Public Employee Press

Sewage Treatment Workers celebrate 50 years of progress

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

The men and women of Local 1320, who are usually up to their elbows in sludge, silt and waste “turtles,” cleaned up very nicely May 9 to celebrate their 50th anniversary at Russo’s on the Bay.

Decked out in tuxedoes, ties and matching vests, President Jim Tucciarelli and the Executive Board members of Sewage Treatment Workers and Seniors Local 1320 descended a smoke-and-mirrored staircase to join 400 well-wishers in celebrating the local’s historic 50th year.

“As a progressive union on the front lines of the labor movement, Local 1320 plays an important role in the lives of its members, DC 37 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,” wrote AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.

The local’s 900 members keep the city’s wastewater treatment plants operating smoothly and the water free of pollutants. They have fought for and won higher wages, better contracts and pensions and line-of-duty benefits for injured members.

For decades, Local 1320 has stood proudly for civil rights and workers’ rights and against privatization and anti-labor policies. Local 1320 marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington in 1963, stood up against apartheid in South Africa and rallied against federal cutbacks in Washington in 1981.

When the Giuliani administration threatened to privatize sewage treatment plants and eliminate jobs, Tucciarelli and a team of leaders and staff from Local 1320, DC 37 andAFSCME put the pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service and saved the jobs.

Local 1320 members were among the first responders to the Ground Zero rescue, recovery and cleanup after terrorist attacks killed thousands and destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I speak from the heart when I say Local 1320 is at the top of AFSCME’s list,” said Lee Saunders, executive assistant to McEntee. “They understand union solidarity and the importance of family.”

“I’ve known Jim since the days of the fiscal crisis,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. “He is an activist and a leader. He was with 30,000 of us who demonstrated and stopped the layoffs of 10,000 city employees. Jim always makes it happen.”

Tucciarelli has served as local president for 25 years and won election as a DC 37 vice president and Executive Board member in 1995. He serves on AFSCME’s Judicial Panel and its Environmental Advisory Committee.

The event was attended by AFSCME officials Vernon Watkins, Larry Weinberg, John Sefarian, Charles Jurgonis, Connie Derr, Jim Cullen, and Gladys Alvarez; International Vice Presidents Joan Reed and Eddie Rodriguez; DC 37 executive officers Veronica Montgomery Costa, Maf Misbah Uddin, and Cliff Koppelman; presidents and members of more than 25 DC 37 locals and the DC 37 Retirees Association; city Labor Relations Commissioner Jim Hanley;officials from the Stationary Engineers union, Electricians Local 3; and past Local 1320 presidents George Daly, John Toto and Tom Zultowski.

“Leaders move on, but the union remains and will outlast us all,” said Tucciarelli, who also emceed the event. “As my friend John Toto said, ‘Take care of it and it will provide for you.’ We are custodians of the union. We have to strengthen it, educate members and pass on a better union to our successors.”