April and May, 1960, 1960

The union's crisis remained at a standstill until May 6, when George Meany telephoned Mitchell to inform him of the AFL-CIO Executive Council's decision that the NAWU must return its charter; see Mitchell's memorandum on the conversation (May 6). Negotiations began almost at once with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union to formulate a merger agreement; see Mitchell's detailed memorandum to Leon Schachter on arranging the merger (May 19), his letter to Galarza on the telephone conversation between Meany and AMC Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Gorman (May 25), and the resolution on the merger submitted to the NAWU membership in a referendum (May 26). There are numerous reports from Galarza on the situation in California, a set of AWOC bulletins on its activities (April 21, 25, 26), and a press release from the Di Giorgio Fruit Corporation announcing a $2 million libel suit against the NAWU, the AWOC, and the UPWA for showing the film "Poverty in the Valley of Plenty" which the NAWU had agreed to remove from circulation in 1950 (May 18).