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Michael Joseph "Red Mike" Quill (September 18, 1905 – January 28, 1966) was an Irish-American labor leader and politician who co-founded the
Transport Workers Union of America Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) is a United States labor union that was founded in 1934 by subway workers in New York City, then expanded to represent transit employees in other cities, primarily in the eastern U.S. This article disc ...
(TWU), a union of subway workers in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
that expanded to represent employees in other forms of transit. He served as the President of the TWU for most of the first thirty years of its existence. A close ally of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...
(CP) for the first twelve years of his leadership of the union, he broke with it in 1948. He served on the New York City Council from 1938 to 1939 and again from 1944 to 1949 on the
American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...
ticket. Quill had varying relations with the mayors of New York City. He was a personal friend of
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Robert Ferdinand Wagner II (April 20, 1910 – February 12, 1991) was an American diplomat and politician who served three terms as the mayor of New York City from 1954 through 1965. When running for his third term, he broke with the Tammany Ha ...
but could find no common ground with Wagner's successor,
John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...
, or as Quill called him "Linsley", and led a twelve-day transit strike in 1966 against him that landed him in jail. He won significant wage increases for his members. He died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
three days after the end of the strike. Quill's leadership is noted for his success in improving workers' rights and for his commitment to racial equality, before the Civil Rights Era.


Early years in Ireland and immigration to America

Quill was born in Gortloughera, near
Kilgarvan Kilgarvan () is a small village in County Kerry, Ireland. It is situated on the banks of the Roughty River which flows into Kenmare Bay. The nearest town is Kenmare which is 11 km to the west along the R569 road. Killarney is 18 km ...
,
County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. He was a dispatch rider for the
Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
from 1919 to 1921 while still a teenager, then a volunteer of the Anti-Treaty IRA in the
Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...
that followed. One canard has him robbing a bank to raise funds for the IRA. Quill's IRA record of service was confirmed by his commanding officer John Joe Rice, Kerry 2nd Brigade, years later to Quill's widow, Shirley. Following the wars, Quill worked as a carpenter's apprentice, then a woodcutter. Having fought for the losing side in the Civil War, Quill's prospects in Ireland were limited. In 1926, he was brought to the United States by his uncle Patrick Quill, a conductor in the subway who got him his first job there. Mike's brothers, Patrick and John, had already moved to the city before him. In New York City, Quill first lived with family in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
.


