Biggest Headache

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. has no bigger head ache than its biggest union, the 1,400,000-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, some of whose top officers have a weakness for the good deal, wherever found.

Last week the Teamsters were obviously on the mind of doughty David Dubinsky, president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and a member of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. ethical-practices committee. Said Dubinsky at the opening session of the I.L.G.W.U.'s 29th triennial convention in Atlantic City: labor leaders who double as businessmen in the same fields are "immoral, unethical, unfit to serve the labor movement." Though he named no names, none in the hall doubted that the charge was aimed especially at the Teamsters. They were sure when Dubinsky suggested that unions should expel such leaders without waiting for the law to do the job for them.

Next day the delegates-by-the-sea heard A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany second the sentiment: "I like businesslike methods, but that is the extent to which I want the word 'business' applied to a trade union." The one-two attack foreshadowed a meeting next month in Washington, where Meany, Dubinsky and other members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. executive council will gather to take a hard look at the Teamsters' conduct.