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Matthew Guinan, Second President,
1966-1979
MATTHEW GUINAN, who with founding President Michael J.
Quill, played a pivotal role in the development and
rapid expansion of TWU from its roots in the New York
City bus and subway system to a major national labor
organization representing thousands of workers in all
the transport industries, was the union's second
International President.
Mr. Guinan was born in Offaly, Ireland on October 14,
1910, one of ten children of a hard working carpenter
builder. He emigrated to the United States in 1929
carrying with him a kinship with the beliefs of
Ireland's patriot unionist James Connolly.
Worked as Trolley Operator
He landed a job as an "extra" trolley operator with
the former Third Avenue Railway Corporation in 1933 and
immediately fell in with the effort to unionize. He
quickly rose from rank-and-file activity to serve as an
organizer and officer at every level of the union. In
1943, after six years as an unpaid volunteer organizer,
he became a full-time organizer for TWU Local 100. He
was elected Vice President of the Local in 1945,
President four years later and was returned to that
office in five successive biennial elections starting in
1951.
During this time, Mr. Guinan formed a close bond of
friendship and trust with the union's founder, Mike
Quill. Together, the two men made a formidable team who
blasted their way past barrier after barrier to bring
justice and dignity to transit workers in New York, and
then to workers nationwide in mass transit, airlines and
railroads. Joseph Donoghue, retired International Vice
President who worked closely with both men, remembered
Mr. Guinan with great fondness. "Mike was the king. But
Mattie was the crown prince."
Mr. Guinan's early successes, which included a
breakthrough on the 40-hour work week for both public
and private bus workers earned him the job of
International Executive Vice President at TWU's 8th
Biennial Convention in 1952. In l956 he took on the
additional duties as International Secretary Treasurer.
He was re-elected to those posts at both the 1961 and
1965 International Conventions. Along with Mr. Quill,
Mr. Guinan also engineered the New York City takeover of
the major private bus lines in Manhattan and the Bronx,
preserving pensions for hundreds of oldtimers.
Succeeds Mike Quill
But Mr. Guinan's greatest challenge did not come
until early 1966 when after the bitter New York City
transit strike, President Mike Quill, the driving force
behind the union since its founding in 1934 and a
revered, idolized figure among the membership, died at
age 60 and Mr. Guinan took over as International
President.
Mr. Quill's passing created an almost impossible task
for Mr. Guinan, who was soft-spoken and gentlemanly
where his predecessor was world-known for his brash,
often outrageous statements. But Mr. Guinan, remembers
TWU's retired Publicity Director Joseph Kutch, performed
heroically to stabilize the union and then, through a
reorganization of the power structure of the
organization, fostered further growth and prosperity for
TWU. Three men who deserve great credit for this
transition, points out Mr. Kutch, were Air Transport
Division Director James Horst, International Secretary
Treasurer Douglas McMahon and Local 100 President Daniel
Gilmartin. Mr. Guinan held the post of International
President until his retirement on May 1, 1979. He was
immediately named President Emeritus.
Known simply as Mattie to his friends and co-workers
across the decades, Mr. Guinan was widely regarded as a
powerful force for civil rights in the labor movement
and the nation. He walked with Dr. Marlin Luther King,
Jr. in the 1965 march on Selma, Alabama and he committed
the union's resources of money and manpower to the cause
for equality.
In February 1969, Mr. Guinan was elected a member of the
AFL-CIO Executive Council and one of the Federation's
Vice Presidents. He served energetically on the
AFL-CIO's Civil Rights Committee as well. He also played
key roles in New York state and local central bodies. He
was first Vice President of the New York City Central
Labor Council from its formation in 1959 until his
retirement.
Dies March 22, 1995
After a long and fruitful retirement, TWU's
venerable International President Emeritus died March
22, 1995 after a brief illness at a Florida hospital. He
was 84 and had been in failing health for several years.
Mr. Guinan's death marked the true end of an era in the
history of TWU. He was the last living member of the
courageous group of TWU International and Local 100
leaders who spent nine days in jail in 1966 for refusing
to call off the first city-wide bus and subway strike in
New York's history. And he represented one of the final
links to the early group of mostly Irish immigrants who
overcame the powerful transit bosses to form a lasting
union for transit workers in New York City in the midst
of the Great Depression where three previous efforts had
failed.
TWU International President Sonny Hall said at the time
of Mr. Guinan's death: "This is truly a sad day for TWU
and all of American labor. Mattie Guinan was a man of
great courage and conviction who represented the best of
our labor movement -- tough, militant and honest
leadership at a crucial time in American history when
workers desperately needed and wanted to secure the
right to form unions. Mattie was also a man of great
vision who helped expand TWU beyond its original borders
in New York City to represent workers throughout the
nation in all the transportation industries."
Services at St. Patrick's Cathedral
Funeral services for Mr. Guinan were held at St.
Patrick's Cathedral in New York with John Cardinal
O'Connor as celebrant. Cardinal O'Connor, in a brief
eulogy, said that Mr. Guinan "belongs to the world. He
fought always for dignity for those who worked with
their hands."
"It's so important," continued Cardinal O'Connor, "that
in these days when the union movement is coming under
such scathing attack that we recognize and remember the
life of Matthew Guinan."
Father Joseph Kelly, co-celebrant of the funeral mass
and a close friend of the Guinan family, also eulogized
Mr. Guinan for his commitment to the civil rights
movement. He pointed out that the motto of St. Patrick's
Cathedral -- that there "Can Be No Love Without Justice"
exemplified Mr. Guinan's life. Father Kelly, who also
counted Mike Quill among his friends, brought a smile to
everyone's face when he said that "Mattie is on his way
to heaven to meet Mike Quill and God, in that order."
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