b'Were you on the negotiating committee?Yes, I was, with Pete Castellucci. Youd go down, youd sit there, a guy [from the city] would open his briefcase andtake out his envelope, and his secretary would hand him something to read, and hed say, Heres what were offering. The members with the horsepower would say, Okay, let me bring this back to my people and see. It was a ten-minutemeeting.Later, when you go back to the table, its give and take. Its What are you going to give me, and Lets see what I can give you, and its like this and like that. Its productivity and you can only get so much productivity out of people.They were looking for major concessions.Like what?Let me put it this way. When Beame became mayor, I believe we lent the city 4 percent of our 6 percent raise. When Koch became mayor, he said, I wasnt the mayor then. We still havent gotten that 4 percent. That died, its stillsomewhere in the wind. Raises after that were never based on the percentage plus that 4 percent. So, were always short4 percent, which doesnt sound like that much, but through the years it adds up. So, we never got that back. And when we did get our backpay for that contract year, it was paid in increments, very small increments, over a seven-year period,which was a disaster.You were a 220 title, werent you?The 220 Law [equivalent wage/benefit package for public and private sector employees doing the same work]. At that time, we had to go down and sign a Labor Law complaint if we werent satisfied with the money we were getting.That would help us in negotiations. If you didnt sign it, youd get the hourly rate, but you wouldnt get the backpay. It wasa once-a year procedure. After a while, the Labor Law complaint was automatic. That happened when they started with theprevailing rate with the trades, between 1978 and 1982Im not sure exactly when. Then everybody got it, it became automatic. I think the agency shop started at the same time, where if you didnt want to join the union you didnt have to,but the union would still get the dues. That was the deal made with the city. If you didnt want to join the union, you stillpaid union dues because you were getting the benefits. It made sense to me. Some guys just dont like unions for whatever reasons.You stayed at Bellevue from 1971 to 1995. What did you like the best about working there?Paydays. No, generally, the people. The guys I worked with were nice guys. Steamfitters, electricians, plumbersevery-body worked together.123 '