JAMES CONNOLLY, JIM LARKIN, MIKE QUILL & ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN AT THE EDISON BALLROOM

 The Irish Echo Labor Awards is one of the best nights of the year. Not only does it give you an insight into the Labor movement in America, it offers a glimpse into the soul of the nation itself.

At the 2016 Awards I realized for the first time that Donald Trump would win the upcoming presidential election. This occurred when a union leader unequivocally stated that while leadership was sticking with Hillary Clinton, membership was largely pro-Trump.

 

His sentiment was echoed by an attendee who bellowed down the bar, “Yeah, where I’m from, everyone’s voting Trump.”

 

This year I don’t think I heard the president’s name mentioned at the Edison Ballroom, except for one sotto voce remark accompanied by an expletive.

 

No, the people of the hour were James Connolly, Big Jim Larkin, Mike Quill and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, all of whom were hailed both from the stage and the bar.

 

Workers’ rights were trumpeted, along with calls for unity against oligarchs (a word rarely uttered at previous Labor Awards).

 

There was a sense of urgency in the air and a conviction that unions, along with other institutions, were being worn down by the avalanche of money and power that has accrued to mega-corporations. It was time for a new beginning. And you could feel it throughout the ballroom. 

 

Friends from San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, Cincinnati, New York and New Jersey came to support newly minted ambassadors and cheered lustily for their favorites.

 

My sole duty was to introduce John Gardiner, President/Business Manager of Ironworkers Local #1, Chicago. In his sterling acceptance speech John left no doubt that in order to look after the interests of his union brothers and sisters he had to be involved in the thick of local politics.

 

The most poignant moments at every Labor night are the farewells to recently deceased comrades, the like of Terrence “Terry” Fitzmaurice, Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer of Painters District Council 14, Chicago.

 

When Terry was saluted from the stage you could appreciate the full arc of this valued union member’s life, from being hired as a painter at O’Hare Airport to serving as a trustee for the Chicago Building Trades. You got to share with his loving family what the union meant to them, how membership provided stability and support through good times and bad.

 

You also learned just how foundational the Irish were to the cause of trade unionism in the US. It wasn’t just the contributions of secular saints like Connolly, Larkin, Quill and Flynn – but during each ambassador’s acceptance speech, you heard of a grandfather or father arriving on these shores, and getting his first leg-up from poverty and aloneness by joining a union. 

 

Each middle-class person receiving an award could trace their piece of the American Dream back to a striving immigrant who had the good fortune to join a union. 

 

Perhaps the defining aspect of this year’s awards was the presence of so many women. Marie Drumm, formerly of the Biden White House, now a media coordinator for the Teamsters, 

displayed her sharp communication skills on stage, while Cyndie Williams talked movingly about her love for both her carpentry profession and all things Ireland.

 

Speaking of which, Ethel Buckley flew in from the old country. This dynamic Deputy General Secretary of SIPTU (a union whose roots go back to the hardscrabble days of Larkin and Connolly) gave a riveting speech about the history and politics of Irish trade unionism, and the necessity of US and Irish union solidarity.

 

My favorite table was that supporting Michelle Healy who worked her way up from a bagger at a Stop & Shop in Quincy MA to currently running a national pensions and procurement reform campaign. Cheered on by Mary Kay Henry and other radical women friends, you could feel the rebel-girl spirit of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in their midst.

 

Irish Echo publisher Máirtín Ó’Muilleoir deserves our heartfelt thanks for bringing us all together on such a remarkable night. Does anyone know more Irish-Americans, or hold them in such esteem as this Belfast force of nature? 

 

Congratulations also to the evening’s MC, Editor Ray O’Hanlon, and his tireless Irish Echo staff. I hope we’ll all reunite at the 2027 Labor Ambassador Awards.

 

Long live the Irish Echo as it shines a spotlight on trade unionism, arguably the most vital institution in our rapidly changing society.

