AFL-CIO and Teamsters talk about reuniting

After a 23-year separation, the 2-million-member Teamsters Union and the AFL-CIO have started talking about getting back together. The AFL-CIO president , Lane Kirkland, said special committees have been named to begin direct talks on such a move, which would bring the nation's largest union back to the organization that expelled it in 1957. The federation took the action because the Teamsters would not answer questions about corrupt influence over the union. Two past Teamster presidents, James Hoffa and Dave Beck, served jail terms after holding their posts.

Now, in Mr. Kirkland's effort to have a "regathering of the clan" in the AFL-CIO, he feels that law enforcement authorities, not the union movement, should monitor ethical standards of unions.