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Person

Terence M. O’Sullivan

Born:

June 29, 1955
Nationality:

American
Nationality:

Ullico Inc and the Laborers’ International Union of North America

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Terence M. O’Sullivan is the former president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), a construction industry labor union with about 500,000 members, as well as the chairman of the board of the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Ullico). Over the 23 years that O’Sullivan led LIUNA, he pushed the union to become more tightly organized and politically active. 1 In 2006, O’Sullivan led efforts to separate the union from the AFL-CIO,  2 though LIUNA re-joined the AFL-CIO in 2010.  3

O’Sullivan is an outspoken Irish nationalist and supporter of a united Ireland and Ireland’s left-of-center nationalist Sinn Fein political party. 4 5

Early Life and Education

Terence M. O’Sullivan was born in 1955 in San Francisco, California, and moved to Virginia in 1968. O’Sullivan’s father was a member and officer in the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) and was elected its secretary-treasurer. 6

O’Sullivan graduated from American University with a degree in business administration. 6

Career

Early Career

After graduating from college, Terence M. O’Sullivan was a high school teacher and coach for three years. O’Sullivan then started and ran a computer-services company for seven years. Afterward, O’Sullivan ran a construction and safety training center. 6

Under Arthur Coia

O’Sullivan became a member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America in 1974. He held numerous union leadership roles, including assistant director of the LIUNA construction department and administrator of the LIUNA Tri-Funds, until he became staff assistant and then chief of staff to former LIUNA president Arthur A. Coia in 1994. 7

Coia was subject to a three-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges that he “associated with crime figures and acquiesced in their running parts of the union.” 8 LIUNA eventually agreed to a settlement in 1994 which required extensive changes within the union but allowed Coia to retain his position as general president. 9 However, speculation surrounding the settlement suggested potential Clinton administration involvement due to Coia’s personal ties with the Clinton family. 10 11

Election as Union President

In 1999, Coia resigned from LIUNA before pleading guilty to federal fraud charges involving his purchase of three Ferrari sports cars. O’Sullivan was elected to replace Coia as LIUNA president. 6 He also became labor co-chairman of the LIUNA Training and Education Fund, LIUNA’s national training arm, and chairman of the board of the LIUNA Charitable Foundation. 7

Ullico

In 2000, Terence O’Sullivan became a board member of the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (Ullico), one of the largest insurance and investment services companies for trade union members in the United States. 12

In 2002, the board of Ullico voted to approve an illegal stock buy-back scheme that would have enriched insiders. O’Sullivan and then-AFL-CIO president John Sweeney were present for the scheme but voted against it. After the scheme was publicly exposed, largely due to the efforts of O’Sullivan and Sweeney, they became members of a three-person team who selected a new 13-person board, which included O’Sullivan and Sweeney as the only two returning board members. Former board chair, president, and CEO Robert Georgine was fired from all positions by a vote of the new board. In 2003, O’Sullivan was elected to replace Georgine as board chair of Ullico. 13 12 14

Afterward, O’Sullivan led investigations into the company and Georgine’s tenure as a leader and found further evidence of financial misconduct. In 2006, Georgine agreed to surrender $13 million to Ullico. 15

LIUNA Presidency

In 2000, weeks after his election as Laborers’ International Union of North America president, O’Sullivan made an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Labor to extend the federal government’s oversight over LIUNA for another six years. 16

Organizing and Political Activity

O’Sullivan has been credited with pushing LIUNA to considerably increase its political spending. In 2006, at LIUNA’s 23rd International Convention, O’Sullivan led the union in passing a resolution to devote 25 cents for every hour worked by a laborer to LIUNA’s organizing efforts, generating more than $80 million per year. In 2012, at LIUNA’s 24th International Convention, O’Sullivan led the union in passing a resolution to significantly increase LIUNA’s investment in political action, raising political spending to over $15 million per election cycle. 7

Under O’Sullivan, LIUNA has become an outspoken supporter of left-of-center immigration policies. LIUNA’s website asserts that “immigrant rights are worker rights” and advocates for “strong and humane border enforcement” and “a path to citizenship.” LIUNA supported the Biden administration’s halt on the deportation of most children immigrants. 17 18

O’Sullivan and LIUNA were strong supporters of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. 19

Relationship with AFL-CIO

LIUNA has been an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, for most of the period since 1955. While the AFL-CIO under former presidents George Meany and Lane Kirkland had been generally center-left, a revolt within the union’s leadership after Kirkland’s retirement led to substantial change. Kirkland retired in August 1995, appointing Thomas R. Donahue president of the AFL-CIO. He would not hold office for long, being deposed by a slate of candidates led by John Sweeney of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) at the federation’s 1995 national convention. 20 In stark contrast to Meany and Kirkland’s centrist liberalism, Sweeney was claimed as a member by the Democratic Socialists of America, a left-wing pressure group, while head of the SEIU. He also helped lead a coalition opposing the First Gulf War. 21

While these political changes were going on, the federation and American unions in general were continuing to lose members. Membership in labor unions as a percentage of the workforce had been steadily declining since the 1950s, and it has continued through the 2000s and 2010s.6 The AFL-CIO too lost members, and substantial action by Sweeney to increase organizing in parallel to the federation’s political activities did not reverse the trend. 21

These declines, and a desire by SEIU president Andy Stern to increase political activities even more than Sweeney, led Stern and International Brotherhood of Teamsters president James P. Hoffa to create a rival union federation, Change to Win, in 2005. The departure of the SEIU, Teamsters, and several other unions (some of which later rejoined the AFL-CIO) cut the AFL-CIO’s membership by over three million employees. 22

LIUNA did not initially join Change to Win in 2005 but defected from the AFL-CIO and joined in May 2006. LIUNA and other defecting unions “complained that the AFL-CIO was putting too much emphasis on electoral politics and not enough on organizing more people to join the shrinking labor movement.” 2

In October 2010, the board of LIUNA unanimously voted to re-join the AFL-CIO, a month after Unite Here also defected back from Change to Win to the AFL-CIO. 3

Retirement

In May 2023, O’Sullivan retired from LIUNA. 1

Irish Politics

Terence M. O’Sullivan has been described as a “vocal supporter” of Sinn Féin, the largest political party in Northern Ireland supporting unification with the Republic of Ireland, and the party’s “work to secure a peaceful, just, and united Ireland.” O’Sullivan has spoken numerous times at Sinn Féin Ard Fheiseanna, the party’s annual conference, and has addressed Irish Unity conferences in the United States. O’Sullivan worked as the president of New York Friends of Ireland and as the chairman of DC Friends of Ireland, two American organizations that support a united Ireland independent from the United Kingdom. 4 5

References

  1. “Tribute to LIUNA President Terry O’Sullivan .” Labor Press. May 2, 2023. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.laborpress.org/tribute-to-liuna-president-terry-osullivan/.
  2. “700,000-member union defects from AFL-CIO.” NBC News. May 22, 2006. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12918615.
  3. “Laborers’ Union to Re-affiliate With AFL-CIO.” IAM Union. August 19, 2010. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.goiam.org/news/laborers-union-to-re-affiliate-with-afl-cio/.
  4. “The Irish Role in the American Labor Movement.” Irish America Magazine. 2017. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.irishamerica.com/2017/09/weekly-comment-remembering-the-irish-of-labor-history/.
  5. Adams, Gerry. “Standing up for rights: Terry O’Sullivan – A working class hero: Michelle Gildernew: My memories of the Good Friday Agreement.” April 26, 2023. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://leargas.blogspot.com/2023/04/standing-up-for-rights-terry-osullivan.html.
  6. Greenhouse, Steven. “Private Sector; The Fighting O’Sullivan.” The New York Times. May 18, 2023. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/18/business/private-sector-the-fighting-o-sullivan.html.
  7. “Terence M. O’Sullivan.” America’s Agenda. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.americasagenda.org/Newsupdates/general-president%2C-laborers’-international-union-of-north-america/terence-m.-o’sullivan.
  8. Greenhouse, Steven. “Corruption Tests Labor While It Recruits.” The New York Times. January 03, 1999. Accessed July 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/03/us/corruption-tests-labor-while-it-recruits.html. 
  9. [1] Stevenson, Richard W. “Justice Dept. Defends Corrupt-Union Accord.” The New York Times. July 26, 1996. Accessed July 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/26/us/justice-dept-defends-corrupt-union-accord.html.
  10. Stevenson, Richard W. “Justice Dept. Defends Corrupt-Union Accord.” The New York Times. July 26, 1996. Accessed July 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/26/us/justice-dept-defends-corrupt-union-accord.html.
  11. “Who Is Arthur Coia?” The Wall Street Journal. July 24, 1996. Accessed July 11, 2018. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB83816282965482000.
  12. “Terry O’Sullivan.” Ullico. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.ullico.com/people/terence-m-osullivan/.
  13. Strope, Leigh. “Ullico Chief Forced Out in Stock Scandal.” Midland Daily News. May 7, 2003. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Ullico-Chief-Forced-Out-in-Stock-Scandal-7101939.php.
  14. Edsall, Thomas B. “Ullico Forces Chairman Out Amid Stock-Trading Dispute.” Washington Post. April 23, 2023. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2003/04/24/ullico-forces-chairman-out-amid-stock-trading-dispute/9f837372-1e08-438e-883b-08b1557319a3/.
  15. Moore, Rebecca. “ULLICO Reaches Settlement with Former President.” Plan Sponsor. March 11, 2006. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.plansponsor.com/ullico-reaches-settlement-with-former-president/.
  16. “JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES NEW AGREEMENT CONTINUING LABORERS UNION REFORMS UNTIL 2006.” U.S. Department of Justice. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2000/January/035crm.htm.
  17. “LIUNA Applauds Biden-Harris Administration’s Extension of Protection of the Right to Organize Without Fear of Retaliation or Deportation.” LIUNA. January 18, 2024. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.liuna.org/news/story/liuna-applauds-biden-harris-administrations-extension-of-protection-of-the-right-to–organize-without-fear-of-retaliation-or-deportation.
  18. “LIUNA. Built by Immigrants. Fighting for All Workers.” LIUNA. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.liuna.org/immigration.
  19. “Harty, Patricia; Farley, Adam. “Hall of Fame: Terry O’Sullivan.” Irish America. April/May 2017. Accessed January 6, 2026. https://www.irishamerica.com/2017/03/hall-of-fame-terry-osullivan/.
  20. “American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. November 24, 2010. Accessed October 05, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Federation-of-Labor-Congress-of-Industrial-Organizations
  21. Weinstein, Kenneth R. “From Meany to Sweeney: Labor’s Leftward Tilt.” The Heritage Foundation. October 4, 1996. Accessed October 04, 2016. https://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/report/meany-sweeney-labors-leftward-tilt 
  22. Edsall, Thomas B. “Two Top Unions Split From AFL-CIO.” Washington Post. July 26, 2005. Accessed October 07, 2016. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/25/AR2005072500251.html
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