Milwaukee Sentinel

(Friday, October 12, 1956)

George A. Haberman told a luncheon meeting of management executives at the Wisconsin Hotel that 'these few' CIO men are still inculcated with the doctrine of the communist party.

"In the minds of these people we find this teaching cropping up now and then . . . We find impetuous individuals in collective bargaining stalemating good relations between management and labor." Haberman said at the meeting sponsored by the Milwaukee Chapter, Society for the Advancement of Management.

Haberman said the AFL over the years has learned to work with management. He said his labor organization is anxious to help the companies with which it deals thrive and prosper because only then can workers share in this prosperity through increased wages.

Haberman traced the alleged leftist influence in the CIO to the days of the founding of the organization when John L. Lewis and a committee of 15 international union representatives broke away from the AFL on the issue of craft versus industrial unionism.

With limited funds and personnel, the new labor organization needed help to survive. Haberman said, adding, 'Unfortunately Lewis went to the wrong place for assistance. He recruited from the communist party'.

Party members gained prominence in the CIO because they were "well trained, well educated and could speak on any subject." Haberman said, Before long, in many local unions "they were in the driver's seat," he contended.

He cited as an example the wartime strike of the United Auto Works at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. "Because of the influence of one individual a strike emanated," Haberman said. "And who can say how many of our sons in the armed services died because of it."

[Haberman apparently was referring to Harold Christoffel, former president of UAW-CIO Local 248 at Allis- Chalmers. Christoffel subsequently was ousted by the UAW, convicted of perjury for denying membership in the communist party and sent to prison]

Haberman indicated the State Federation of Labor, which is composed of AFL unions representing some 200,000 workers, is less than enthusiastic about the merger with the Wisconsin CIO, whose rank-and-file membership has been estimated at 80,000 to 100,000 members.

"We do not care for this merger in Wisconsin, but we have a mandate to carry it out," he said.

"Time after time we have disagreed with the people who are doing business with us. Politically, economically, educationally, and organizationally, we have not seen eye to eye."

Haberman said that "under present negotiations, we feel we will use up most of the time (allocated by the national AFL-CIO for state organizations to merge) trying to find a mutual amiable solution." The deadline is December 4, 1957."