"Lew McBeck"

With rare beef and red wine, 320 A.F.L. and C.I.O. leaders in Washington's Mayflower Hotel last week celebrated their new no-raiding pact. C.I.O. President Walter Reuther and A.F.L. President George Meany supped at the same table, then rose to call for a united labor movement. The pact, said Meany expansively, was "the first step toward unity."

But in their mail the next day, Meany and Reuther found a letter that reminded them that not all of labor is marching along toward unity. The letter was sent out on sparkling new stationery with a joint letterhead, and was signed by United Mine. Workers President John L. Lewis, C.I.O. United Steel Workers President Dave McDonald and A.F.L. Teamsters Union President Dave Beck, who formed an alliance two months ago. Addressed to editors and labor leaders all over the U.S., to the governors of the 48 states, to the President and all members of Congress, it called for immediate Government action to reduce unemployment. C.I.O. and A.F.L. leaders were sure that the most significant aspect of the letter was not its content but its timing. The triumvirate had timed its first joint pronouncement to make clear that it was not part of the no-raiding pact or the unity parade. Without Lewis, McDonald and Beck, labor unity is more fiction than fact. Although few labor men expect McDonald to pull out of the C.I.O. or Beck to leave the A.F.L., their new phantom federation with Lewis produces more rather than less labor disunity. Obvious indications that the trio is making long-range plans to use its joint force in legislative and political battles prompted many a labor man to conclude that there is a new labor force in the U.S. called "Lew McBeck."

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