Union Leaders Denounce Reassessment Policy; Say Oil Interests Involved

Union leaders here and in New York assailed the reassessment of American policy in the Middle East ordered last month by President Ford and pledged continued support for Israel. Patrick Gorman, international secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers Workman Union, told more than 1000 people here that the union members strongly opposed the reassessment. “Israel must continue to receive all financial assistance and military hardware needed to maintain her strength for self-defense,” he declared.

The meeting here, under the joint auspices of Chicago’s Israel Histadrut and the Amalgamated Union, was a testimonial dinner honoring Joseph Belsky, the union’s international president, who presented a check for $150,000 to Histadrut executive director Lazar Shupakevitz. Gorman announced that a medical center will be built in Jerusalem bearing the name of Belsky and the Amalgamated-Union.

In New York, two labor leaders representing nearly 900,000 trade unionists warned that the liberal and progressive elements of America will not sit by idly and watch Israel extinguished. Some 600 labor leaders, business executives and friends of Histadrut attending a meeting sponsored by several locals of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, headed by Murray H. Finley, ACWA general president, and Sol C. Chaikin, International I adies Garment Workers Union general secretary-treasurer, also charged that there are forces at work in the reassessment that stem from oil interests.

“Reassessment has the stink of oil about it,” Chaikin charged. “By what yardstick is our Middle East policy being reassessed? Is the checklist based on those factors favoring freedom, democracy, decency and stability?”