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 John
J. Kerrigan,
TWUs International Secretary
Treasurer, knows more than
most about labor's grass
roots. Because he has worked
his way up from the grass
roots to responsible union
positions, not once, but
twice.
After serving in the Navy
fresh out of high school
during World War II,
Kerrigan got his first
full-time job in 1946 at a
non-union steel fabricating
plant in his hometown of
Providence, R.I.
He became involved in an
organizing drive with the
United Steelworkers of
America serving as Chairman
of the in-plant organizing
committee. After a
successful election, which
brought unionization to the
plant's 2,000 workers,
Kerrigan was elected
Secretary-Treasurer of the
new Steelworkers Local 4418.
He was elected Vice
President of the Local in
1955, and while working
every day in the plant as a
machinist, served in that
capacity for five years.
In 1960, Kerrigan left the
then defunct steel company
getting a job as an aircraft
mechanic with Pan American
World Airways working out of
New Yorks Kennedy Airport.
He immediately became
involved in union
activities, being elected as
a shop steward. In 1963, he
was elected Vice President
of TWU Local 504, and then
President in 1968. Soon
after, he was named to the
TWU Executive Council
representing his Local.
Kerrigan joined the TWU
International staff as an
International Representative
for the unions Air Transport
Division in 1970. He was
named an International Vice
President in 1979 and then
Director of the
45,000-member Air Transport
Division in 1981.
He was named International
Secretary Treasurer in 1991
to replace retiring S.T.
Charles Faulding. He was
elected to a full four-year
term to that post at the
unions Constitutional
Convention in 1993. He was
reelected at the 1997, 2001
and 2005 Conventions.
Kerrigan served as a
delegate to the 34th and
35th Congresses of the
International Transport
Workers Federation. He has
served as ITF's Civil
Aviation Section Committee
and the Ground Staff
Technical Committee at this
meeting. He was honored by
the Deborah Hospital
Foundation as its Man Of The
Year in 1994.
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