Obituaries |Joseph T. Tobin: Ex-chief of newspaper drivers union

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-hed_tobin_01jan01,1,6606611.story

Retired labor leader volunteered to help Dan Hynes in his 1998 race for Illinois comptroller

By Mary Owen | Tribune staff reporter
January 1, 2008

As a teenager, Joseph T. Tobin rode through the streets of Chicago during the early morning helping his father deliver stacks of Chicago Tribune newspapers to newsstands.

About 40 years later in 1982, he took over as president of the Chicago Newspaper Drivers Union, Teamsters Local 706. By then, he understood the challenges of the drivers who often started their jobs at midnight and delivered the paper to tough neighborhoods and in inclement weather.

"They did it because the paper had to get out," said Mr. Tobin's son, Joseph Jr.

Mr. Tobin, 73, of Evergreen Park, died Thursday, Dec. 27, of a pulmonary embolism in a hospital in Tennessee. At the time of his death, he and his wife, Elizabeth, were visiting Collierville, Tenn., where his son, Joseph, and daughter-in-law, Denese, lived. Mr. Tobin's new grandson, Collin, was celebrating his first Christmas.

Led by Tony Judge, recently retired Teamsters 706 secretary-treasurer, Mr. Tobin helped forge major contracts in newspaper and publishing circulation negotiations, not only with the Tribune, but also with the Sun-Times, the old Chicago Daily News and other publications. Mr. Tobin retired in 1997 as union president.

Chicago newspapers once published several editions throughout the day and night and, at one point, employed nearly 2,000 union members.


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