent head of the United Auto Workers, who was the great reforming force in American labor after World War II. Second only to Meany in power, Reuther wanted the AFL-CIO to fight harder to recruit new members and to crusade more. Stubbornly, Meany took a pragmatic, go-slow approach ("ideology is baloney," he says). Bitter with frustration, Reuther pulled his UAW out of the AFL-CIO...
Last week Meany announced that the AFL-CIO would play no role in choosing the Democratic presidential nominee in 1976. The decision showed that Meany could still be vindictive-and shortsighted. By opting out of the selection process, Meany was unwisely forfeiting his chance to persuade the Democrats to choose a candidate favorable to labor. Meany could make things worse for labor-and the Democrats-by sitting out the election campaign itself. But if the party chose someone who is friendly to the workingman, Meany could well end up mobilizing the AFL-CIO behind the Democratic candidate as of yore...
Give-Away Policy. Meany's early Democratic favorite had been Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson, whose record on domestic affairs earned the AFL-CIO's support. But Meany was angered by Jackson's support of the trade bill, fearing that it would threaten jobs in this country by increasing the flow of American capital and technology overseas. More important, Meany accused Jackson of "phonying around with Henry Kissinger," claiming that for almost two months the Senator had joined the Secretary of State in concealing a Soviet let ter rejecting a trade agreement with the U.S. that seemed...
Today Meany is fighting President Ford's economic program with the same bull-like intransigence that carried him to the peak of the labor movement. He has written every member of the House and Senate to plug the counterproposals of the AFL-CIO. The federation's six lobbyists in Washington are putting special pressure on Oregon's Al Ullman, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is writing the key legislation. Every Monday, lobbyists from 30 or so of the federation's affiliated unions sit down with AFL-CIO representatives to coordinate their onslaught...