Oral History Interview with Gene Freeland, October 12, 1980 Page: 28
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28
And so there has to be a reason, but is it politi-
cal? Roy, I think, believes that. But it's not true.
It wasn't true then; it's not true now. The Dallas and
Houston labor movements are the two labor movements in
the State of Texas and the community, and we led the
state. Without their help the state AFL-CIO couldn't
do much, and, as I said, without the state's help, cities
couldn't do much.
We didn't get the cooperation from Roy that we de-
served and needed to do a good job. Roy . . . I don't
want to get into that. I'll respond to any particulars,
but generally he was just not a good president and didn't
do a good job.
When you first came into office, what specific things or
what areas needed to be worked on the most, in your opinion?
Labor's story in this city was not being told. If there
were a strike or any labor position, television would in-
terview the opponent of labor, the proponents of manage-
ment, ad infinitum. Sometimes they'd let us respond,
briefly. Then they'd let the employer of the proponents
against labor respond to our statement. It's sort oflike, "Let's see what they say, and then I'll let you
answer," rather than a forum.
So we tried to get labor's voice heard. We tried
to get labor's story told. We tried to become part ofKing:
Freeland:
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King, Amelia Kay & Freeland, Gene. Oral History Interview with Gene Freeland, October 12, 1980, book, October 12, 1980; Denton, TX. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2085622/m1/30/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Oral History Program.