Cornelius Shea was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 27, 1872, to James and Mary Shea, … See more

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had helped form local unions of teamsters since 1887. In November 1898, the AFL organized the Team Drivers' International Union (TDIU). In 1900, Shea helped organize T… See more

Shea was confronted by a crisis within the union in late 1903, a crisis which centered on the union's membership based in Chicago.
In 1903, Chicago was one of the most unionized c… See more

1904 also proved to be a troublesome year for Shea.
On July 12, 1904, 18,000 members of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters working in the meatpacking industry in Chicago walked off the job to w… See more

On December 15, 1904, 19 clothing cutters at Montgomery Ward went on strike to protest the company's use of nonunion subcontractors. Montgomery Ward vice president Robert J. Thorne locked the remaining … See more

Shea spent the fall of 1905 and the winter of 1906 solidifying his control over the Teamsters. Shea accused a number of local presidents—all of whom had opposed him in the August 1905 election—with financial m… See more