In Washington last week, the leaders of the 10 million-member American Federation of Labor and the 5,000,000-member Congress of Industrial Organizations met to clear away a big obstacle to their merger: What should the new organization be called? The 73-year-old A.F.L. jealously held out for its own name; the younger,19-year-old C.I.O. wanted a compromise, e.g., American Congress of Labor. Eventually, the leaders agreed upon a 24-syllable combination: American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (A.F.L.-C.I.O.).
C.I.O. President Walter Reuther called the new name "a happy solution." But other C.I.O. chiefs felt that it was...
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