Labor: Mr. Clean and the Outcast

In 1957, United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther compared the corrupt Teamsters Union to a fallen woman, and he headed the drive to expel it from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Last spring, after he topped off an old feud with President George Meany by leading his own union out of the giant federation, Reuther decided that the Teamsters were not so bad after all. Last week the labor movement's Mr. Clean got together with its scarlet lady in a slogan-bedecked Washington hotel to exchange vows of solidarity forever. The U.A.W. and the Teamsters created something called the Alliance for Labor Action.

Through...