San Francisco Union Killings

from 'The Militant! Five suspects in the shotgun slayings of two union leaders: in San Francisco were rounded up in the second week of May, The police announced they were seeking the "triggerman" in the double assassination, The two murdered vmion officials were Dow Wilson, recording secretary of Painters Union Local Noe4 of San Francisco and Lloyd Green, financial secretary of Haywood Painters Local No.1178. Wilson was gunned down near the San Francisco Labour temple on April 5th, and Green was murdered gangland -style at his union office on May 7the Wilson had led a vigorous fight within the International Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhang= ers, AFL-CIO, on behalf of union democracy, local augtnomy and union control of the spray gun and roller. Green was a supporter of Wilson in his battle against union bureaucracy. Wilson's death came at a time when he was seeking to extend his fight throughout the country. In March 1966 he announced his candidacy for vice-president of the International. Although he didn't expect to win, he wanted to use the campaign as a platform to oppose the policies of the present leadership. Wilson had helped merge San frincisco's two painters! locals despite objections from the International. Painters Local No 4 is now considered the largest painters' union in Borth America, and also the most democratic and most militant, In the summer of 1965, Wilson led a successful five-week strike, which won the best painters' union contract in the country. He paved the way for negroes to gain entrance into the union, and helped break the colour line in maintenance work. He had defeated a move at the union's national convention to strengthen the International's control at the local level by making business agents appointive rather than elective. Since the murders, the International has kept a stony silence to the point of not even sending condoleices to the locals of the mrdered men, Tension in the labour movement has heen growing. The carpenters' local has added $10,000 to the £10,000 reserved by Local 4 as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers, The Building Trades Council also gave 210,000, Morris Evenson, who has taken on Wilson's job as recording secretary, announced that the per capita tax of Local 4 would be withheld from the International as a protest against the failure of the International to send condolences, Of the five suspects arrested, two were employer=members of the board of trustees of the Painters Union Local No.487 welfare fund in Sacramento. Another one, Carl Black, was the auditor of the fund, The fund had been under federal investigation for two monihs before the murders, The goverment had ordered the trustees to have an independent audit made of the fund. Blacx was entrusted with the task. However, he requested and got a 60-day delay in the audit because he was "busy",