The committee asked for permission to use Local 47’s mailing list for the purpose of mailing a circular presenting their favorable views on the proposed 767/47 amalgamation. This letter "To the Members of Local 47" endorsed the Local 767 proposal and stated that the 767/47 merger would not put Local 47 at any financial risk. It also stated that a united local could better fight the anti-union factions of this area. In the meantime, on July 14th, the 767 membership had dissolved our amalgamation committee and the 767 Board of Directors assumed the task of carrying on the negotiations. In a letter dated August 22, 1952, the 767 Board rejected the Local 47 counter proposal and requested that the Local 47 Board submit the 767 proposal to the Local 47 membership on August 26 the Local 47 Board voted to put the 767 proposal on the ballot for their December 15, 1952, election. (September 1952, Overture, Page 24).

It was at this time that we asked for an received the help of Lester Bailey, the Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles NAACP, for the purpose of arousing public interest in our cause. We also received great support from the People’s Daily World and two Black community newspapers, the Los Angeles Tribune, Alamena Lomax, publisher, and especially the California Eagle, Chazz Crawford and Wendell Green, columnists.

Even though we were successful in getting our proposal on the Local 47 ballot, we were faced with the problem of retaining a majority on the 767 Board at our December 2, 1952, election. We felt that by far the strongest presidential candidate we could run would be Benny Carter. However, incumbent President Leo Davis proved to be a formidable foe and he won over Benny by a mere 15 votes.

To say that we were crushed is a colossal understatement. We just knew there were at least 16 members who would have supported Benny if they had just thought to come to the union and vote. The opposition also re-elected Florence Cadrez, Secretary, Paul Howard, Treasurer, and Harvey Brooks, Trustee. In addition, our director candidate, Russell McDavid, lost to Baron Morehead. We re-elected Bill Douglass, Vice-President , John Anderson, Director, and myself as Trustee. Buddy Collette also won as Trustee.

This election gave our opponents a one-vote majority (5-4) on the Board of Directors, but we had a one-vote majority (2-1) on the Board of Trustees. This latter majority was important in that the 767 membership had changed its mind again and, before the 767 election, had put the matter of the amalgamation into the hands of the Board of Trustees. Besides our being personally discouraged by the 767 election results, we were extremely concerned as to whether the outcome of our election would have a deleterious result upon the coming Local 47 vote on our amalgamation proposal.