Joseph Paul Tonelli (February 26, 1908 – March 4, 2000) was an American trade union leader. Born in

Grove City, Pennsylvania Grove City is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in southeastern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States, located approximately north of Pittsburgh and south of Erie, Pennsylvania, Erie. At the 2020 United States Ce ...

, Tonelli moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1928, where he began working in the paper industry. In the mid-1930s, he helped organize local 243 of the

International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers The International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (IBPSPMW) was a labor union representing workers involved in making paper in the United States and Canada. The union was founded on January 6, 1906, as a split from the Intern ...

, in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. In 1939, he was appointed as a full-time organizer for the international union. He proved successful in organizing other paper plants, and in 1942 was appointed as chair of the union's Greater New York Organizing Committee. In 1944, Tonelli was appointed as a vice-president of the union. Although he was frequently alleged to have misused union finances and to have taken objectionable positions in negotiations, whenever the allegations were discussed at union conferences, votes cleared him of wrongdoing. In 1964,

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

appointed him to the

Social Security Advisory Board The Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) is an independent, bipartisan board of the United States federal government. It was created by Congress and is appointed by the President and the Congress to advise the President, the Congress, and the Comm ...

. Tonelli was elected as president of the union in 1965. In this role, he organized a merger between his union and the

United Papermakers and Paperworkers The United Papermakers and Paperworkers (UPP) was a labor union representing workers involved in manufacturing paper in the United States and Canada. The union was established on March 6, 1957, when the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers mer ...

, forming the

United Paperworkers' International Union The United Paperworkers' International Union (UPIU) was a labor union representing workers involved in making paper, and later various industrial workers, in the United States and Canada. The union was founded on August 9, 1972, when the Internatio ...

in 1972. He then served as the founding president of UPIU. Despite the consolidation, union membership stagnated, and several locals split away from the union. In October 1973, Tonelli was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council alongside the

American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 perc ...

Albert Shanker Albert Shanker (September 14, 1928 – February 22, 1997) was president of the United Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1985 and president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) from 1974 to 1997. Early life Shanker was born on Manhatta ...

. They replaced William Pollock and

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 to ...

. He was made a member of the

Order of Saint Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

, and also made a

Knight of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

. In May 1976, Tonelli's speech to the

Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated. History Formation The CLC was ...

national convention was protested by members of the rival Canadian Paperworkers Union,

Canadian Union of Public Employees The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...

, and the

United Electrical Workers The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), is an independent democratic rank-and-file labor union representing workers in both the private and public sectors across the United States. UE was one of the first unions to be ...

. The CPU had split from UPIU in 1974 was in court with its former parent union over $1.8 million in Canadian workers contributions to the international. Tonelli told reporters that he was not aware of the dispute. In 1978, he was convicted of embezzling union funds totaling $360,000 and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. On release, he lived in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

, until his death in 2000.

References

{{end box 1908 births 2000 deaths American trade union leaders People from Grove City, Pennsylvania Trade unionists from Pennsylvania