Mr. KENNEDY. That would be up to about 1950? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. Did you go back into the association then? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir, I went back into the union and the association, both. Mr. KENNEDY. Vincent Meli and Corrado and the other group, were they in the association? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Did they stay in the association during this whole period of time? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Did you quit the union also? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. When was this! Mr. BRILLIANT. About the same time. Mr. KENNEDY. And then you rejoined the union, did you not? Mr. KENNEDY. Why did you rejoin? Mr. BRILLIANT. They were harassing my locations, and bothering them, and walking in and offering them different considerations, and better machines, and so forth and so on, until it became unbearable. Mr. KENNEDY. Was the union any different when it was being run by Mr. Bufalino than when it was being run by Mr. James, except that Mr. Bufalino was favoring certain people, as far as the union operating as an enforcement arm for certain groups? Mr. BRILLIANT. Well, with Mr. James, there was no favoritism shown and no one operator was better than another. When Mr. Bufalino came came in, there was a different picture entirely. His friends and relatives, or whatever they were, were favored, and the rest of them just ignored. Mr. KENNEDY. But the union still was not being run for the benefit of the employees. It was being run for the benefit of the operators or the employers? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. That was true not only under Mr. James but true under Mr. Bufalino; is that right? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And your complaint and objection to that was that it was not being run for the benefit of all but being run for the benefit of just a few? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. And these few happened to be relatives or close friends of Mr. Bufalino who were the underworld element in the city of Detroit? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Now, this continued right up until what period of time? Actually they forced you out of business? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And you got out in 1958 because you felt you could no longer fight this? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. Gradually, each week or each month. Mr. BRILLIANT. Now, they didn't go out full blast at you, but they nibbled away at you, one stop at a time. Mr. KENNEDY. And gradually taking away your locations? Mr. BRILLIANT. One good stop 1 week and 2 weeks later another one, and 3 weeks later another one, and they just kept on hammering until you couldn't take it any more. Mr. KENNEDY. And finally forced you out of business? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. How did you go out of business? Mr. BRILLIANT. I sold out whatever I had left. The CHAIRMAN. You sold out to whom, to their interests? Mr. BRILLIANT. No, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Not only this group was active but it was supplemented by the fact that business agents of the Teamsters began to go into the business? Mr. BRILLIANT. Four or five of them. Mr. KENNEDY. And they began to have their own routes? Mr. BRILLIANT. They began, and I don't know if it was a group but individually, I would say four or five Teamster agents went into the jukebox business, and they started taking locations one at a time, from everybody. Mr. KENNEDY. Were they difficult to compete with? Mr. BRILLIANT. I should say they were. Mr. KENNEDY. Would you explain what the problem was? Mr. BRILLIANT. There was nothing explained, they would walk in and talk to the location and tell them they would help him out, and wouldn't have any trouble, and so forth, and they just put in a new machine, and you were called and told to take yours out. Mr. KENNEDY. That was competition that was impossible to meet? Mr. BRILLIANT. It was impossible to compete with. The CHAIRMAN. You were a member of the union at that time? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Presumably you were supposed to have the union's protection. Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You were paying for something you were not getting? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is correct, sir. The CHAIRMAN. They were still taking your money and at the same time cutting your throat? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. What were the dues that you had to pay to the union? Mr. BRILLIANT. $20 per man per month. Mr. KENNEDY. For your employees to belong to this union, local 985; and is that still true? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is still true. Mr. KENNEDY. They have to pay $20. Each employee has to pay $20 a month for dues? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Does the union help them actually? Mr. BRILLIANT. No, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Most of the operators are paying the employees far more than the union wage scale, are they not? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What becomes of this $20 a month? Mr. BRILLIANT. I don't know, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You have an idea it doesn't go to serve the employees, do you not? Mr. BRILLIANT. I have an idea it goes to the union, and what they do with it I haven't the slightest idea. Mr. KENNEDY. When you were operating with Mr. James, you would pay your employees' dues; is that right? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. And initially with Mr. Bufalino, you followed the same procedure; is that right? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And then subsequently, it was decided that in order to give a cloak of legality to it, you would raise all of the employees' wages $20 a month, and then deduct the $20 and send the dues in? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. What business are you in now? Mr. BRILLIANT. I sell tube testers, tube-testing equipment, testing equipment. The CHAIRMAN. Testing equipment? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You are out of the music business and the jukebox business altogether, are you? Mr. BRILLIANT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Do you feel like you were forced out by reason of improper practices in connection with labor-management relations? Mr. BRILLIANT. I think so, that and the conditions the way they are in the city of Detroit. The CHAIRMAN. What do you mean by conditions in the city of Detroit? Mr. BRILLIANT. Conditions are very bad in the city of Detroit, and collections are down, and between that and being pushed out of the good stops, every once in a while, it was impossible to operate. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you were pushed out of the good stops by reason of the fact that a labor union and business association had conspired together to get them? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. And take them away from you and give them to someone else? Mr. BRILLIANT. That is correct. The CHAIRMAN. All right; thank you very much, sir, and we appreciate your testimony. Call the next witness. Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Neil Holland. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Holland, will you be sworn? You do solemnly swear that the evidence you shall give before this Senate select committee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. HOLLAND. I do. TESTIMONY OF NEIL HOLLAND The CHAIRMAN. All right, Mr. Holland, be seated, and state your name, your place of residence, and your business or occupation. Mr. HOLLAND. Neil Holland. I live in New York City, and I am employed as a studio engineer by the National Broadcasting Co. The CHAIRMAN. All right. Do you waive counsel, Mr. Holland? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Now, Mr. Holland, you were initially in the jukebox business, were you not? Mr. HOLLAND. I was not in the business; no, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. You were a union official? Mr. HOLLAND. That is correct. Mr. KENNEDY. Dealing with coin or jukebox employees? Mr. HOLLAND. So far as the coin industry is concerned, exclusively in that particular field. Mr. KENNEDY. And that was in the city of Detroit; is that right? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And you had been in the labor union movement, and you began actually in 1933; is that right? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Approximately? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And in 1940 you were appointed an organizer for the Detroit Joint Board of the United Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Employees, known as URDWDSEA? Mr. HOLLAND. That is correct. Mr. KENNEDY. It was known as the "Undersea" movement? Mr. HOLLAND. That was the nickname. Mr. KENNEDY. In 1942 you became president of local 361 of this union? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Now, in 1942, you were approached by Mr. Roy Small; is that right? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Of the Michigan Phonograph Owners Association? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And he asked you at that time to accept his people in as members of your union; is that correct? sir. Mr. HOLLAND. The employees and the self-employed operators; yes, Mr. KENNEDY. His people had been in Local 737 of the International Union of Electrical Radio & Machinery Workers of America? Mr. HOLLAND. That is correct. Mr. KENNEDY. And then James Newman had said that his international did not want these people in the union, and didn't like their tactics and wanted them to get out? Mr. HOLLAND. That is my understanding. Mr. KENNEDY. And so they were looking around to make a deal with some other union, that they could put their people in? Mr. HOLLAND. Well, primarily they were looking for a place in the CIO to have a union affiliation, because a great many of their locations operated by the Music Operators were in industrial areas, which were predominantly CIO people. Mr. KENNEDY. So Mr. Small came to you, and said that he would like to put his people in your union? Mr. HOLLAND. That is correct. Mr. KENNEDY. And now with these predominantly self-employed people? Mr. HOLLAND. No; I would say that the majority of them were people employed by the larger operators, although there were considerable number of men who operated anywhere from half a dozen to maybe twenty machines, that could take care of them themselves, and so they didn't need an employee. But in order to service the machines in keeping with the general concept of operations at that time, they were members of the union and attended meetings of the union and also of the association in order to protect their interests as operators. Mr. KENNEDY. So you brought them in and they became members of local 361 ? Mr. HOLLAND. That is correct. Mr. KENNEDY. And later you transferred into the AFL and became the United Coin Machine Workers, Local 22321; is that right? Mr. HOLLAND. That part of the local, and the Retail Clerks and other supply people remanied in local 361. We carried the No. 361 with us to the RCIA of the AFL. Mr. KENNEDY. Did Small, for a period of time, operate the association and the union out of his own office? Mr. HOLLAND. That is my understanding. The Electrical Workers in the Hoffman Building. It is my understanding that originally he organized the local and then, in order to keep the local together, he organized the association and both bodies operated out of the same office. Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, this is Mr. Small, whose name will come into the hearings as we go along. He was head of the association up in Detroit up until 1958. The methods and tactics that were used during this period of time are of some interest. The union was completely dominated and controlled by Mr. Small and his group; was it not? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir; it was. The CHAIRMAN. Did these unions ever have an election of officials? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What other officials were elected? Mr. HOLLAND. The treasurer and the secretary and the vice president and, to the best of my recollection, we had several members of the executive board. I know that condition existed in local 361, and I remember specifically the resignation of one of the jukebox employees as secretary of his unit because his route had grown so big he couldn't take care of it. We had an election for a successor to him. So at least to that extent, in my recollection-you understand, of course, Senator, this is 15 years ago, and some of the details are a little bit dim. But I do know that we had elected officers and they were elected by the rank and file membership. They weren't appointed. |