Morris "Moe" Biller (November 5, 1915 – September 5, 2003) was an American labor union leader. Born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, Biller was educated at Seward Park High School,

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

and City College, before in 1937 becoming a substitute post office clerk. Within days, he was fired for a mistake which he had not made, but managed to secure his reinstatement. This experience inspired him to join the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, and he managed to negotiate sick pay for workers at his office. During

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 ...

, Biller served in the Army Adjutant General Corps, then in 1945 he returned to his job. He gradually rose to prominent in the union, becoming president of his local in 1959. In 1970, members of the

National Association of Letter Carriers The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is an American labor union, representing non-rural letter carriers employed by the United States Postal Service. It was founded in 1889. The NALC has 2,500 local branches representing letter c ...

in New York launched the U.S. postal strike of 1970. This was the first major strike of postal workers in the United States, given that they were legally barred from taking strike action. Biller ruled that members of his union should not cross the letter carriers'

picket line A picket line is a horizontal rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and ...

s, and in this way, he came to national prominence. The strike ended after eight days, and led to major gains for post office workers. In 1971, the clerks' union merged into the new American Postal Workers' Union, and Biller was appointed as its north east regional co-ordinator. He backed a four-day strike of workers at a mail center in New Jersey in 1974, and organized demonstrations aimed to bolster workers' position during contract negotiations in 1978. Biller was elected as president of the union in 1980, in which role he negotiated several contracts which led to increased wages for members. He worked closely with the letter carriers, and he successfully campaigned against

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwa ...

being permitted to handle some post office business. He retired in 2001, and died two years later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biller, Moe 1915 births 2003 deaths American trade union leaders Activists from Manhattan Trade unionists from New York (state) Vice presidents of the AFL-CIO