b'Workers. Since he was a foreman of painters, it worked naturallythat he could have union meetings in different housing projects toget the people while they were eating their quick lunch. Thats theway he got around and helped in the organizing. He was really asparkplug.You said that Local 111 merged with Local 237. Were thereany changes on the job?Well, not yet, not in mine, because I always was a member ofthe union. But others were hiring lawyers, who delayed the negoti-ations so that they [the lawyers] could get a 15 percent retainer forthe back pay [issues]. Savage was one of the lawyers, and thenthere was a Gabrieli and Gabrieli.Tell us a little bit more about that.There were some who were in the union. The majority werenot. [The private lawyers] who signed up maintenancemen [for back pay] went to Bellevue Hospital and many other de-partments. When they were exposed, when people Julian Friedman (right) at press conference held by thestarted talking and saw the hearings and how [the lawyers] delayed New York City Central Labor Council and Rep. Gregory[the negotiations], and how [the lawyers] didnt fight for the best Meeks at the Social Security Administrationconditions, or if the city delayed them [the negotiations], they [thelawyers] didnt challenge the city on the delays-thats when they [the workers] came into Local 237 for the maintenancetitle. Thats when we did the best of all.There was also factionalism.Do you want to tell us a little about that?Well, there was Jerry Wurf from the A-F-S-C-M-E [executive director of District Council 37]. At that time [Henry] Feinsteindidnt [get along] with Jerry Wurf and got out [of DC 37], and thats when they formed the Teamsters, in 1952. When JerryWurf attacked some of the [Local 237] leadership [some of whom were from the UPW], there were jurisdictional disputesin the hospitals, and Wurf won in the election. But meanwhile he went to the Daily News and put on the red scare. It was damaging to the Teamsters. They lost a lot of good leaders.What did Jerry Wurf say?He really red-baited them, saying that they were taking orders from a foreign power and things of that sort. Thatswhen we lost Jack Bigel, Jerry Janson, Frank Herbst, and a few more. So, they paid a terrible price. The disunity cost boththe Teamsters and AFSCME a fortune of money in union dues. We have unity now, but in those days, it was a disaster.Once they got unity, thats how Local 237 came up to 24,000 members now.20 '