Working for the IRT and trade unionism

Quill worked odd jobs to make ends meet, including at one point bootlegging alcohol, as
prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
was still in effect. In 1929, he returned to New York City where his uncle arranged for him a job with the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...
(IRT), first as a night gateman, then as a clerk or "ticket chopper". The job was a punishing one. Quilled worked 84 hours a week, 12 hours a night, seven nights a week, for 33c an hour. At the time there was no sick leave, holidays, or pension rights. Moving from station to station, Quill got to know a large number of IRT employees, many of them also Irish immigrants. They would joke that IRT stood for "Irish Republican Transit", on account of how many of their peers were also
Irish Republicans Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...
. It was during this time that Quill used the quiet of the late hours to read labor history and, in particular, the works of
James Connolly James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...
. Connolly had been a revolutionary and high profile labor activist in Ireland until his death in 1916 following the
Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...
, an event that eventually sparked the two wars in which Quill had participated. Two of Connolly's thoughts came to guide Quill's political philosophy; the idea that that economic power precedes and conditions political power, and that the only effective and satisfactory expression of the workers’ demands is to be found politically in a separate and independent labor party, and economically in the industrial union. In 1933, Quill along with others such as fellow Irish immigrant and Irish Republican Thomas H. O'Shea, moved to create a
Trade Union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
free and independent of the IRT's complacent company union. The name that Quill and others chose for their new union, the Transport Workers Union, was a tribute to the
Irish Transport and General Workers Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) was a trade union representing workers, initially mainly labourers, in Ireland. History The union was founded by James Larkin and James Fearon (trade unionist), James Fearon in January 1909 ...
led by
Jim Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...
and Connolly twenty years earlier. The new union was mainly compromised at its core of members of
Clan na Gael Clan na Gael (CnG) (, ; "family of the Gaels") is an Irish republican organization, founded in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Bro ...
, a secretive Irish-American organization that supported "physical force" Irish Republicanism, and members of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...
, who supplied organizers, operating funds, and connections with organizations outside the Irish-American community. The Communist Party was at that time in the last years of its ultrarevolutionary
Third Period The Third Period is an ideological concept adopted by the Communist International (Comintern) at its Sixth World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928. It set policy until reversed when the Nazis took over Germany in 1933. The Cominte ...
, when it sought to form revolutionary unions outside the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...
. The party, therefore, focused both on organizing workers into the union and recruiting members for the Party, through mimeographed shop papers with titles such as "Red Shuttle" or "Red Dynamo". Another source of the core membership of what became the TWU were the Irish Workers' Clubs, setup by
James Gralton James Gralton (17 April 1886 – 29 December 1945) was an Irish socialist leader who became a United States citizen after emigrating in 1909 and, later, the only Irishman ever deported from independent Ireland. Biography Early life James Gralt ...
who had been essentially exiled from Ireland for his left-wing political activities in 1933. On April 12, 1934, two Trade Union Unity League organizers, John Santo and Austin Hogan, met with the Clan na Gael's members in a cafeteria on Columbus Circle, the date now used to mark the foundation of the union. The new union appointed Thomas H. O'Shea as its first president, assigning Quill a secondary position. Quill proved to have more leadership potential than O'Shea, and quickly replaced him in the top position. He was a persuasive speaker, willing to "soapbox" outside of IRT facilities for hours, and capable of great charm in individual conversations. He acquired some renown after an incident in 1936, in which some "beakies", the informants used by the IRT to spy on union activities, attacked Quill and five other unionists in a tunnel as they were returning from picketing the IRT's offices. Arrested for inciting to riot, Quill came off as a fighter in his defence of the charges, which were eventually dismissed. Quill was closely associated with the Communist Party from the outset but proved rebellious as well. When the Third Period gave way to the Popular Front era, Santo and Hogan directed O'Shea and Quill to abandon efforts to form a new union and to run instead for office in the IRT company union, the Interborough Brotherhood. Quill denounced the plan vociferously, to the point that he was nearly expelled from the union. Quill came around, by the next party meeting and began attending Brotherhood meetings — while still recruiting workers there to join the TWU. Given the level of surveillance, and consistent with the conspiratorial traditions of Irish political movements, the union proceeded clandestinely, forming small groups of trusted friends in order to keep informers at bay, meeting in isolated locations and in subway tunnels. Those few workers, such as Quill, who were willing to accept identification as union activists, spread the word about the new union by handing out flyers and delivering soapbox speeches in front of company facilities. After a year of organizing, the union formed a Delegates Council, made up of representatives from sections of the system. In the meantime the new union continued its patient organizing campaign, conducting a number of brief strikes over workplace conditions, but avoiding any large-scale confrontations. That changed on January 23, 1937, when the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway sy ...
(BMT) fired two union members at the Kent Avenue powerhouse plant in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. It was an independe ...
for union activity. The union launched a successful
sitdown strike A sit-down strike (or simply sitdown) is a labour strike and a form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at factories or other centralized locations, take unauthorized or illegal possession of the workpl ...
two days later that solidified the union's support among BMT employees, helped lead to its overwhelming victory in an
NLRB The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the National Labor Relations ...
-conducted election among the IRT's 13,500 employees later in 1937, and helped bring thousands of other transit employees into the union.


