Larry Hanley was elected international president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, September 2010. Hanley began driving a bus in 1978, at age 21, in Brooklyn, NY, and attended his first union meeting that September. He was an activist in the Transport Workers Union (TWU), organizing efforts to get police protection on buses in New York City. In 1979, he transferred to Staten Island and became a member of the ATU Local 726. He was involved in his first strike and walked picket lines every day and night. The strike was ruled illegal and lasted 11 days. Hanley eventually was elected as the youngest president of Local. Hanley also ran the Staten Island operation of David Dinkins’ successful campaign for mayor of New York. He also was of the founders of the New York’s Working Families Party. In 2002 Hanley became an International Vice President before being elected International President.