EXHIBIT B-33 INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM WALSH, LOS ANGELES REGIONAL OFFICE, JULY 28, 1939 Present: Walsh, Pratt, and Van Arkel. With respect to the Lewis-Chambers Construction Co. case, Walsh said there were three charges filed involving the carpenters, the laborers, and the ironworkers. He thought that the "John Muncy" referred to in the file was John Murray, of the Carpenters. He stated that in December 1937, shortly before this case arose, the Los Angeles Office had tried the San Diego Ice and Coal Co. case, about which the A. F. of L. was very angry. They bitterly attacked Nylander as a result of this case, which criticism Nylander took very seriously. It was Walsh's impression that the change of heart disclosed by Nylander in the file was prompted by a desire to pacify the A. F. of L. Between the time that Fabian filed charges on behalf of the Laborers and Murray filed charges for the Carpenters, a strike developed which also influenced Nylander to go ahead. He said that Fabian had been fired by the Laborers because he had absconded with funds and that he was generally unreliable. He further felt that Nylander was anxious to have a hearing in the Imperial Valley because of the serious labor situation which had existed there and because of threats made by the sheriff. With respect to the Los Angeles Examiner case, Walsh said he discussed it with Nylander. Waish was present at Guild conferences and stated that he had explained to the Guild that if the first charge were dismissed with prejudice, it would thereafter be possible to use the evidence showing company interference with the A. F. of L. as background, but that no new charges could be filed alleging company domination. Walsh stated that he had advised Nylander; the Guild nevertheless was very angry when Nylander refused to proceed with the subsequent charges. SO EXHIBIT C We examined the following files during our survey of the Los Angeles situation: Present: Towne Nylander, George O. Pratt, Gerhard Van Arkel. Dr. Nylander stated that he had the following reasons for resigning as Regional Director of Los Angeles: 1. That he did not want to be gagged; that he wished to continue his lecture series and classes at the University of California at Los Angeles and at the Western School for Workers, and the Board's instructions that he was not to speak or lecture hampered him in this activity. 2. Information which he had obtained from the Board on July 8th that five field examiners had submitted a memorandum stating that they had lost confidence in the Regional Director; that such action meant that either he or they had to leave. 3. In order to save the Board embarrassment; if the Examiners were justified in their position the Board would be put in a difficult position in asking him to resign. 4. Since an investigation was to be conducted, such an investigation could be more freely carried on if he were not around the office. 5. A feeling of injustice with respect to his suspension arising out of the Inglewood incident; he felt that the suspension during the investigation was unjustified. In connection with the Inglewood incident, Dr. Nylander stated that on Saturday when the story broke he was away from the office in connection with the arrest of Howard. He did not get back to town until Monday night, Tuesday was a holiday and not until Wednesday was he able to submit to the Board his explanation of the incident. Dr. Nylander stated that it was his feeling that there was a plot or conspiracy, largely engineered by the left wing of the C. I. O., in which certain field examiners may have participated to induce his resignation. Nylander summarized the positions of the various personalities in trade union circles in Los Angeles as follows: A. Left wing of the C. I. O. The representatives of this group are Michener, who is now West Coast representative of the U. A. W. A., and who has been reported to Nylander to be a member of the Communist Party by Seligman of the United Shoe Workers who was formerly a member of the Communist Party but is not so any longer. Seligman of the United Shoe Workers is now a liberal but no longer in the left-wing group. Connelly, Secretary of the American Newspaper Guild on the Pacific Coast. It is reported he became a member of the Communist Party about two months ago. Urcel Daniels, Secretary of the American Newspaper Guild in Los Angeles. Dorothy Ray is a member of the Communist Party and solicits membership generally. Ken Hunter of the S. W. O. C, is a good trade unionist but generally more conservative. Bob Lamson and Bill Gately of the United Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers are both left wingers; it is reported that Gately is a former I. W. W. B. Right wing of the C. I. O. This group broke away from the Industrial Union Council about March of 1938. Its chief figures are: Bob Roberts of the United Rubber Workers who is a progressive. Dick Coleman of the C. I. O.-U. A. W. A. is a liberal Fred Phillips of the Oil Field Workers who is a liberal. Charlie West of the Martin U. A. W. group does not belong in this group particularly. C. A. F. of L. The chief figures are: Buzzell who is extremely reactionary and unscrupulous; is Secretary of the Central Labor Council of Los Angeles and has fought the C. I. O. bitterly. McMurray who is the Assistant Secretary takes Buzzell's orders. Sherman who is President of the Central Labor Council is an I. A. T. S. E. man and is largely controlled by Buzzell. Pedro Pete Peterson participated in the Waterfront strike of 1934 and was kicked out of the I. L. A. at that time. He is now the personal representative of Green and is generally quite unscrupulous. Murry of the Carpenters was formerly a Socialist organizer and is generally honest in his dealings. So far as the Examiners in the office are concerned, Nylander stated that he bad heard from hearsay that Howard was a "fellow traveler." Some reports reached him last fall that Howard was having evening meetings at his house which were attended by members of the Communist Party. He spoke to Howard about this and asked him to watch his step and asked him if he was a party member. Howard said "no." With respect to Muir, Nylander stated that Pedro Pete Peterson told him that he had an affidavit that Muir had belonged to the Communist Party in San Francisco. Nylander indicated that Peterson was untrustworthy and had paid no attention