| NYC transit workers strike | |||
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| Date | January 1–13, 1966 | ||
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In 1966, the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) called a strike action in New York City after the expiration of their contract with the New York City Transit Authority (TA). It was the first strike against the TA; pre-TWU transit strikes in 1905, 1910, 1916, and 1919 against the then-private transit companies had all failed. There had also been some partial TWU strikes in the 1930s but no citywide actions. [2] The strike led to the passage of the Taylor Law, which redefined the rights and limitations of unions for public employees in New York. [3]
The strikers were led initially led by Mike Quill, the TWU's founder, who had been the union's president since its founding. The strike effectively ended all service on the subway and buses in the city, affecting millions of commuters. It was an ominous beginning for the mayoralty of John V. Lindsay, but is perhaps better remembered for the jailing of Quill and for his death only weeks afterwards.
Democratic Party New York City mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. granted collective bargaining rights to city employees in 1958. This led to the unions replacing Tammany Hall as the city's most powerful political force. Wagner formed a close alliance with the public-sector unions. [4] John Lindsay, a reformist within the Republican Party, won the 1965 New York City mayoral election by campaigning against the city's often corrupt political machines. With the transit contract set to expire the same day Lindsay would take office, the stage was set for confrontation. [5]
The 1966 strike was led by Mike Quill who came to bat with Mayor Lindsay. Quill was born in Ireland to a family heavily associated with the progressive republican movement. His father was so prominent in the movement that republican leaders often consulted with him. Quill later relocated to New York in 1926. His progressive values and ties to the republican party caused turmoil when seeking employment. Despite his trouble in this area he eventually found his place getting involved in activist groups such as the Clan na Gael. His involvement in groups like this radicalized his already progressive ideas. In time he became known for his ability to critique those in power and his belligerent approach to organizing. Due to these traits he finally found his place in founding and leading the Transit Workers Union.
The 1966 strike was led by Mike Quill who came to bat with Mayor Lindsay. Quill was born in Ireland to a family heavily associated with the progressive republican movement. His father was so prominent in the movement that republican leaders often consulted with him. Quill later relocated to New York in 1926. His progressive values and ties to the republican party caused turmoil when seeking employment. Despite his trouble in this area he eventually found his place getting involved in activist groups such as the Clan na Gael. His involvement in groups like this radicalized his already progressive ideas. In time he became known for his ability to critique those in power and his belligerent approach to organizing. Due to these traits he finally found his place in founding and leading the Transit Workers Union.
Lindsay's "Protestant rectitude" [5] proved no match for the "fiery" [6] Quill. The true sources of power in New York became clear, a point that would be further driven home by 1967 and 1968 teachers strikes and a 1968 strike by sanitation workers. [3] By the time Lindsay ran for re-election in 1969 as the candidate of the Liberal Party of New York, he had made his peace with the public sector unions, and ultimately won their support. [5] However, and partly as a result, the city's social and economic decline was rapidly intensifying.
The proposition of a strike, especially on a day like New Years, feared officials. The day of Mayor Lindsay’s inauguration State Supreme Court justice George Tilzer issued an attempt to prohibit the strike from taking place. He stated in his ruling, “the staggering effects of a strike at this time of the inhabitants of this city far outweigh the rights of these defendants.” [7] The counsel of the TA even stated the strike would be “illegal and cause irrevocable damage to the city” It’s safe to say that even the prospect of a strike led by someone as zealous as Mike Quill was unfavorable.
This injunction and bids to call off the strike meant nothing to the eager Mike Quill. He refused to take any offers the mayor and TA officials threw at him. Mayor Lindsay dreaded what a major strike would do to him in his early days of office. He was trying everything to get Quill to call off the strike. In response during a meeting with his bargaining committee, Quill stated to the mayor “You are nothing but a juvenile, a lightweight, and a pipsqueak. You don't know anything about the working class. You don't know anything about labor unions.” [8]
The TWU felt Lindsay did not care about blue collar workers and felt he held a very belittling attitude towards them. He held a stance during his attempts of stopping the strike that he was concerned for the ordinary people of New York, almost implying the union did not care about them. During this attempt he lectured Quill rather than making any effort to sell the deal to the committee. He felt he held right position and doing the working class a favor. Due to this he saw no need to make any real bargaining attempts. After this meeting, in front of several reporters, Quill called the strike to take place as planned and tore up a legal document calling for a stop to the strike. With that the 1966 New York Transit strike was set to take place on New Year's Day.
