When 14 members of the A.F.L.'s Executive Council gathered in Chicago's Palmer House last week, 13 of them were in for a big surprise. Old (79), crotchety Big Bill Hutcheson, ex-president (and still boss) of the 822,500-member Carpenters' Brotherhood, walked out of the federation in a huff over the A.F.L.-C.I.O. no-raiding agreement.
The walkout touched off a flurry of speculation about the real reasons behind it. Some cynics guessed that Big Bill wanted a free hand to go raiding. A more sinister explanation was that Hutcheson planned to join up with the...
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