Though he was best known for his role in the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster Strike, Maloney was also an important figure in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the 1970s.
[1] Maloney dropped out of school in eighth grade and worked driving delivery wagons and as a field worker.
In 1940, he was jailed when during a strike by the North Central District Drivers Council a delivery van was destroyed.After his release from prison in 1942 Maloney joined the United States Merchant Marine to avoid being drafted into a war he did not support.
[1] Maloney sailed for many years and was active with the Sailors' Union of the Pacific until he was expelled with dozens of others in the Mahoney Beef of 1949.
In the ILWU, Maloney became known as one of the leading left-wing critics of Harry Bridges and the Mechanization and Modernization Agreement of 1960.