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This is Moe Foner interview number nineteen, June 26, 1986. We're going to be talking about the recent events in 1199's history, in the period after Moe retired. Why don't you begin with your recollections of the first rank and file campaign against Doris Turner?

That was the Unity and Progress campaign. The slate was headed by Joe Franklin, who had been a vice-president in the guild division. I have rather vague recollections of that election campaign. We did a lot better than we thought. Nobody ever expected to win that election. The Turner administration did everything (mostly illegal) to win. However, the abuses of democratic procedure were so profound and so extensive that we wanted to go to the Department of Labor on the election, to see if we could get a rerun. The election took place in April of 1984, and the people were installed in May. Then the union went into negotiations for a new contract, and as a matter of strategy it was thought inadvisable to go to the Department of Labor at that time. Then the strike took place, and so the filing with the Department of Labor did not take place until the end of the strike, for obvious reasons -- nobody wanted to be attacked as being anti-union at a period when negotiations and strikes, where the whole theme is a united membership.

Let me revert now to the strike.

Let me ask you a few questions first. You're sure it was April of 1984? Because when we spoke last time you said April 1983.

Wait a minute. We're now in April 1986 -- it's April 1984. April 1983 we were talking about the merger situation. We're talking now about the election.

So in other words, her term should have run until 1987, but she agreed to an early election.

No, no. It's a two year term. However, the constitution was amended, the by-laws were amended, after that election -- the 1984 election -- so that now there is a three-year term.

Okay. But it was supposed to be a two-year term.