Public Employee Press

Clean water pro

Local 375 member Morshed Alam protects the environment on the job and fights for immigrants’ rights in his community.

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

A chemist by trade, Local 375 member Morshed Alam is an environmentalist in practice. As a Quality Assurance Specialist at the Dept. of Environmental Protection, Alam ensures that the wastewater from sewage treatment plants doesn’t pollute the city’s waterways.

“When we treat wastewater and expel it to the river, it’s almost a clean as drinking water. If we didn’t do this, New York City wouldn’t be a good place to live,” said Alam, who is responsible for quality control at the department’s 22 sewage treatment plant laboratories.

Alam worked as a chemist at a pharmaceutical company for eight years before he left the private sector for public service with dep in 1992. “I love my job and feel very privileged serving the people of New York City,” said Alam, a former Local 375 chapter president.

Protecting the environment
At dep, Alam quickly distinguished himself as a conscientious worker dedicated to the department’s mission of protecting the environment. He wrote a quality control manual and came up with standard operating procedures.

In addition, he set up a program to eliminate mercury thermometers from the laboratories. Potentially cancer-causing, mercury poses a health threat to workers. Now, dep uses alcohol-based thermometers in the labs.

Alam was among nine dc 37 members honored in December by the 100 Year Association of New York, which each year recognizes outstanding career civil servants.

The other DC 37 recipients, whose awards ranged from $1,000 to $5,000, were George Bermudez (Local 375), Michael Giannadeo (371), Milton Gonzalez (371), John Harrison (371), Adele Johnson (371), Paul Navarro (1219), Joyce Slaughter-Scott (1549) and Matthew Symons (371). The association also awarded college scholarships to four children of dc 37 members: Maya Barsky, daughter of Emiliya Barskaya (375); Chen Xie, son of Yuxin Xie (Local 2627); Yevgeniya Chernomorskaya, daughter of Associate Chemist Larisa Srybnaya (375); and Tanisha Jorndonne, daughter of Marie Sanon (1549).

Outside of work, Alam continues to fulfill his public service ethos by throwing himself into community and political activities. A few years ago, he ran unsuccessfully with the support of Local 375 for a state Senate position representing Queens.

A native of Bangladesh, he is active in immigrant issues. He founded the American Bangladesh Friendship Association, which helped people affected by the 9/11 attacks and now assists immigrants in finding jobs and helps victims of domestic violence.

Alam, who came to live in the United States in 1984, serves as executive director of the New Americans Democratic Organization of New York State, which helps new citizens get involved in political activities.

The group also is pressing for legislation to permit permanent resident immigrants to vote in mayoral and city council elections.

“Those who have permanent status and are paying taxes should have the right to vote,” said Alam.