 Ben continued to work as a field organizer through the merger of the American Federation of Labor with the CIO in 1955 (mergers of local affiliates proceeded slowly over the next decade in Philadelphia).He and his family eventually returned to Philadelphia in 1959, where in 1962 he began the long three-year fight to win the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and cafeteria workers collective bargaining rights.At victory, the new local became the largest in the state.