Union Voice/Readers Write: Riesel's Other Side

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)“Today's Labor History (Weekend Labor History, 4/5 UC) includes the following description of Victor Riesel (right): ‘a crusader against mob infiltration of unions,” writes Nick Unger. “This is at best only partially accurate. He was also an FBI informer for decades, a proponent of the McCarthy era blacklisting that weakened unions for over a generation, and a crusader against unions connecting with anti-war student activism in the 1960's and 70's. Click here for a less one-sided view. It would have been better to let (Riesel) go unmentioned than to by implication deem all the damage he did to the labor movement not worth noting. One would not describe Ronald Reagan's relationship with labor by mentioning SAG and leaving out PATCO.”