AFL-CIO Puts 4 Employers on ‘Dishonor’ Roll

WASHINGTON — The AFL-CIO on Tuesday named four employers--including two Southern California organizations and Texas Air Corp., the nation’s largest airline holding company--to what the labor organization called its 1988 “dishonor roll of labor law violators.”

Named besides Texas Air, parent of Eastern and Continental airlines, were City of Hope, a nonprofit, charitable medical enter in Duarte, Superior Industries International, an auto parts maker based in Van Nuys, and DAP Inc., a putty and sealant maker in Tipp City, Ohio.

The listing, the sixth of its kind, was compiled by the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO. The department’s president, Howard Samuel, said the list is not intended to trigger a boycott but to publicize what he called corporate renegades.

“These companies have conducted themselves in a way to promote disruption and insecurity among their workers,” he told a news conference.

Two-Tier System Hit

Texas Air, based in Houston, has announced plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs at Eastern and scrap routes to 14 destinations. The unions accuse Frank Lorenzo, Texas Air’s chairman, of stripping the airline of its most valuable assets and harassing its union members. Continental is nonunion.

The AFL-CIO accused City of Hope of arbitrarily increasing workers’ hours without a corresponding pay hike. They said management also had created a two-tier pay system and tried to take away some traditional seniority rights.

The hospital said its national board includes an AFL-CIO representative, has completed contract negotiations with three of four unions but has been unable to reach agreement with the fourth because of “internal political problems” at the union in question.