JOHN McDONAGH TAXIMAN, RADIO FREE EIREANN - HE'S ONLY JUST BEGUN

 Soon after I arrived in New York City I became a subway person. The price, speed, and anonymity suited me; and this was the wild and wooly 70’s when things were somewhat dicey below ground.

But even then I realized that if you wanted to see the city and be squired around by someone who knew the joint, then the taxi was your man. 

 

I admired taxi-drivers, for despite the fact that I dwelt in the existential junky kingdom of Alphabet City, I never had the courage to drive a yellow cab. And believe me, there were times I sorely needed the money. 

 

Being an itinerant musician wasn’t the safest of gigs either, still you were grounded inside some pub or club for 5 hours a night, not swanning around an urban jungle like a real-life De Niro.

 

I’ve had taxi-driver friends who went on to success in other fields, one of whom almost killed a tipsy Ted Kennedy when taking too sharp a turn in his dilapidated checker with a loose door. Heck, I even knew Harry Chapin who wrote the Taxi anthem.

 

But John McDonagh trumps them all. Just talking to John is like taking a spin up and down the FDR some icy pre-dawn, January morning - you’re never quite sure where you’re going to end up.

 

John says we first met at WBAI-FM when I waltzed in with a 45 of Avenue B is the Place to Be, a single by the punk/new wave band Major Thinkers.

 

So what was a cabbie doing fronting a show on prestigious Pacifica Radio? That’s the thing about John, everything comes from an unlikely angle; with regard to the WBAI show – mix in sheep, Donegal, and emigration, and it all came to a head in the terrible year of 1981.

 

John from Queens was spending the summer on his uncle’s sheep farm in the wilds of Donegal when the Hunger Strike was in progress. After attending 3 wakes and funerals, he decided to do something about it.

 

Chucking the Donegal shepherd gig, he returned home and joined a demonstration outside the United Nations; never one to button his lip, he waxed eloquently on what he had seen. Whereupon, WBAI offered him a radio show to spread his Republican gospel.

 

Enter one of the great Irish-American political characters, Brian Mór Ó’Baoighill, aka Bernie O’Boyle, a fabulous artist who earned his crust designing major-label album covers and doing bar security.

 

Brian Mór came aboard as co-host of Behind the Green Curtain. The name came straight from the lips of Father Pat Moloney - talk about characters – this particular padre had just been released from behind the green curtain of Portlaoise Prison.

 

The show is still running every Sunday and has had a battalion of co-hosts, including the incredible Malachy McCourt, and the ineffable Sandy Boyer.

 

You could say that Radio Free Eireann (current name) is the little show that could – and did! At times, the hosts seemed to be at war with just about everyone. Why? Because they called it like they saw it.

 

That all stems from the taxi driver vibe. John took up the wheel in 1977 after serving three years in the US Army. Bet you didn’t know he was a vet, especially since two retired FDNY guys used to call in and yell at him, “Go back to Cuba!” Ah well, Cuba, Nicaragua, Donegal, Queens, wherever it’s hot, that’s where John’s at.

 

He doesn’t drive pro anymore, but he keeps the cabbie vibe alive with his one-man-show Off the Meter, On the Record that proved a knockout at the Irish Rep and beyond.

 

And on the second Thursday of every month, he and other yellow chariot drivers tell cabbie stories at the Republican paradise of O’Malley’s on 27^th Street, in the aptly named Malachy McCourt Storytelling room. Be there or be square!

 

But that’s only the half the story, Mr. McDonagh is currently featured in the hit YouTube TV series Keep The Meter Running, hosted by that rambunctious man about town Kareem Rahma, best known for his popular Subway Takes on which John has also appeared.

 

That’s the thing about taxi drivers – they keep New York, and every other city, moving. So, the next time you ride a cab, instead of nodding off to some dumb corporate ad, talk to your driver. They all have an immigrant story, and like John, they’re going places you and I never will.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olL1pjZ4WP4&t=1939s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOzOk-HZcY&t=1466s