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SCHREIER ON ORGANIZING STRESS
ADDRESS (excerpts)
By John Schreier, Assistant
Director of Organization
AFL-CIO Washington, D.C.
April 17, 1957
In Detroit I was Director in Michigan and since that
time you know there has been a merger and we now have a united labor
merger of AFL-CIO. Our organizing staff has increased, along, of course,
with our membership. Any group in society with a membership of 16
million becomes a factor and a problem in our way of life. We have
certain responsibilities. Our organizing staff increased from 130
to well over 300 people. (I believe it was 340.)
Since the merger to the present time, we have lost 67 men, some through
death, some through resignation, retirement and some leaving us and
going with their own International Unions to carry on the work of their
own Internationals. Our staff amounts to 275 organizers. Of course, ours
is the largest department within the AFL-CIO and the one that naturally
is looked on to carry out the policies of the Federation.
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Since the merger we have increased vacations and try to make the job
a little easier, but we also realize this and that is why we have been
insisting on forced vacations where men must take it and it is not a
question of saying 'I would rather take the money'. . . . We sometime
wonder, when a fellow drops dead, if he had taken a voluntary
retirement, if he might have lived a few years longer. We are not sure
about that, but we have been discussing it. The thing that bothers us is
that a lot of these fellows who have died suddenly were rather young
men. We don't want to keep a man in the harness when there is a chance
for him to retire and he can do so in comfort. *
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