John P. Morris

John Paul Morris (February 20, 1926 – April 28, 2002) was an American trade unionist.

Born in Pennsylvania, Morris was raised in a large family with strong ties to unionizing, with his grandfather being a member of the Molly Maguires. He began unionizing early in his life and founded Local 115 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1955, serving as its business manager and secretary-treasurer.

Under Morris' leadership, Local 115 expanded to have thousands of members in multiple industries. He was an uncompromising organizer and showed solidarity for all working class people. He and Local 115 had a reputation of violence, such as a 1998 assault on anti-Bill Clinton demonstrators. In 1999, he was dismissed from Local 115 by the Teamsters President, who accused him of attacking union members and stockpiling weapons. He sued the Teamsters president and denied the claims, though died before a verdict had been reached.

Early life Morris was born on February 20, 1926, in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, To Eleanor and Henry Morris. Of Irish ancestry, The Molly Maguires later disbanded after having 19 of the leaders hanged. or 7,000 having two children and moving to Philadelphia together. In 1950, he initiated a strike with its 300 clerks after having convinced them to participate in a Christmas celebration outside; they demanded a six-day workweek, though were given a five-day workweek after one and a half days. He served as its business manager and secretary-treasurer.

Under his leadership, Local 115 expanded into the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia. On November 5, 1974, it was made the official union of Cheltenham Township public employees. In 1975, 88 of them went on strike. They demanded a new contract following the decision to clear four tons of trash from parks. On April 2, Morris arrived into the township with a bullhorn and addressed the workers and condemned strikebreakers. He was arrested due to breaking a code against the use of bullhorns in the area, and was held on a bail of $1,000. Another 250 police officer, using riot gear, broke up the strikers. The courts agreed with the police response, stating they were protecting strikebreakers.

In 1984, Morris defeated Gordon Grubb in the election for president of Teamsters Joint Council 53 – an assembly of Teamsters across Pennsylvania – in a vote of 101–99. Grubb had previously served as its president, and during his campaign, Morris criticized his inactive promotion of the council during his tenure. In 1991, he was elected one of three vice president of the Teamsters Eastern Conference, under Ron Carey; he received 43,503 votes. As a vice president, he made labor agreements with politicians such as Governor Tom Ridge. Morris represented players in the 1987 NFL strike, during which he called strikebreaking players "scabs". It had a reputation for violence, with many threats and assaults being linked to the union by a magistrate in 1994. In October 1998, multiple members of the union were arrested for attacking people protesting a visit to Philadelphia by Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton;

In November 1999, James P. Hoffa, then-president of the Teamsters, dismissed Morris as vice president of Local 115, and accused him of attacking union members and using a $1-million insurance fund to buy personal insurance and armaments, In a lawsuit, Morris said the weapons were for a strike, and his removal was retaliation for serving under Hoffa's electoral opponent, Ron Carey.

Morris was uncompromising as a union leader, such as in 1979, when a Goodwill Industries location went out of business because it refused new contracts demanded by Local 115. He was known for his loyalty, as evidenced by when in the 1970s, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded a mobster and informant stating that Morris should be killed because he would compromised on a labor contract with a restaurant in New Jersey. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about the incident, saying that he was "o clean, it seems, he was marked to die". He was nicknamed "Mr. Clean" for avoiding scandal. He opposed the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, believing in more autonomy for unions. He criticized the election system the law put into place, because it would allow the media to control discourse.

Personal life and death Morris supported Democratic Party politicians, and supported Teamster President Ron Carey for doing the same.

Morris died on April 28, 2002, aged 76, in Hahnemann University Hospital, in Philadelphia, from a virus caused by arterial surgery complications. and he was buried in Resurrection Cemetery, in Bensalem Township. After his death, Arthur B. Shostak, a professor of labor issues at Drexel University, said of him that he was a union leader who "never doubted and never retreated" and that "they're not making them like him anymore".