Never Climbed His Mountain

By Julian Gladstone

Negotiating Union Contracts

Gaylords only assistance was to put me in touch with Sidney Wolchok, a New York lawyer who specialized in keeping retail chains out of unions; a bit of a paradox as Sidney’s father was one of the founders of the union movement. Wolchok was available to me by phone if I needed advice–hardly bolstering my confidence. It was eleven in the morning when I entered their new building and found the glass-enclosed negotiating room—looked more like a large company’s Boardroom with a long mahogany table surrounded by plush chairs. David McDonald entered first, followed by his aides—most intimidating. Dave was a solidly built Irishman who grew up during the days of labor violence when manufacturers used goons to beat up strikers. His number two man, Joe Madzelonka, was much younger, of the new generation of union officials—tough, but without Dave’s background of warfare. We sat down on opposite sides of the table, and without further discussion, I was handed their list of demands.
“This is what we expect to have in the new contract,” said McDonald tersely, “we will meet at the same time in two days.” With those words the union men stood up and filed out of the room, leaving me alone to stare at their documents.