A renowned labor relations attorney, Samuel Cook, reveals the untold story of a half-century war between his client, the "merit shop" Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Unions. In one of the nation's biggest businesses, it is a fact that professional expertise, dedicated work habits, integrity, and cooperation have shared the human relations stage with incompetence, autocracy, greed, corruption, and terrorism. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Prologue	xvii
Part 1 Heart of the Merit Shop
1 Construction Trade Union Cornerstones	3
2 Birth of the Open Shop Movement	13
3 The "Kingfish" Defends His Union Territory	17
4 Charlie Mullan Holds a Meeting	23
5 Maryland's "Little Davis-Bacon Act" Ruled Unconstitutional	29
6 ABC Hires John Trimmer	33
7 The Stover Steel Boycott Defeat	47
8 Selby-Battersby & Co. Overcomes a "Standard Agreement"	59
9 Big Labor Kills a State Right to Work Bill	67
10 Merry-Go-Round Picketing Breaks Down	89
11 Apprenticeship Training Meets Federal Standards	95
12 Trade Union Autocracy versus Merit Shop Productivity	111
13 From Union Boss to ABC Contractor	145
14 Women and Minorities in Construction	149
15 Dedicated Community Service	179
16 The "Prevailing Wage Law" Farce	193
17 Safety First!	221
18 From Boycotts to Ballots	241
19 A New Law Firm Enters the Fray	249
20 Man-Bites-Dog Story	257
21 Deflating Phony Union "Whistleblowers"	261
22 A Risky Constitutional Convention	263
23 Dual Shops-An Escape Plan	267
24 New Challenges in the 1960s	273
25 ABC Goes National	293
Part 2 Mobocracy on the Picket Lines
26 Union Terrorism Erupts in the Workplace	301
27 The Building Trades Declare Interstate War	307
28 The Fall and Rise of a Labor Czar	315
29 Baltimore Labor Duels of the 1970s	329
30 Union Brutality in the City of Brotherly Love	343
31 The Ordeal of Altemose Construction Company	347
32 A Battle at Valley Forge	353
33 Rodgers Saves the Grand Ole Opry	371
34 Brown & Root-A Paragon of Free Enterprise	383
35 Bravery along the Bayou	393
36 The Merit Shop Bridges America	401
37 An Expanding Zone of Union Terrorism	419
38 Rebuilding Noah's Ark	453
39 Big Labor's Special Privileges	457
40 An Infamous Government Agency	481
Part 3 ABC Counter-Attacks
41 Callas Challenges the Construction Trades	497
42 Preparing the Labor Board's Biggest Case	515
43 A Crucial Reprieve on Union Mayhem	537
44 Landmark Antitrust and RICO Victories	557
45 An Offer ABC Had to Refuse	571
46 Phil Abrams Leads ABC's 25th Banner Year	579
47 A Union Defeat near Gettysburg	603
48 Professor Northrup Examines ABC	625
49 BE&K's Kennedy Defeats a "Corporate Campaign"	631
50 Chicanery between Two Bushes	649
51 Bombs, Briefcases, and the Cycle of Liberty	661
52 Against All the Odds: ABC Today	721
Notes	763
Index	813

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.