John Joseph O'Donnell (January 14, 1925 – March 20, 2022) was an American labor union leader. Born in

Dracut, Massachusetts Dracut is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town's population was 32,617, making it the second most populous town in Massachusetts with an open town meeting system of governance. The town cove ...

, O'Donnell served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and later, in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. He left in 1956, to become an airline pilot with

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

, and joined the Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA). He serve on ALPA's board of directors from 1960 to 1964, and chaired its retirement and insurance committee from 1966. In 1971, he was elected as president of ALPA, also serving on various government and labor union committees. In 1979, he was also elected as a vice-president of the

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

. Under his leadership, ALPA established a Flight Security Committee and developed the Human Intervention Motivation Study. In 1982, O'Donnell was defeated while running for re-election as leader of ALPA. The following year, he was appointed by

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

as an assistant secretary of labor.

References

External links

* Presidential papers in th
ALPA President’s Department Records
at the Walter P. Reuther Library. 1925 births 2022 deaths American aviators American trade union leaders People from Dracut, Massachusetts Trade unionists from Massachusetts Vice presidents of the AFL-CIO {{trade-unionist-bio-stub