The twelve-day strike began on New Year's Day; the last trains rolled at 8:02 am. The TWU demands consisted of a 30 percent raise, a 32 hour, 4 day week, retirement at half pay after 25 years, and better pension benefits. An injunction to end the strike was issued later that day, under the 1947 Condon-Wadlin Act.[3] On January 2, the union reduced its economic demands, but the TA responded only by getting a judge's order for the arrest of Quill and eight other union leaders. (The others were Matthew Guinan, Frank Sheehan, Daniel Gilmartin, Ellis Van Riper, and Mark Kavanagh of the TWU and John Rowland, William Mangus, and Frank Kleess of the ATU). The arrests were set for 1 a.m. on January 4. The TWU was not going to back down after this, with their leader Mike Quill stating before the strike, “this is war.” Throughout the strike this same mindset was unwavering for him, despite being in poor health and wanted for jail. Immediately before his arrest he told reporters at the Americana Hotel "The judge can drop dead in his black robes. I don't care if I rot in jail. I will not call off the strike.’” (May 15, 1966; Freeman [1989]).
Quill spent little time in jail: his poor health soon had him transferred to Bellevue Hospital and later to Mount Sinai Medical Hospital, leaving TWU Secretary-Treasurer Doug MacMahon (a close associate of Quill's, with him since the union's founding) to lead the strike. On January 10, 15,000 workers picketed City Hall.
The mediation team met on January 12 at the Americana hotel to share their proposal for terms to end the strike. Negotiations moved forward through mediators, with movement from both sides. At 1:37 A.M. on January 13, Douglas MacMahon or the TWU's chief negotiator announced that the union was recommending settlement based on the mediators' proposals. [2] He states during this speech, "I am very happy to make this announcement. The union feels that this is a substantial victory." [9]
The package, worth over $60 million, included wages increases from $3.18 to $4.14 an hour, an additional paid holiday, increased pension benefits, and other gains. Gains averaged nine percent for the next eight years. Quill's health at first seemed to be improving; he was actually released from hospital January 25. He gave a speech to the victorious strikers and another press conference at the Americana, but the apparent improvement in his health was an illusion: he died on January 28. [5]
By 12:45 p.m. on January 13, the New York City transit system was up and running. The first train ran at 9:32 with its first paying customers since the strike. Residents were so glad they had their transit back. It was noted the subway lacked the usual chaos and fighting, with riders appearing extra civil. This speedy return to normalcy, happened less than seven hours after the negotiations were finalized. The reason for such a quick restoration was due to a plan that was created during the strike to allow a swift return to business.
John Vliet Lindsay 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 regular guest host of Good Morning America. Lindsay served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from January 1959 to December 1965 and as mayor of New York from January 1966 to December 1973.
The New York City Transit Authority is a public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. Part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the busiest and largest transit system in North America, the NYCTA has a daily ridership of 8 million trips.
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 union was centered primarily in the Eastern United States; today, ATU has over 200,000 members throughout the United States and Canada.
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 discusses the parent union and its largest local, Local 100, which represents the transport workers of New York City. TWU is a member of the AFL–CIO.
Michael Joseph "Red Mike" 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. 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 (CP) for the first twelve years of his leadership of the union, he broke with it in 1948.
Immediately after World War II, New York City became known as one of the world's greatest cities. However, after peaking in population in 1950, the city began to feel the effects of suburbanization brought about by new housing communities such as Levittown, a downturn in industry and commerce as businesses left for places where it was cheaper and easier to operate, an increase in crime, and an upturn in its welfare burden, all of which reached a nadir in the city's fiscal crisis of the 1970s, when it barely avoided defaulting on its obligations and declaring bankruptcy.
