TWU Celebrates our Irish Heritage in the Bronx

Quill Connolly Day 2026

MARCH 13—Irish dignitaries were on hand along with International President John Samuelsen, Local 100 President John Chiarello, and brother and sister unionists as we celebrated our annual Quill-Connolly Day in the Bronx at the American Turners Club Thursday night. Mike Quill, founder of the TWU, drew inspiration and tactics from Irish trade union leader and Socialist James Connolly. Connolly was executed by a British firing squad in 1916 for his role in the Easter Rising, a six-day armed insurrection by Irish against British rule.

Local 100 President John Chiarello, looking forward to the upcoming contract fight with the MTA, said Local 100 was in a good place for what will be “the fight of our life.” 

“I like what I see in the field,” he said. “People are coming around and they’re listening again. They believe in this union, like I believe in this union – and make no mistake about it; I’m going to give it everything I’ve got, and if you’re not our friend, you’re our enemy.”

Chiarello said that the threat to transit jobs from AI is growing, with auromation making incursions all over the transit field.

“We cannot lose those jobs,” he said. “We have to fight to get language that says AI can enhance our work, but never take our jobs away. We lose those jobs, they don’t come back.”

Also present at the celebration and fighting for a united Ireland was TD for the Dublin Fingal West constituency (equivalent to a US Congresswoman) Louise O’Reilly. She is a member of Sinn Fein ("We Ourselves"), a democratic socialist party in Ireland and Northern Ireland that advocates for Irish reunification. In her speech, O’Reilly gave greetings in Gaelic, noting that Mike Quill arrived in New York exactly 100 years ago.

“His belief in the of organizing men and women to fight the bosses and assert their rights is evident today in the TWU – in the size of your membership, in the strength of your resolve, and in the work that you are doing.”

“When workers band together, when workers get organized, that’s when the magic happens,” she added. “I love that the TWU is a fightback union, because fightback unions are member led, and member led unions are the unions that get the job done.”

International President John Samuelsen spoke about coming off organizing victories that have seen the TWU’s nationwide membership grow from 115,000 members in 2013 to 165,000 today. 

A longtime champion of the unification of Ireland, Samuelsen quoted Mike Quill’s warning in 1957 to the British to end their occupation of Northern Ireland or face violent rebellion. Today, after the Troubles which convulsed the country, Samuelsen said that “in our lifetime, we are going to see a re-united Ireland.”

Besides great food and a winning performance by a troupe of Irish step dancers, attendees warmly congratulated MaBSTOA Division 2 1st Vice Chair and Gun Hill Depot Chair Tom Browne as he recieved an award for his “unwavering dedication to the union and its members.”