Matthew "Mattie" Guinan was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 labor organizer, second president of Transport Workers Union of America

Transport Workers Union of America

Transport Workers Union of America is a United States labor union that was founded in 1934 by subway workers in New York City, then expanded to represent transit employees in other cities, primarily in the eastern U.S. This article discusses the parent union and its largest local, Local 100,...

 (TWU).

Born in Offaly, Ireland, he immigrated in 1929. He took a job as a trolley

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 operator in 1933. In 1943, after six years as an unpaid volunteer organizer, he became a full-time organizer for TWU Local 100.

He was able to negotiate a 40-hour work week for public and private bus workers. He became International Executive Vice President in 1952 and International Secretary Treasurer in 1956, and was re-elected in 1961 and 1965.

Following a bitter New York City transit strike (for which Guinan and other leaders spent nine days in jail after refusing to call it off), President Mike Quill

Mike Quill

Michael J. Quill was one of the founders of the Transport Workers Union of America , a union founded by subway workers in New York City that expanded to represent employees in other forms of transit, and the President of the TWU for most of the first thirty years of its existence...

 died at age 60, and Guinan succeeded his longtime friend. Guinan held the post of International President until his retirement on May 1, 1979.

Political activism

Guinan walked with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

 in the 1965 march on Selma, Alabama and he committed the union's resources of money and manpower to the cause for equality.

As an AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...

 Vice President, he served on their Civil Rights Committee. His activism landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents

Master list of Nixon political opponents

A master list of Nixon political opponents was compiled to supplement the original Nixon's Enemies List of 20 key people considered opponents of President Richard Nixon. The master list was compiled by Charles Colson's office and sent in memorandum form to John Dean. Dean later provided this...

.

Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor presided over Guinan's 1995 funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...

.