Nation: But Life Can Be Cruel

For 165,000 miners, it will be a black Christmas

Brash and boisterous as ever, the barons of Big Labor convened in Los Angeles last week and confidently put forward their Christmas list. While 3,000 AFL-CIO leaders cheered, President George Meany, 83, declared that the Government should spend billions to create millions of jobs; should refuse to cut taxes on business; and should limit imports. "Free trade," he declared, is "a joke and a myth." But the familiar bravado had a hollow ring, for organized labor is in trouble. Its leadership is out of step...

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