ABSTRACT
When Hunter Wharton stepped down from the presidency in 1976, he was succeeded by General Secretary-Treasurer J. C. Turner, former business manager of Local 77, Washington, D.C., and a leading figure in local and national Democratic Party circles. Turner was the subject of a cover story in the February 26, 1976, issue of the Engineering News-Record. Noting that the IUOE was one of only a handful of unions that had increased its membership by over 100,000 between 1962 and 1972, Turner predicted that the union’s membership would increase by another 100,000 in six years, spurred by an increase in the stationary segment of the union—a prediction that was destined to fall far short of the mark. 1 The open shop, aided by economic recession, was making its move.
