Michael Joseph Quill was born on September 18, 1905 in Gourtloughera, near Kilgarvan, County Kerry, Ireland, on a mountain farm. He was the son of John Daniel Quill, a farmer, and Margaret Lynch. Quill's family actively supported the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish Rebellion and subsequent civil war. Quill belonged to Fianna Eireann, the Republican Boy Scout movement. In 1920 he joined the IRA and until 1923 saw sporadic service near his home.
Michael attended the Kilgarvan National School from 1910 to 1916.
In 1926 Michael Joseph Quill immigrated to New York, where he found work as a gateman for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. Quill became a naturalized citizen in 1931.
In 1933, Quill belonged to a group of former IRA members that began exploring the possibility of forming a transit workers union. They soon joined forces with a Communist-led organizing drive. Quill was a charter member of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) when it was founded in April 1934. He was elected TWU president in December 1935, replacing Thomas O'Shea, who had been appointed to the office a year earlier. Quill held this post for the remainder of his life. In May 1937 the TWU received an international charter from the Committee for Industrial Organization (later the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO). Shortly thereafter it won a series of recognition elections on the major New York mass-transit lines and signed contracts covering 30, 000 workers.
By the end of World War II, the TWU had gained another 15, 000 members, including transit workers in Philadelphia and Chicago and utility workers in Brooklyn. Until 1948, the TWU was politically aligned with the Communist party. The TWU leadership was unusually collective, but Quill was the union's most influential officer. Although the TWU was only a moderate-sized union, Quill, a member of the CIO executive board, developed a national reputation as a left-wing unionist and advocate of Irish causes.
In 1937, Quill was elected to the New York City Council as a candidate of the American Labor party (ALP). The ALP refused to endorse him for reelection in 1939 because he would not condemn the nonaggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany. He narrowly lost the election but was returned to the council in 1943 as an independent. Two years later he was reelected with ALP backing and served until 1949.
In March 1948, Quill resigned from this position, signaling a break with the Communist party. He opposed the Communist party's decision to back Henry Wallace's presidential candidacy and the party's fight against Mayor William O'Dwyer's effort to raise the New York City transit fare. Other factors behind his political shift included domestic anti-Communism, internal changes in the Communist party, raids on the TWU by other unions, and pressure from O'Dwyer. Aided by O'Dwyer and the national CIO, Quill won a bitter struggle against TWU officials who remained allied with the Communist party.
Quill, after being reelected TWU president in December 1948, purged the union leadership of Communists and Communist sympathizers. Nonetheless, within the narrowed political spectrum of the labor movement of the 1950's and 1960's, Quill remained on the left. He generally supported liberal Democratic candidates but advocated the creation of a labor party.
In 1949 he was elected president of the reorganized New York City CIO Council and the following year became a vice-president of the CIO. He also served as a CIO delegate to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Quill was the only head of a major CIO union to oppose the merger with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1955. Also in 1961, he led an unsuccessful campaign to readmit the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to the AFL-CIO. During these years Quill traveled widely, returning often to Ireland. Under Quill's leadership, the TWU reached a membership of 135, 000 in 1966. In addition to transit workers, the TWU organized workers in the airline industry and in 1954 absorbed the United Railroad Workers Union (CIO). Quill helped lead transit strikes in several cities as well as a twelve-day strike against the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1960. In New York City he directed a successful campaign to win back the collective-bargaining rights the TWU had lost when the private subway and elevated lines were taken over by the city in 1940. In the process he helped establish important precedents for public-sector unionism. In practice, however, after 1948 he worked closely with New York officials to maintain orderly labor relations.
In the mid-1950's, Quill's conciliatory policies led to a proliferation of dissident groups and wildcat strikes. Finally, in January 1966, faced with widespread worker unrest and a hostile new mayor, John V. Lindsay, Quill called a strike against the New York City transit system. The walkout, which lasted twelve days, virtually paralyzed the city. On its fourth day, Quill, who had a history of heart disease, collapsed after being jailed for defying a court injunction. He remained hospitalized while the strike was settled on terms favorable to the union. He died shortly thereafter.
Michael Quill generally supported the Communist party position on labor and political issues and was active in several Communist-led organizations. It is not clear if he ever joined the Communist party, several former Communists claimed that he did, but Quill repeatedly denied this. He criticized the American Federation of Labor for tolerating racial discrimination, raiding, and racketeering.
Quill was a charter member of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) when it was founded in April 1934.
Michael Quill's public image was that of a militant unionist prone to theatrical gestures and extravagant rhetoric. He was known for his sharp wit and use of ridicule.
Quotes from others about the person
"Mike Quill was a fighter for decent things all his life - Irish independence, labor organization and racial equality. He spent his life ripping the chains of bondage off his fellow man. This is a man the ages will remember. " - Dr. Martin Luther King.
On December 26, 1937 Michael married Maria Theresa O'Neill, who died before him. They had one child. His second wife, Shirley Quill.