to the claim. Yager is ex-president of the Utah State Federation of Labor and a good trade unionist though not liked by the A. F. of L. We have no information concerning the political bend of Pomerance, Davies, and McKay. At the time of the strike of the Hollywood Citizens News, Mrs. Pomerance, Mrs. Muir, and Mrs. Yager were on the picket line. All the newspapers got photographs and Nylander did a great deal of work and was finally successful in keeping these pictures out of the papers. Thereafter he spoke to the Examiners about it, told them of the embarrassment such action might cause the Board and told them to tell their wives to withdraw from any such picket lines when cases were pending in the office. With respect to the employer groups, the chief factors are the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, the Neutral Thousands, The Women of the Pacific, and the Associated Farmers. J. Stuart Neary was the outstanding employers' attorney in fighting the Act but since the American Potash & Chemical Co. case his place has been taken by Paul Watkins who now represents Southern Californians, Inc., and by Willis Sargeant. He stated that the money for Southern Californians, Inc., is obtained by a tax of $.50 per employee per month paid in by each employer member. Nylander stated that the two principal reasons why the Examiners might not like him were as follows: 1. In the spring of 1938, Nylander had a meeting of the Examiners and stated that, given jobs with the responsibility they had, they should make an effort to take some class-room work outside of hours. This statement was prompted by the fact that there was no Examiner in the office who could properly analyze a profit-and-loss statement. Immediately after the meeting several of the exam iners protested against spending their own time taking further class work and said that they had spent what time they felt they should in getting their education before coming with the Board. 2. That frequently it happened that employers or employers' attorneys came in to speak to him about cases being handled by some field examiner. It was his usual practice to call the Examiner handling the case in on any such conference. Sometimes the Examiners were busy or away and Nylander would fail to report what had happened during the course of the conference. He felt that this was a mistake and that it might have led to some suspicion as to his methods of handling particular cases. He stated that he felt that there was nothing wrong in the visit which Nathan Witt made to Los Angeles, except that he thought he felt that Witt resented being taken to San Simeon to meet William Randolph Hearst and suspected any person who knew Hearst well enough to go there and have lunch. At the time of his visit Witt told him that there were complaints from certain C. I. O. unions concerning his handling of particular cases. He told him the names of the cases and asked him to do what he could to win the representatives over. Thereafter he inaugurated the policy of having a couple of A. F. of L. representatives and a couple of C. I. O. representatives come in and spend Saturday afternoon and Sunday at his cottage at Newport Beach. These meetings went off very well. Michener refused to attend and Lamson and Gately were unable to go along. He felt as a result of these meetings any opposition to him by the C. I. O. was pretty well washed up. He stated that he had no objection to the way Gates conducted the survey of the office except that Gates had given instructions on handling the cases to the field examiners and there was confusion for some months thereafter be cause of the divided councils. Gates had made a practice of talking to Exam. iners individually without Nylander present and thereafter Examiners would insist that Gates had told them to handle cases in a certain way. Nylander took a positive stand that his ideas on how matters in the office should be handled were controlling. At the time of Krivonos' visit, Nylander had a run-in with him almost immediately. Because of the experience after Gates' visit, he asked Krivonos not to talk to the Field Examiners or to give instructions except with Nylander present so that problems could be worked out. Krivonos said that he was working under instructions from the Board and that he would go over each Field Examiner's material with him individually. Nylander insisted that Krivonos and he work out any instructions before such instructions were given to the Field Examiners. He stated that he would make an issue of the matter with the Board if this was denied. However, at the time he was under suspension and did not feel that he was able to make an issue of the matter with the Board. He asked Krivonos if he intended to show him the results of his investigation when it was completed; Krivonos said that he was working under instructions from the Board and would not. He stated that Krivonos had worked extremely hard while in Los Angeles but that any suggestions he made were completely picayunish and trifling and that not one constructive suggestion had come out of his visit. He said that there was nothing to indicate that either Krivonos or Witt or Gates had any hand in any effort to have him removed. He stated that he had on numerous occasions heard from persons whose names he was willing to give us, but which were not obtained at this meeting, and that the Board's people and the C. I. O. were trying to get him. He said that after the conference in Washington on July 8th Howard had flown back to Los Angeles from Washington and he had come on the train arriving in the office Thursday morning. At the time of his return he talked with McMurray who said "I hear you got quite a panning in Washington." He then called several other labor people and learned that all were familiar with what had happened in Washington. Nylander was shown the following material: Copy of letter from Muir to Krivonos from Phoenix, Ariz., on March 25, 1939. Copy of letter from Robertson to Witt on May 21, 1939, with reports attached thereto. Letter from Cunningham and Callahan to Madden on April 18, 1939. Letter of John M. Orr to Madden on March 25, 1939: Witt's telegram to Krivonos of April 1, 1939, and Witt's reply to Orr on April 1, 1939. Statement of Urcel Daniels on April 3. 1939; statement of Morgan Hull; statement of C. H. Garrigues of April 23, 1939. Statement of Carey McWilliams of April 4, 1939. |