Joseph Patrick Ryan (May 11, 1884 – June 26, 1963) was an American labor union leader. Born in Babylon, New York, Ryan worked various jobs from the age of 12, before in 1912 becoming a longshoreman on the New York docks. He immediately joined the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), and in 1913 became financial secretary of his local union. In 1916, Ryan began working full-time for the union, and two years later, he was elected as president of the ILA's Atlantic Coast District. He was also elected as a vice-president of the international union, becoming first vice president in 1921. In 1927, he was elected as president of the union. Under his leadership, he came into conflict with union members on the West Coast, who split away to form the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. He strongly opposed

industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...

and also communism; after World War II, he imposed a ban on ILA members handling cargo from the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

. From 1928 to 1938, Ryan was the president of the Central Labor Council of Greater New York and Vicinity. He was appointed to lead an

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 mutu ...

investigation into corruption in the International Seamen's Union, which indirectly led to that union's replacement by the Seafarers' International Union of North America. In 1938, Ryan was elected as president-for-life of the ILA. However, the union was increasingly seen as corrupt, and was expelled from the AFL. In 1953, he stood down as its leader, and faced charges ranging from misappropriating union funds to evading income tax. In 1955, he was convicted of violating the Taft-Hartley Act by accepting money from a company which employed longshoremen, although this was overturned on appeal. By this time, he was in poor health, but he maintained until his death that the ILA was entirely free of corruption.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Joseph P. 1884 births 1963 deaths American trade union leaders International Longshoremen's Association people People from Babylon, New York Trade unionists from New York (state)