Roger Toussaint is an American worker who led the December 20th, 2005 New York City transit strike which lasted three days and shut down bus and subway service in the city. Toussaint was the president of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 in New York City (NYC) from January 2001 through December 2009. TWU Local 100 represents the majority of hourly employees at the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), Manhattan and the Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MaBSTOA), MTA Bus and is the largest local transportation union in the USA. As a result of this strike, the union was fined heavily and Toussaint jailed briefly. The December 2005 strike was the first strike shutting down public transportation in NYC in 25 years.
The Public Employees Fair Employment Act, more commonly known as the Taylor Law, is Article 14 of the state Civil Service Law, which defines the rights and limitations of unions for public employees in New York.
A 1980 transit strike in New York City halted service on the New York City Transit Authority for the first time since 1966. Around 33,000 members of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 walked off their jobs on April 1, 1980, in a strike with the goal of increasing the wage for contracted workers. All subway and bus lines in the five boroughs of New York City were brought to a complete standstill for twelve days. The strike was resolved on April 11.
The 2005 New York City transit strike, held from December 20 through 22, 2005, was the third strike ever by the Transport Workers Union Local 100 against New York City's Transit Authority and involved between 32,000 and 34,000 strikers.
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Joshua B. Freeman is an author and professor of history at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY) and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the former executive officer of the Graduate Center's history department.
George W. Taylor was a professor of industrial relations at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is credited with founding the academic field of study known as industrial relations. He served in several capacities in the federal government, most notably as a mediator and arbitrator. During his career, Taylor settled more than 2,000 strikes.
Nathan Paul Feinsinger was a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He mediated and arbitrated a number of strikes, and served as general counsel to the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board and associate general counsel to the National War Labor Board (WLB).
Thomas H. O'Shea was an Irish revolutionary and one of the founders of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), subway workers in New York City that expanded to represent members in other forms of transit nationwide. O'Shea was appointed the first President of the TWU in 1934 and later ousted and replaced by longtime TWU President Michael J. Quill. O'Shea subsequently spent some years battling reported Communism within the union culminating in his 1940 testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities chaired by Rep. Martin Dies of Texas and commonly referred to as the Dies Committee at the time.
The Philadelphia transit strike of 1944 was a sickout strike by white transit workers in Philadelphia that lasted from August 1 to August 6, 1944. The strike was triggered by the decision of the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), made under prolonged pressure from the federal government in view of significant wartime labor shortages, to allow black employees of the PTC to hold non-menial jobs, such as motormen and conductors, that were previously reserved for white workers only. On August 1, 1944, the eight black employees being trained as streetcar motormen were due to make their first trial run. That caused the white PTC workers to start a massive sickout strike.
John F. O'Donnell was an Irish-born 20th-century American "leading labor lawyer" who represented the national Transport Workers Union (TWU) and American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and also "played a central role in New York City's transit strikes" from the 1930s to the 1980s.
John Lindsay served as the 103rd Mayor of New York City from January 1, 1966, to January 1, 1974. His mayoralty presided over a rising budget from below $5 billion to almost $10 billion, high deficit spending, the reorganization of the city's government, a corruption investigation into the New York City Police Department, and large scale union strikes.
John Samuelsen is an American labor union leader.
1. Freeman, Joshua Benjamin. In Transit : The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933-1966 : Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.
2. Ikeler, Peter. “Workers’ Power in the Global City? Lessons from Three New York Transit Strikes.” Labor Studies Journal 36, no. 4 (2011): 460–82. doi:10.1177/0160449X11425715.
3. Marmo, Michael. More Profile than Courage : The New York City Transit Strike of 1966. Albany: State University of New York, 1990.
4. E.J. McMahon and Fred Siegel. Gotham's Fiscal Crisis: Lessons Unlearned (PDF). The Public Interest No. 158 (Winter 2005) p. 96-110.
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