Labor Day 2021
“Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” ~Mary G. Harris Jones.
By Patrick S. Miller
NYS AOH Historian
We have a friend of ours, a good friend of ours in fact, a longtime Hibernian, who was forced to work over 80+ hours over 7 days per week for years. He actually had to show up every day to work long before his long shift began to ensure he had a shift to work. There were no guarantees, and I mean none. This unethical situation went on for years before there was any intervention. Our friend, Michael Joseph Quill, along with another friend of ours, Thomas H. O’Shea, both now long passed, God bless them, took action themselves to rectify this situation for all. These two brothers created the “Transport Workers Union” (TWU) in the United States in 1934. One of many of their first notable victories for us was the 6 day work-week (only later did it become 5!) and the development of the concept of “job security”. Martin Luther King, said of Brother Quill: “He spent his life ripping the chains of bondage off his fellow man...This is a man the ages will remember.” That is a tremendous requiem.
As I write this, I am enjoying an absolutely beautiful day in Western New York, on the Saturday of a long Labor Day holiday weekend, and I thank these Hibernians, with significant gratitude, for their incredible work...as I take fervent advantage of it. There are so many more brother and sister Hibernians, and friends, who were involved in the American labor movement.
During my latest round of studies, my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Ruan O’Donnell always emphasized “context”. He would frequently disabuse me of personally preferred ahistorical positions by “encouraging” me to pay more attention to “context, context, context”. In so doing the clang of the dominant narratives can often be blunted and their biases, and sometimes their subtle motives, can become more detectable. History, and current event narratives, are so often seized by selfish interests and it takes some time for us regular folk to correct the narrative. So, it is in that fine spirit that I feel compelled to tell you that I know very little about Labor History. It is a relatively new interest. In fact, I am, without question, a committed “free marketeer” which many would think opposed to the labor movement. Nothing could be further from the truth...that aforementioned “clang” may prefer us to accept that organized labor has no place in the free marketplace but such a position is not only logically untenable, it is purely ridiculous. A free marketeer must by principle believe, that all parties within the free market have the right to organize themselves any way they wish...be they labor or corporate.
As a newbie in this realm, I plan to develop more comprehensive coverage, and build a deeper awareness, of the role of our American-Irish community members in our country’s, and the world’s, labor practices. The research so far conducted, not only brings to light the work of Brothers Quill and O’Shea above, the following Hibernians and friends are also top of mind:
James Connolly (yes, THE James Connolly),
Mary G. Harris Jones (United Mine Workers Union),
Frank McCann, Sr. and Jr. (also of the TWU),
Jim McNamara (International Longshoreman’s Association),
Bill O’Driscoll (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers).
As I sat down to write this piece, Mae O’Driscoll, Bill’s sister, a highly respected member of our community in her own right, was kind enough to allow me a brief interview. Many thanks to her for taking the time. Her brother was named “President and Directing Chairman of District Lodge 142” in 1974 but started his labor movement career being elected shop union steward in 1959 (Local Lodge 1056 in New York) after beginning his long association with the airline company “TWA”. O’Driscoll became so well respected, by management and labor alike, that he sat on the TWA Board of Directors from 1988-2001. TWA entered its final bankruptcy in 2001. The preceding decades were never simple ones for that company...it having chosen to go into bankruptcy two times prior. O’Driscoll not only fought for the interests of the members of the machinist’s union during those decades but whenever possible used the platform provided him to support others in their fight against unfair treatment. During the TWA flight attendant strike in 1986, O’Driscoll led his own union into the strike simply in support having no skin in the game besides solidarity.
In our times, as we might consider the working conditions of, say, Amazon.com warehouse workers, and we might discover, perhaps, we have too much internalized the old “imperial” invisible-hand interpretation of Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”, (1776). Smith’s 18th-century philosophy of political economy has been misused by imperial/colonial powers and principalities since its writing. The “clang” of the dominant narrative once again rearing it’s ugly head. We should never forget, however, that Smith wrote, as context for the latter work, his “Theory of Moral Sentiment” (1759) long before and, in which, directs a voluntary higher purpose for the capital surpluses that our economic system often creates. Greed and self-interest remain alive and well, of course, but we can and should openly observe, discuss, and ameliorate the conditions that cause undue suffering and unfair treatment. And there is nothing wrong with joining arms and doing this together. It may even be the best and only way to effectively do it.
Quill, O’Shea, Jones, Connolly, McNamara, and O’Driscoll are among many who worked and continue to work for our interests, our family, our communities. Today, Labor Day, of all days, I pray we can take a moment to thank them and be grateful. Mae O’Driscoll shared with me an excerpt from Bill O’Driscoll’s eulogy delivered by his son, John Steven:
“As for my dad, I never knew a man who quoted the bible less but lived it more...in his heartfelt love of family, dedication to his fellow workers, and the union he cared so much about...his was not a selfish lot. He was intimately dedicated to the welfare of all those around him.”
Another exceptional requiem.
Enjoy our day! Beir bua!
For further reading/listening:
Murolo, Priscilla & Chitty, A.B., “From the Folks Who Brought You The Weekend”.
Smith, Adam, “The Theory of Moral Sentiment”.
Street Dogs, “Up the Union”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9XHEQzSCZs.