b'\x02Daniel SicilianoBridge WorkerBridge Up! City Down!Daniel Siciliano went to work for the city as anassistant bridge operator in 1966 at the Willis Av-enue Bridge in the Bronx. At the time, the workershad a different union. After hearing about contractgains Local 237 was winning for its members, Sicil-iano and some of the other bridge workers decidedthey wanted to be represented by the Teamsters.Two years later, the Teamsters won a union repre-sentation electionby six votes, 148-142. Sicilianowas elected shop steward at the Willis AvenueBridge. Danny Siciliano at the Madison Avenue Bridge Annex in 1978-79At the time of the bridge strike in June of1971, Siciliano was a bridge operator-in-charge at the Unionport Bridge in the Bronx (his brother Matteo also workedthere), and recording secretary of Local 237s bridges chapter.Following are excerpts of a Local 237 Oral History Project interview with Siciliano. The excerpts focus on the bridgestrike.What led up to the bridge strike, the job action?Rumors of a strike came up weeks before we actually did it. We were going for better pensions and the legislaturedidnt want to okay it. Rockefeller nixed it. We were trying to get a 15-year pension plan-not so much for us, I think it wasfor the cops, the firemen, a whole array of city unions. We were supposed to go out in tandem. . What happened at the planning meeting the night before the strike?Lenny Gordon [an assistant bridge operator who was the liaison with then Local 237 President Barry Feinstein] calledme on Sunday evening around 4 or 5 oclock, and he said, Danny, Barry wants us downtown. So, we go downtown. . Basically, they told us there may be a strike, or a job action, the next morningBarry liked to call it a job actionand hesaid, I want you to make all the preparations now. The reason we called it a job action was to try to take the sting out ofwhat the city could do to us. A strike, a job actionwhatever.We said we needed a boat because there would be no way the guys could get off the bridges. Once you swing outthe bridge, its impossible. One of the guys, Mitch Storey, said he could get a boat. . . .So, we started seeing who, what, where, and how. I knew a lot of guys werent going to take part, they were too113 '