[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 123 (Monday, October 4, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   IN RECOGNITION OF MR. SONNY HALL, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE 
       TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 4, 2004

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to salute Mr. Sonny Hall, 
international president of the Transport Workers Union, on the occasion 
of his retirement. Sonny Hall is a trailblazing leader of the trade 
union movement who throughout his life has selflessly devoted himself 
in service to our Nation, his family, and the union members whom he has 
led so ably for generations.
  As International President of the Transport Workers Union of America, 
Sonny Hall has represented more than 100,000 men and women employed in 
the Nation's transportation and allied industries. Prior to his 
election to this post at the Union's 19th Constitutional Convention in 
October 1993, he served as president of Transport Workers Union Local 
100, the largest local union of TWU, representing nearly 38,000 members 
who operate the lifelines of New York City, its extensive network of 
subway trains and its public and private bus lines.
  Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Mr. Hall served 
in virtually every union position, from shop steward all the way up to 
the very pinnacle of the labor movement. He was named president of 
Local 100 in May 1985 and subsequently elected to full 3-year terms in 
December 1985, 1988 and 1991. He first joined the Transport Workers 
Union in 1950 as a bus cleaner for the old Omnibus Corporation, and 
became a bus operator in 1957. In between, he served tours of duty in 
both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army. Elected an international 
vice president at the Transport Workers Union's Seventeenth 
Constitutional Convention in September 1985, he was appointed executive 
vice president by the International Executive Council on January 9, 
1989, acid was subsequently elected to that post for a 4-year term at 
the Union's 18th Constitutional Convention in October 1989.
  Mr. Hall went on to be elected secretary treasurer to the AFL-CIO 
Transportation Trades Department in 1995, and was elected to the AFL-
CIO's Executive Council at the Federation's convention in October 1995. 
Throughout his career, he always served both his fellow union members 
and the transit-riding public with courageous, calm, clear-headed and 
effective leadership.
  Sonny Hall studied military and criminal law at the University of New 
Mexico, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the Cornell 
University Labor College. He is the son of a retired New York City bus 
operator who served the riding public for three decades and was an 
early member of Transport Workers Union Local 100. Sonny Hall and his 
wife, Maureen, are proud parents of a son, Kevin Hall.
  In recognition of his outstanding accomplishments, I ask my 
colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. Sonny Hall on the occasion of his 
retirement.

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