ABSTRACT
As was his habit, Van Arsdale brought prominent leaders and celebrities to speak before his union colleagues. In March 1962, Orner Becu, general secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which claimed to represent 56 million workers around the world, addressed a luncheon meeting of the CLC. After the address, Van Arsdale brought him to Cooper Union College where Van Arsdale was scheduled to deliver a speech on the goals of labor. In introducing Becu to his audience, Van Arsdale explained that the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, with which the AFL-CIO was affiliated, "came into existence to prevent the communist World Federation of Trade Unions from interfering with the development of free trade unions in various countries throughout the world."
