Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324         Page 440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464 of 592

feeling that it was largely talk. They were committed to the program in a verbal sense and they sort of were stuck with it. It was like the water was coming out of the open-ended faucet, and it was never being turned off and they didn't know what to do with it. At any rate, Bob Master came on as safety department director.

We ended our relationship -- I'm not sure what it was. I knew that it was going to come to an end sooner or later, but I think that the Hormel-P9 strike speeded it up. I was involved with Jan Pierce arranging a meeting of trade unionists on the P9 strike in New York City, and I attended that meeting. I walked in and there were representatives of the international union making a pitch. I did not know when I walked in that they were from the international -- they shook my hand, etcetera. But by that afternoon, by the time I was back at my office in New York, I was already getting a call from Irving Stern that the reports were from Washington that I had been present at the meeting, and I had a meeting with him on it and expressed my opinion. That's something I did. I didn't represent 342. But I suspected that sooner or later that would speed the ending of my relationship with 342. Fortunately enough, it took place as the election campaign in 1986 was really getting into high gear, and so it resulted in my being able to devote a considerable amount of my time to that campaign.

Back up to the strike?

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about 342.

Why did you go to work for 342?

The arrangement I had with Bread and Roses is that I would devote three days a week to Bread and Roses. I was interested in seeing what could be done in another union in this area. I was not too familiar with 342 as an organization. They seemed outwardly a very, very vigorous organization. They did a lot of things that were rather different than most unions, particularly in extra-curricular activities whether it was blood banks, or safety programs, or scholarships, and things of that kind which I thought indicated that there were possibilities for making a dent there in this area, and seeing whether it's possible to translate Bread and Roses in another setting, on a much more modest basis. It was also geographically very close to my home, so that it was easier in that sense.

So you were fairly hopeful, or interested when you first went in?

When I first went in, I was interested. Now you've got to also remember that I had been cut adrift when I retired. Bread and Roses