Michael Casey (1857 – May 2, 1937) was an Irish-born American labor unionist. Born in

Elphin, County Roscommon Elphin (; ) is a small town in north County Roscommon, Ireland. It forms the southern tip of a triangle with Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon to the north west and north east respectively. It is at the junction of the R368 and R369 regional ro ...

, in Ireland, Casey emigrated with his family to the United States in 1871. When Michael was 12, the family settled in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. From 1889, Casey worked as a

teamster A teamster is the American term for a truck driver or a person who drives teams of draft animals. Further, the term often refers to a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union in the United States and Canada. Origi ...

, driving a team of horses. In 1900, he and John P. McLaughlin founded a local of the Team Drivers' International Union in the city. The following year, he led the union through a major strike, during which he was nicknamed "Bloody Mike" by opponents, a title which he embraced. In 1902, Casey was appointed Commissioner of the city's

Board of Public Works The Ministry of Works or was one of the Six Ministries under the Department of State Affairs in imperial China. The Ministry of Works is also commonly translated into English as the or History The ministry was established during the Sui dynas ...

, where he served until 1913. He was the leader of the anti-

Schmitz Schmitz is a common German surname (''smith''), which may refer to: * Arnold Schmitz (1893–1980), German musicologist, Beethoven researcher * Bob Schmitz (1939–2004), American football player * Bruno Schmitz (1858–1916), German architect * ...

faction of the Union Labor Party. Eventually, he became disillusioned with local politics, and decided to focus his time on labor unionism. In 1903, the Team Drivers merged into the new

International Brotherhood of Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the un ...

, which appointed Casey as its West Coast organizer. In 1912, he won election as second vice-president of the union. In the role, he opposed strikes, and negotiated an end to the

1934 West Coast waterfront strike The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike (also known as the 1934 West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, as well as a number of variations on these names) lasted 83 days, and began on May 9, 1934 when longshoremen in every US West Coast port walked out ...

. He died in 1937, still in office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Michael 1860 births 1937 deaths American trade unionists International Brotherhood of Teamsters people Irish emigrants to the United States People from County Roscommon