TWU leadership

In 1936, the TWU joined the
International Association of Machinists The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing over 600,000 workers as of 2024 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Origi ...
to link itself to the AFL. On May 10, 1937, the TWU severed relations with the Machinists and joined the
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...
(CIO) as a national union. The union soon faced challenges within, as dissidents within the union and the
Association of Catholic Trade Unionists The Association of Catholic Trade Unionists (ACTU) was a labor organization associated with '' Catholic Worker'' newspaper (founded in 1933 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin). History The Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, or ACTU, formed in f ...
outside it challenged the CPUSA's dominant position within its officialdom and staff. The CP at that time had almost complete control over the union's administration and CP membership was necessary both to get a job with the union and to rise through its ranks. Former allies such as O'Shea attacked Quill and the CP, both in the publications of rival unions, such as the
Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is a labor organization in the United States and Canada that represents employees in the public transit industry. Established in 1892 as the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America, the u ...
, and in testimony before the
Dies Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty an ...
. Quill and the union leadership gave their opponents all the ammunition they needed by following the changes in the CPUSA's foreign policy, moving to a militant policy after the
Molotov–Ribbentrop pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...
in 1939, then coming out against strikes after the Nazi invasion of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in 1941. Quill shrugged off most of this criticism from outside, haranguing the Dies Committee when it attempted to question him, and disposed of his internal critics by bringing union charges against more than a hundred opponents. The union faced more serious challenges at home as Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia Fiorello Henry La Guardia (born Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as the 99th mayor of New Yo ...
threatened to revoke the union's status as the representative of the employees of the IRT and BMT when the City bought those lines in 1940. Quill had cooperated with La Guardia when Quill successfully ran for City Council in 1937, as a candidate of the
American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...
. In 1940, both La Guardia and Quill became bellicose opponents of each other, with Quill calling a bus drivers' strike that served to demonstrate the union's power if challenged, while La Guardia came out in opposition to collective bargaining, the closed shop and the right to strike for public employees. In 1941, the Nazi invasion of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
changed the Party's opinion of strikes, though it would be simplistic to treat this change in strategy solely as the result in the change in
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
policy. Throughout his career, Quill preferred to threaten strikes as leverage to calling them and provoking a decisive test of strength. In addition, the union leadership had reservations in 1941 about the depth of its support among the general public and the employees of the IRT and BMT, many of whom believed that civil service protections gained as employees of the City made union representation less critical. National CIO leaders and the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
administration intervened in 1941 to avert a subway strike, with an ambiguous agreement that preserved TWU's right to represent its members, even though the City continued to deny it exclusive representation.


Breaking with the CP

The pressure on CP-led unions intensified after the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. These pressures fell especially hard on the TWU: the government arrested Santo for
immigration law Immigration law includes the national statutes, Primary and secondary legislation, regulations, and Precedent, legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as ...
violations, and began proceedings to deport him. At the same time, Quill found the CP's political line increasingly hard to take, since it required him to oppose a subway fare increase that he considered necessary for wage increases in 1947, while the CP's support for the candidacy of Henry Wallace threatened to split the CIO. When
William Z. Foster William Z. Foster (born William Edward Foster; February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to ...
, then the general secretary of the CPUSA, told him that the party was prepared to split the CIO to form a third federation and that he might be the logical choice for its leader, Quill decided to break his ties to the CP instead. Quill applied the same energy to his campaign to drive his former allies out of the union, that he had from the union's organizing drives of the 1930s. In 1948, he was able to enlist new Mayor of New York City
William O'Dwyer William O'Dwyer (July 11, 1890November 24, 1964) was an Irish-American politician who served as the 100th Mayor of New York City, holding that office from 1946 to 1950. O'Dwyer went on to serve President Harry Truman as Ambassador to Mexico fr ...
, a native of
County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
back in Ireland, to his support, winning a large wage increase for subway workers, cementing his standing with the membership. In 1949, after a few inconclusive internal battles, Quill prevailed, purging the officers who had opposed him, and much of the union's staff, down to its secretarial employees.


Postwar years

Unlike some others, such as
Joseph Curran Joseph Curran (March 1, 1906 – August 14, 1981) was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. He was founding president of the National Maritime Union (or NMU, now part of the Seafarers International Union of North America) from 1937 t ...
of the
National Maritime Union The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged wit ...
, "Red Mike" Quill remained on the left within the labor movement — albeit in a political atmosphere in which the boundaries had shifted drastically during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
— after his split with the CP. Quill was the most vocal opponent within the CIO of its merger with the AFL, attacking it for "racism, racketeering and raids". He and the TWU were early supporters of the civil rights movement. In the early 1960s, Quill publicly opposed the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. In the 1950s, Quill and the TWU became even more important figures in New York City politics. He was a key supporter of
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Robert Ferdinand Wagner II (April 20, 1910 – February 12, 1991) was an American diplomat and politician who served three terms as the mayor of New York City from 1954 through 1965. When running for his third term, he broke with the Tammany Ha ...
's campaign for mayor of New York. Quill's former leadership of the Communist Party was repeatedly criticized during the campaign. While his union repeatedly threatened to strike, it reached collective-bargaining agreements with the Wagner administration without ever striking.


