Public Employee Press

Everyday Heroes
Members dig deep for snowbound New York

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

AS JONAS, the second most severe blizzard recorded, buried the East Coast, hundreds of dedicated public employees dug deep for New York City to survive the storm.

The Nor'easter dumped a record-setting 26.8 inches of snow between Friday night on Jan. 22 and 12 a.m. Sunday, blanketing the Big Apple in still, pristine whiteness.

Early on Mayor Bill deBlasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo heeded warnings of a winter whiteout and declared a state of emergency that kept most New Yorkers indoors and imposed driving bans that kept traffic off main roads and shuttered bridges and tunnels.

Public employees in many DC 37 locals worked around the clock to clear snow and ice that choked the city.

Local 376 Highway Repairers and Supervisors in Local 1322 plowed roadways, and Local 1455 members shoveled snow from municipal parking lots. Custodial Assistants in Local 1597 and Local 924 Laborers cleared snow at police precincts, hospitals, colleges and courthouses.

Dedicated, unionized workforce

Local 1507 Gardeners and Local 1506 Climbers and Pruners removed ice chunks and snow on tree boughs. Dept. of Parks and Recreation staff in Local 1505 and JTPs shoveled paths and walkways. Local 983 Park Rangers patrolled parklands to protect adventurous skiers, hikers and dog-walkers. Local 1501 members at the New York Aquarium and zoos protected animals from snow drifts and sea life from rising tides.

As temperatures dropped, Local 768 Social Workers gathered the homeless in from the cold. Local 371 Caseworkers kept shelter residents and their children safe, warm and fed.

Local 2507 Emergency Medical Technicians and Local 3621 Supervisors worked 16-hour shifts and ran extra tours to answer the high volume of calls that 911 and 311 Operators in Local 1549 received during the snowstorm. They handled some 6,000 calls.

Health and Hospitals staff in Local 420 volunteered to stay through the storm to feed and care for sick patients in hospitals and nursing homes. Physician's Assistants in 768 remained at their emergency room posts.

On the bright Monday after the blizzard, New Yorkers rushed into the normalcy of another workweek.

Local 372 School Crossing Guards safely escorted school kids and the elderly across slushy streets and past waist-high snow piles that block visibility. Loaders and Handlers delivered fresh food to school cafeterias where helpers and cooks feed over a million hungry students each day.

"No matter the cause of emergency-whether manmade or by Mother Nature-our dedicated members are there. They make personal sacrifices to keep New Yorkers safe. They are the engine that makes our city run," said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido.