Thirty years as a Watchman for the Fire Dept. of New York couldn’t protect Charles DePetris from a pink slip May 16.

Many of the latest wave of job cuts were targeted toward temporary and provisional workers, but management’s long layoff arm reached out for Mr. DePetris, a veteran Local 1597 member who began working for the city when he was just 20.

As a Watchman at an FDNY yard in Queens, he secured the premises and checked in the fleet of fire trucks and vehicles for maintenance and repair. But when the city mailed out layoff notices to thousands of city workers — including more than 1,000 DC 37 members — Mr. DePetris was on the list.

Tough times had hit the city and rumors of layoffs circulated. Still, Mr. DePetris viewed his three decades as a civil servant as a secure fortress. Then he received a two-week notice stating that his title was being eliminated. “I thought I was untouchable,” he said. “It’s not like I did something wrong, but it seemed that after all these years it was like I was just written off.”

“I figured I’d just retire,” the mild-mannered DC 37 member continued. But DePetris learned he would lose a substantial part of the pension he was counting on, because he was younger than the required age.

With no job leads and no results from numerous calls to personnel, time ticked away for Mr. DePetris. Married, with children of 10 and 11 and a mortgage on their house in Maspeth, Mr. DePetris said, “I thought I’d have to get another job or panhandle. After 30 years in one place, to have to look for work is rough. It’s hard to figure out a new direction.”
Then he contacted his union.

DC 37 Blue Collar Division Council Reps David Catala and Edwin Badillo worked with Local 1597 President Edna Williams and the union’s Research and Negotiations Dept. to protect his rights and find a position he could qualify for. Just before DePetris handed in his pension papers, DC 37 found him a slot as a Clerical Aide in FDNY Records.

“I guess I hit the lottery in a sense,” said Mr. DePetris, who now is a very happy member of Local 1549. “I still have a job.”

— Diane S. Williams