Labor: The Final Curtain

U.S. labor leaders bargain vigorously for early retirement — for everyone but themselves. The average age of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s 29-man policymaking executive committee is 64, but one member is 82, twelve are in their 70s and several are in their late 60s. Last week, at the council’s quarterly meeting in Manhattan, A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany, 71, announced a new policy that will bring change, if not youth, to labor’s high command.

Up to now, nominations to the council have been made by council members themselves, then routinely approved by acclamation on the floor of labor’s biennial convention; council members could thus perpetuate themselves in of fice. Beginning with the convention in San Francisco next December, executive council nominations will be made from the floor, then voted on. The change not only ensures the end of self-perpetuation but serves tactful notice to many members that they can either resign gracefully before December or be rudely ousted at the convention. Had he received any resignations from members lately, someone asked George Meany. Replied Meany: “Not in this century.”

The new procedure is clearly the end for as many as ten council hangers-on, including David McDonald, the former boss of the steelworkers, and James Carey, former chief of the electrical workers — both of whom have stayed on the council despite defeats in union elections. Facing up to his prospects, former Drama Student McDonald spoke for many of labor’s aging leaders: “Act III, Scene 3. Curtain.”