Mike Quill

Michael J. Quill was one of the founders of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), a union founded by subway workers in New York City that expanded to represent employees in other forms of transit, and the President of the TWU for most of the first thirty years of its existence. A close ally of the Communist Party USA for the first twelve years of his leadership of the union, he broke with it in 1948 and drove his former allies out of the union. At odds with the mayors of New York City for most of his career, he led a twelve day transit strike in 1966 that landed him in jail and won significant wage increases for his members. He died a few days after the end of the strike.

Postwar controversies

Unlike some others, such as Joe Curran of the National Maritime Union, 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 — 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 and Quill was one of the first in labor to oppose the Vietnam War.

Related Topics:
Joe Curran - National Maritime Union - Cold War - Vietnam War

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Quill and the TWU became even more important figures in New York City politics in the 1950s. He was a key supporter of Robert F. Wagner, Jr.'s campaign for mayor of New York and became a lightning rod, based on his radical past, for Wagner's Republican opponent and unfavorable press attention. While the union repeatedly threatened to take the subway workers out on strike, it managed to settle with the Wagner administration short of a strike on each occasion.

Related Topics:
1950s - Robert F. Wagner, Jr. - Republican

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The TWU did not have the same relationship with the administration of John V. Lindsay, who took office in 1966. Lindsay decided to take on the TWU, provoking a twelve day strike. 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.

Related Topics:
John V. Lindsay - 1966

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Quill did not waver, saying that the judge could "drop dead in his black robes", and successfully held out for a sizeable wage increase for the union, As it turned out, the judge survived Quill, who died two days after the union's victory celebration of the effects of a heart attack he had suffered when he was sent to jail for contempt. He was buried after a service at St. Patrick's Cathedral, his casket draped by the IRA flag.

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