John Thomas O'BRIEN
1941 - HAIL JOHN O'BRIEN 30 YEARS IN UNION - 1000 Pay Tribute to Leader in A.F.L. Van Drivers

In a newspaper article headed - HAIL JOHN O'BRIEN 30 YEARS IN UNION - 1000 Pay Tribute to Leader in A.F.L. Van Drivers
Caption over picture of him and John H. Rohrich (vice president of the council) reads: As Pioneer in Union Was Honored
Secretary Treasurer of Local No. 392, Van Drivers, Furniture Handlers and Piano Movers Union, an affiliate of the A.F.L. Teamsters Union. He became a member of Local 392, the oldest chartered local in Cleveland. He was first elected to office before he was 21.
A native of Ross County he was the youngest of 11 children. He became an orphan at 10 and when he was 13 he was forced to leave school and go to work. The newspaper article goes on to say...
Both Edward F. Murphy (chairman of the Teamsters District Council and John M. Gillespie (International Secretary of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers) gave him most of the credit for "the vast improvement in pay and working conditions" since he first joined the union".
A move from East Cleveland to Lakewood was a 14-hour job.... wages were $1 to $2 for an unlimited work day... stock first question of employers upon learning of an accident was, "Were the horses hurt?"
Such pithy reminiscences today flashed through the mind of John T. O'Brien as he recalled conditions in the moving industry in 1910, the year he took out a card in Cleveland's pioneer teamster's local, A.F.L. Van Drivers', Furniture Handlers' and Piano Movers' Union 392
In a separate newspaper article John Rohrich says... "We thought it was about time we gave Jack a big hand. Jack's way was to work so quietly and efficiently as to miss credit for most of his accomplishments. Under his leadership, Local 39's members have benefited by one economic advancement after another and the men want him to know how they feel about it." ... the writer of the same article says... at 10, the orphaned youngest of a family of 11 children; forced to leave school and make his own way at 13, Jack O'Brien, a husky, sandy-haired youth was doing a man's work as a van driver when he reached his 16th birthday.
Elected to office shortly after joining Local 392, he advanced from time to time to more responsible positions until he obtained the union's most important post---Secretary-Treasurer. He has since been re-elected 17 times without opposition, being named for a five-year term only a few months ago (article was written in 1941).
Distinguished at 46 by prematurely white hair, soft-spoken, stocky Mr. O'Brien today heads a union of 1200, embracing piano, furniture and refrigerator movers, helpers and warehousemen. From an almost complete lack of worthwhile working conditions in the days when he drove Cleveland's first motorized moving van the union leader has guided Local 392 to it's present position of holding 290 signed agreements with various employers.
The contracts guarantee hourly wages of from 77.5 to 95 cents, overtime pay and reasonable working hours and conditions.



Learn more about the life of    John Thomas O'BRIEN.