Word: sanitationmen
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...sooner than he had uttered a response, DeLury dipped into his coat pocket and retrieved a plastic case containing five thin cigars of his own. Out of another pocket he snatched a gold lighter emblazoned with the seal of the New York Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association which he helped found in 1935 and has headed ever since. Carefully placing the lighter on top of the cigar case. DeLury sat back in his chair to field questions about his legendary career in New York City politics...
...them. "I run a tight ship," he proffered Tuesday night. "If I spend a dollar, I want two back--not for myself, but for the men in the union." Results? In the 12 months after he called a city-wide strike of the 11,333 members of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association in 1968, DeLury negotiated a 20-year pension plan and two contracts which netted a cool $5000 pay increase for each of those 11,333 men. A sanitation worker in New York City--"if you want to get me mad, call us 'garbage men'," says DeLury--currently makes...
...York City sanitationmen follow DeLury's lead for, over 37 years, they have come to trust him; they know he will secure the best possible deal for them. The NYUSA is a "voluntary membership association" and yet all 11,333 sanitation workers belong. Even when there is some uncertainty, the members heed DeLury's advice. The best example of this faith is the NYUSA's support of Lindsay during his re-election campaign...
...friendly terms, and DeLury is presently campaigning for Lindsay in his Presidential bid. Still, he has some biting words for the mayor, with whom he associates a major long-term crisis for sanitation workers. It was in 1966, the year Lindsay took office, that DeLury says the esteem of sanitationmen "vanished." "I don't know why," he said. "The first real corruption in the department surfaced then, but that was just the beginning." The incident between Lindsay and Quill, coupled with two serious scandals--one involving extortion and another a $50,000 contract arranged with the Mafia by then Water...
...important consideration for DeLury in calling the 1968 strike was the self-respect of the sanitationmen. "Even now we're regarded as second-class citizens, though I don't believe it. But then we were really fighting for respect. Nobody can give respect--you gotta prove respect, get back in the public esteem. I still remember when the strike was called--half past four in the morning on February 4, 1968. Sure, I thought '68 could be negotiated, but they wouldn't give on just $25 more. Lindsay didn't know, nobody knew, what would happen when the sanitation workers...