Daniel French Papers

Daniel French was born in Hamrun, Malta, in 1908, the youngest of four children. The family immigrated to Toronto, Canada when he was a young child. French followed his older brother, Ralph, to New York City in 1926, and got a job working for the Equitable Insurance Company. Hard times during the Great Depression convinced Daniel to take up his brother's trade as a painter, and he joined the Painters' Union in 1934. When a kickback scheme deprived French of a pay increase, he participated in a protest against the union. When he voted in his first union election in 1935, union corruption resulted in a stolen election. Disgusted, French transferred to Local 848. Combating union corruption was to become a lifelong mission.

While Local 848 was a stronghold of Communist Party activity within the Painters' Union, French was not interested in ideological politics. As he saw it, he faced a choice between "the thieves and the crooks on the right and the Communists on the left." He chose the Communist group, and supported their program through the United Rank-and-File Caucus. French was elected delegate to the District Council from his local in 1939. In 1940, he served as "Impartial Distributor" of jobs during the last pre-war General Strike by the Painters. French was elected Council Trustee on the United Rank-and-File Slate that elected Louis Weinstock Secretary-Treasurer.

French enlisted in the Army in 1943 and served in the Airborne Infantry, 188th Paratroop-Glider Infantry Regiment. He was a machine gunner in the Pacific Theater, serving in Luzon, Lahti and Okinowa, and was in the first group of soldiers to land in Japan after the surrender. After his discharge in November 1946, French returned to union involvement, running for Business Agent of his local. (The expression for seeking election in the union was "going for the badge"--French went for the badge and was issued Badge #1.) He was reelected to the post for the next five terms.

Political activity within the District Council and the locals was divided between the competing poles of the Communists, known as the Rank-and-File Caucus, and the Socialists, or Progressives. Martin Rarback, who would dominate DC 9 for the next twenty-one years, first ran for Secretary-Treasurer in 1945 on the Progressive ticket. He lost that bid but won the following year.

In 1953, French became a member of Paperhangers' Local 490, and was soon elected President. When Rarback negotiated a secret agreement for the Paperhangers that resulted in lowered wages for members, French and Local 490 initiated a legal battle with Rarback. Rarback sued French and the local for libel. Without backing from DC 9, Local 490 went on strike in 1962 over contractual differences, leading DC 9 to issue a directive to the building trades unions, declaring, "There is No Strike." Local 490 remained an outpost of opposition to the leadership of DC 9 for the next three decades.

French continued to battle DC 9, and came to be seen by members of Local 490 as a fighter who wasn't afraid to stick his neck out against the status quo. It was this attribute that led local members to ask French to run for Business Agent against Frank Arnold in 1976. Arnold was backed by James Bishop, the Secretary-Treasurer of DC 9 who had replaced the reform administration of Frank Schonfeld.. When French won the election, Arnold waged a four-year legal battle to overturn the results, culminating in French's victory over Arnold in the State Supreme Court. Arnold ran against French in three subsequent elections, and each time was defeated.

As Local 490 continued its opposition to DC 9, hostilities between Secretary-Treasurer Bishop and the local's officers escalated. In 1988, French sued Bishop for libel; Bishop entered into a settlement agreement prior to the trial. In May 1990, Bishop was murdered, initiating a government investigation into organized crime activity within DC 9. Indictments and convictions of District Council officials followed.

Daniel French lived in Manhattan with his wife, Diana Flax French. He died in 1996.

Sources:

Hall, Burton H., editor. Autocracy and Insurgency in Organized Labor. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1972.Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry. Interim Report by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force. Ithaca: ILR Press, 1988.Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry. Final Report to Governor Mario Cuomo. Ronald Goldstock, Director, New York State Organized Crime Task Force. December, 1989.Hutchinson, John. The Imperfect Union: A History of Corruption in American Trade Unions. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1972.Zausner, Philip. Unvarnished: The Autobiography of a Labor Leader. New York: Brotherhood Publishers, 1941.