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men to work; he was shot and killed.
MR. RYAN: Is it Local 332 in Philadelphia that
was the local Mr. Medina was involved with?
MR. POWELL: Yes, Local 332.
MR. RYAN: Bow would you describe the work
that laborers do, Mr. Powell?
MR. POWELL: The work the laborers do is very
dirty and dangerous work. I always like to describe it
as work -- we work from the bowels of this earth to the
highest building that has ever been built. It's a
subject -- we have had men killed from cave-ins, falling
off buildings. It's very dangerous, but it is dirty
work.
MR. RYAN: How would you describe the composi­
tion of the rank and file of the Laborers' Union?
MR. POWELL: I would say about 55 to 60 percent
of the membership is black; 13 to 15 percent Hispanic.
MR. RYAN: Do these men depend very heavily on
the benefits that are achieved by their union so that
they can retire and so there is health and welfare bene­
fits and disability pay?
MR. POWELL: Sure, because they are now
reaping the benefit of hospitalization, pension plan.
And in the past they had nothing to rely on and they
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