Moe Biller dies

Moe Biller, the APWU?s President Emeritus, died Sept. 5 in New York. He was 87.

The APWU’s third national president, Morris Biller, who preferred to be called ?Moe,? led the union for more than 20 years.

?Moe was the hero of the U.S. postal workers movement,? said William Burrus, Biller?s successor. ?From his first job as a part-time clerk he devoted himself to the labor movement. During his rise to the top he worked tirelessly not just for the workers he represented, but for all those who deserved economic justice.?

Moe Biller was born Nov. 15, 1915, in New York City. He graduated with honors from Seward Park High School and attended Brooklyn College and City College of New York. His postal career began in 1937, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at what is now known as Knickerbocker Station. In an interview with the New York Times in 1980 (after being elected APWU president), he described his first postal job as a substitute clerk.

He earned 65 cents an hour and received no vacation benefits or sick pay, he said. And if he wanted to use a bathroom, he had to leave the building. However, except for war-time service in the Army?s Adjutant General Corps, during which he served in Europe, Moe continued his employment with the Post Office, and always worked not just at his job, but to improve the lot of those around him.

A unionist from the beginning, he held numerous local positions, including chairman of the Membership Committee, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Executive Vice President. He was elected president of the Manhattan-Bronx Postal Workers Union (now called New York Metro APWU) in 1959. He was still at the helm in 1970 when the Great Postal Strike began with Post Office employees in New York City walking off the job. The strike spread to 30 major cities and more than 200,000 workers took part. Before it was over, President Nixon called in the National Guard in a largely futile attempt to move the mail.

The strike culminated in the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, in which Congress created the U.S. Postal Service and gave its workers the right to bargain with management over wages, benefits, and working conditions. Mr. Biller also served on the committee that brought about the merger in 1971 of the five postal unions that now comprise the APWU.

?He was a man of his times,? Burrus said. ?He understood the importance of the social movements of his day. Moe was an early supporter of civil rights and a great advocate for women workers ? he was a key supporter of POWER [Post Office Women for Equal Rights]. And he was the only union president to speak out in favor of students at Gallaudet University when they demanded a deaf president. All these groups rewarded Moe with great loyalty and affection.”

?Moe was a leader ? the leader ? of the Great Postal Strike,? recalled APWU Vice President Cliff Guffey. ?The strike began in his hometown and launched his national reputation as a crusader for economic justice.?

Moe was a long-time member of the New York City Central Labor Council, the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO, the labor federation?s Public Employee Department, and the Executive Committee of the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International (now known as Union Network International).

He also served on the boards of several charitable and civic organizations, including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, United Way International, the National Advisory Council to the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, and the Federal Executive Committee of the Combined Federal Campaign.

Moe served on the Advisory Board of Cornell University?s Trade Union Women?s Studies Program and the Advisory council of Empire State College. He was a member of the Federal Thrift Advisory Council, a member of the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health, and on the National Board of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. He was also a long-time member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the NAACP.

Among his many awards were the 1979 Community Service Award from the New York City Central Labor Council; the 1982 Spirit of Life Award from the City of Hope National Medical Center; the 1999 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the 1999 Lower East Side Tenement Museum Urban Pioneer Award.

Survivors include two sons, Steven and Michael, two daughters-in-law, and two granddaughters.

Funeral services will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7, at the Gramercy Park Funeral Home, 152 Second Ave. (near 10th Street), New York City. Expressions of sympathy may be sent c/o Steven Biller, 364 Howard Ave., Woodmere, NY 11598. No flowers, please.

Reprinted from the website of the American Postal Workers Union, www.apwu.org

Comments are closed.