b"You collect a full salary from the union. But technically, you're still a housing manager. You haven't retired. You're not get-ting paid by them, but you do pay your pension portion, you do pay your premium on your pension, you pay that to keepit alive. Well, I did that for about, I don't know, ten years. First, I was non-release. Then when one of the release personsretired, I took that slot, so I started getting paid. I did that for about ten years. They passed some legislation that you couldget an early buy-out on this, that, and the other, so I bought into that. I was able to retire a lot earlier than I anticipated.So, I retired from the Housing Authority and then remained with the union.You're retired from the Housing Authority, but you're not retired? You're still working.That's correct. I was a business agent, maybe for three years. I wasn't an average business agent. I came in as an assistant director. I did business agent work, but my title was an assistant director. Then I became a deputy director andthen I became the director of the Housing Authority division. The Housing Authority Division is a division here. We have adirector, assistant deputy and about five business agents. I was the director for six or seven years, I forget. And then I wentfrom there to Trustee and Director of Human Resources.So, you're a Trustee and Director of Human Resources now?Yes. And, I was the baseball commissioner.The what? [Laughs]And I'm on the Executive Board as a Trustee.Is that an elected position?Yes, it is.Can you tell me what your starting salary was when you began working for the City and then your salary at retirement?Wow, I don't remember I know when I started, it was like $8,500. At the time I retired, as a manager, I think it wasbetween 50 and 60 thousand, I don't know, I don't remember.What does it mean to you to be a union member? To be a union member It provided the opportunity to network with people in an organization. They helped us trainfor higher jobs. They would hold schools where we could come down and prepare for exams. I see through the yearswhere some people are mistreated. I see where sometimes they don't have to take the harshest avenue in disciplinaryways. Some cases deserve a second chance and that you can provide this. One of the things the Housing Authority did forus is they sent us to arbitration and conciliation classes. It was conducted by Laura Blackburne. She became a judge, became the chairman of the Housing Authority for a while. This class is where you learn how to go in and arbitrate situa-tions. It was invaluable as a business agent. Some people think you come in and start slamming and punching desks andyelling at people and stuff like that. But you're not getting anywhere with that. It doesn't work. The member who's introuble is usually wrong. You got to find out what happened and why he did it. Was he trained right? Did he understand99 "