Support for racial equality and Martin Luther King

Quill had a longstanding distaste for racism and any other kind of discrimination. Beginning immediately in the 1930s with his ascension to the leadership of the TWU, he made it a point not to tolerate any kind of racial discrimination under his watch. From the outset, the TWU vowed to support workers ‘regardless of race, creed, color or nationality’, making it an anomaly in the still racially segregated America and amongst other Trade Unions in New York City. In 1938, the TWU matched their words with action, when the Union supported the rights of Black transit workers. At that time, Black workers could only work as either porters or cleaners, but the TWU forced the IRT to allow black workers into better positions within the company. In 1939, the TWU held the first desegregated trade union meeting in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
since the
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
. In 1941, Quill pledged to fight to see that ‘the color-line is wiped out . . . and that the Negro and white workers will have equal rights in this country’. In 1943, he spoke at dozens of workplace meetings in New York, warning of the consequences for all workers, of the wave of race riots then occurring in the US. In 1945, the TWU ran a nationwide campaign against lynching. In the 1940s, Quill spoke out against the
Anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
of Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic Priest of Irish ethnicity who had become a sensation in the United States on the radio. "Anti-Semitism is not the problem of the Jewish people alone. It is an American problem, a number one American problem. We all know how Hitler came into power—while he was persecuting one section of the people, other sections of the people were asleep. The merchants of hate picked their spot and picked their cause. We too must pick our cause—freedom of all peoples in a democratic America.” said Quill in relation to Coughlin. From 1956 onwards, the TWU organised financial and practical support for the movement against segregation. In 1960 the TWU established a fund to pay bail for those arrested for attempting to desegregate restaurants throughout the South. Its members took part in pickets, marches and rallies in support of the southern movement. In 1961
Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his a ...
was the guest speaker at the TWU convention. Quill introduced King as "The man who is entrusted with the banner of American liberty that was taken from Lincoln when he was shot 95 years ago". King's speech, ‘Segregation must die if democracy is to live’, was published in pamphlet form and sent to TWU branches across the United States, with instructions from Quill that it be widely distributed and discussed. In July 1963, just prior to the
March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rig ...
, Quill told his union’s membership that the battle for civil rights was the key question facing America. In 1963, the TWU contributed to a fund to aid King and others imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1965, a large number of TWU members joined with King on the
Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized by Nonviolence, nonvi ...
, one of the pivotal moments of the civil rights era. Quill was quite the admirer of Martin Luther King, whom he saw as a spiritual successor of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
. Speaking of King, Quill remarked:


Final years

The TWU did not have the same good relationship with the administration of
John V. Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the mayor of New York City, and a candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regu ...
, a liberal Republican who had rebuked Quill shortly before taking office in 1966, as they had had with Mayor Wagner. When the TWU's contract with the city expired and Lindsay did not immediately accede to the union's specific pay raise demands, Quill called a strike which lasted twelve days. The world's largest subway and bus systems, serving eight million people daily, came to a complete halt. The City obtained an injunction prohibiting the strike and succeeded in imprisoning Quill and seven other leaders of the TWU and the Amalgamated Association, which joined in the stoppage, for contempt of court. The labor lawyer Theodore W. Kheel mediated the agreement that ended the strike. Quill did not waver, responding at a crowded press conference: "The judge can drop dead in his black robes!". The union successfully held out for a sizeable wage increase for the union. Other unions followed suit, demanding similar raises. Quill died at age 60, three days after the union's victory celebration. He had an initial
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
when he was sent to jail for contempt. He was interred at
Gate of Heaven Cemetery Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is baseb ...
in Hawthorne, New York, after a funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, his casket draped with the Irish tricolor. Speaking after his death, Martin Luther King eulogised Quill with the following:


Family

Quill fathered a son, John Daniel Quill, named after Quill's own father, with his first wife Maria Theresa (Molly) O'Neill, a native of
Caherciveen Cahersiveen (), sometimes Cahirciveen, is a town in the south-west of Ireland, in County Kerry. As of the 2022 census, it had a population of 1,297. Geography Cahersiveen is on the slopes of 376-metre-high Bentee, and on the lower course of ...
, County Kerry, who died before him. His second wife, Shirley Quill, survived him.


See also

* Communist Party USA and American labor movement (1919–1937) * Communist Party USA and American labor movement (1937–1950) * Michael J. Quill Bus Depot *
Union Organizer A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing ...


References


Further reading

* Freeman, Joshua B., ''In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933–1966'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. * Quill, Shirley, ''Mike Quill, Himself : a Memoir'', Greenwich, Connecticut: Devin-Adair, 1985 * Whittemore, L.H., ''The Man Who Ran the Subways; The Story of Mike Quill'', New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968


External links


An Irish unionist's appreciation of Quill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quill, Mike 1905 births 1966 deaths American trade union leaders Activists from New York City Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Irish emigrants to the United States Irish socialists Irish republicans Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members Vice presidents of the Congress of Industrial Organizations People from Kilgarvan