Al (Alfred W.) Addy was born in Park City, Utah into a mining family. In 1933, Addy moved to San Francisco and joined Warehouse Union Local 6. The following year, 1934, he took part in the general strike, working on union publicity. After the strike, Local 6 joined what is now known as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU); Addy then went to work for the ILWU under Jack Olsen, Publicity and Education Director. From 1934-1950, Addy organized, wrote flyers and speeches, and took photographs.

In 1950, after a falling out with members of the ILWU, Addy became business agent and organizer of Warehouse Local 12 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) [note: this local is no longer in existence; it was initially started to organize warehouses in competition with ILWU Local 6]. He was on an organizing crew of thirteen men with Dave Beck. He also did all the West Coast press work for Jimmy Hoffa, with whom he became close, and additional work for the Western Conference of Teamsters, particularly for George Mock and Einar Mohn. In 1954, he began editing the Council News, a newspaper issued by Bay Area Teamster Joint Councils 7 and 38. Mock and Mohn asked Addy to start the Northern California Teamster in February 1953; Addy edited the paper until his retirement in 1975. Al Addy died in 1998.