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William
Lindner, Third President, 1979-1985
WILLIAM G.
LINDNER, assumed the duties of TWU's 3rd International President
in May 1979 upon the retirement of Matthew Guinan, who in 1966
had succeeded the late Mike Quill, founder of TWU in 1934.
However, unlike Quill and Guinan who were New York City transit
workers and natives of Ireland, Lindner labored as an aircraft
mechanic prior to his career as a Union officer. He joined TWU
in 1946 and immediately helped organize TWU Local 512 in
Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville and St.
Louis for the representation of aircraft mechanics and general
service workers employed by American Airlines. He was elected
shop steward of the new Local, and in 1947 was elected the
Local's first permanent President.
Lindner was elected to the TWU International Executive Board at
TWU's Chicago Convention in 1948. Three years later he moved to
New York to work full time for the International as Assistant
Director of the Air Transport Division. Lindner was named to the
first TWU Executive Council which was formed at Convention in
1955. He was elected International Vice President in 1968, and
Director of the Air Transport Division in 1973. He helped
establish TWU's Education and Safety Department and became its
first Director in 1976. Two years later, he was elected
International Executive Vice President.
Lindner was a leading spokesman for safety in the mass transit,
airline and railroad industries in this country and testified on
these issues numerous times before Congress. He was also a
leading critic of airline deregulation, which was passed by
Congress in 1978. As his predecessors, Lindner was a strong
believer in mixing old fashioned labor militancy with
intelligent diplomacy in dealing with employers. This philosophy
served him well over the years in his negotiations with the
world's largest airlines and America's biggest mass transit
systems.
Lindner, who served as a delegate to and a member of the General
Council of the International Transport Workers Federation,
believed that America should have adopted a realistic trade and
import policy to protect the basic core of American
manufacturing and international transport jobs. He believed
there is a deep need for establishment of a government agency to
set and enforce minimum safety standards for mass transit.
Lindner was highly critical of government policies which
unfairly block the extension of trade union benefits to
unorganized workers, and was a strong supporter of Labor Law
Reform and expanded political action necessary to amend these
inequities. In addition to representing TWU on the AFL-CIO
Executive Board, Lindner was a Vice President of the AFL-CIO
Industrial Union Department.
Lindner was also proud of TWU's long history of fighting for
civil rights, and himself was a participant in the 1963 March in
Memphis in support of black sanitation workers.
Hundreds Attend Funeral
Linder died unexpectedly on May 1, 1985 at the age of 65. As
news of Lindner's sudden death spread throughout the labor
movement, telegrams of condolence came flooding into TWU
Headquarters. At the time, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland
affirmed: "Bill Lindner's leadership and service enriched a
great many lives, not only among TWU members, but far beyond
their ranks."
Telegrams of condolence also arrived from outside of the
American labor movement. Harold Lewis, General Secretary of the
International Transport Workers Federation in London, said: "We
are devastated at the news of Bill Lindner's passing. He was
greatly liked and respected by our affiliates around the world
and will be solely missed."
Funeral services for Brother Lindner were held on May 6, 1985 at
St. Martin of Tours Church in Bethpage, N.Y. A native of
Chicago, Brother Lindner was a resident of Levittown, N.Y. He
was a veteran of World War II serving for six years in Naval
Aviation units of the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and in the
South Pacific, with a final rank of Chief Petty Officer.
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