Long before he was known as a character actor in New Hollywood, Danny Aiello was a streetwise labor leader. In 1967 Aiello served as president of New York Local 1202 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing Greyhound bus workers. When Greyhound unilaterally changed driver schedules, Aiello presided over an unsanctioned wildcat strike — a one-day walkout called without authorization from the parent union. The walkout was short-lived; Aiello called off the jobs action after a single day, but not before the parent union suspended him for leading an unauthorized stoppage. The episode captures an early, combustible facet of Aiello's public life: a combative working-class posture and willingness to flout orthodoxy that foreshadowed the blunt, street-hardened persona he would later bring to the screen.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1960s
The 1967 Greyhound wildcat strike led by Danny Aiello's union local — suspended for going rogue
Danny Aiello / Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1202 / 1960s
Long before he was known as a character actor in New Hollywood, Danny Aiello was a streetwise labor leader. In 1967 Aiello served as president of New York Local 1202 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing Greyhound bus workers. When Greyhound unilaterally changed driver schedules, Aiello presided over an unsanctioned wildcat strike — a one-day walkout called without authorization from the parent union. The walkout was short-lived; Aiello called off the jobs action after a single day, but not before the parent union suspended him for leading an unauthorized stoppage. The episode captures an early, combustible facet of Aiello's public life: a combative working-class posture and willingness to flout orthodoxy that foreshadowed the blunt, street-hardened persona he would later bring to the screen.
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