Matthew "Ted" Guinan (October 14, 1910 – March 22, 1995) was an Irish labor organizer who was the cofounder and served as the second president of

Transport Workers Union of America 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 disc ...

(TWU). Born in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, he immigrated in 1929. He took a job as a trolley operator in 1933. In 1943, after six years as an unpaid volunteer organizer, he became a full-time organizer for TWU Local 100. He was able to negotiate a

40-hour work week The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a business day, working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its ori ...

for public and private bus workers. He became International Executive Vice President in 1952 and International Secretary Treasurer in 1956, and was re-elected in 1961 and 1965. Following a bitter New York City transit strike (for which Guinan and other leaders spent nine days in jail after refusing to call it off), President

Mike Quill Michael Joseph "Red Mike" Quill (September 18, 1905 – January 28, 1966) 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 oth ...

died at age 60, and Guinan succeeded his longtime friend. Guinan held the post of International President until his retirement on May 1, 1979.

Political activism

Guinan walked with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

in the 1965

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, and he committed the union's resources of money and manpower to the cause for equality. As an AFL-CIO Vice President, he served on their Civil Rights Committee. His activism landed him on the

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. Cardinal

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presided over Guinan's 1995 funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.

References

*Staff report (June 28, 1973). Lists of White House 'Enemies' and Memorandums Relating to Those Named. ''

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'' *Stout, David (March 24, 1995). Matthew Guinan, 84, Dies; Led Transit Union. ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Guinan, Matthew 1910 births 1995 deaths Trade unionists from New York (state) Irish emigrants to the United States AFL–CIO people Activists from New York City American trade unionists of Irish descent Transport Workers Union of America people Catholics from New York (state) Vice presidents of the AFL–CIO