Longtime N.Y. Labor Chief Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Dies

Harry Van Arsdale Jr., the last of the union bosses from the George Meany era who mingled the threat of physical violence with political aplomb to achieve their ends, has died at his home after a long illness. Van Arsdale, president of the New York City Central Labor Council for a quarter of a century, was 80.

“Generations of working men and women across the country owe this giant of a man a great debt,” New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said. “Harry dedicated his life to helping those who were unable to help themselves.”

Van Arsdale, who was president of the 900,000-member, 500-union council at the time of his death, was hailed by colleagues as a “true pioneer in the labor movement” who was instrumental in organizing the nation’s first collective bargaining agreement for teachers.

“We have Harry to thank for organizing teachers, taxi drivers and hospital workers, to name a few,” said Albert Shanker, former president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents 85,000 teachers and school workers in New York City.

Fought for Women, Minorities

Van Arsdale also helped women and minorities break ground on labor fronts, said Sandra Feldman, the current president of the teachers federation. “He was at the forefront of bringing women and minorities to leadership positions in the labor movement,” said Feldman, who Van Arsdale nominated in 1982 as the first woman vice president of the Central Labor Council.

At the peak of his power--when he obtained a 25-hour work week for his electricians in 1962--Van Arsdale commanded the allegiance of 1 million unionists in the city as well as the respect of Mayors Robert Wagner and Abraham Beame and Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller.

But after backing a series of losing political candidates, including Cuomo and Frank Barbaro, who both lost challenges to Edward Koch for mayor, his influence began to wane until his name carried only a fraction of its former political weight.

Van Arsdale was born into tough times and a tough neighborhood--Hell’s Kitchen. His father, an electrician, was caught in a 33-month lockout at the time.

During the bare-knuckle days of union organizing in 1933, Van Arsdale, who died Feb. 16, was convicted of assaulting two dissident union members at the headquarters of Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The conviction later was overturned and the union became his base of support. He remained financial secretary of the local throughout his life and was treasurer of the international union until 1981.