b"Had you belonged to a union before?Very short while. Confectionary Union of America, that was a baker's union. But that was years ago. I always had jobs,since I was knee high. Im a good cook.Was there someone on the job, maybe a coworker or a supervisor who encouraged you in your job?I had a couple of guys that I worked with but they didn't encourage me. I was already encouraged by working I wasjust glad to get a job.Did you stay at Goldwater Hospital, Roosevelt Island throughout your career?Yes ma'am, the whole time.Did you take civil service examinations in order to get promotions on the job?No, ma'am. I didn't get any promotions. I didnt get along well with the person who directed.I was in line, but whenI went on vacation, they gave somebody else the position as a head cook.Were you ever a shop steward? Or a grievance representative?Yes, I was a shop steward. I was a leader all right. I did my job, no doubt about that. Mr. Sawyer, he was the shopsteward. Well, he passed the baton to me and the people agreed with it and voted me for shop steward. I get along withpeople and I took care of a lot of problems and that's what I've been doing. I always did a service. I was a salesman beforethis, I always dealt with the public. And I can deal with people. It was as simple as that. I saw what he was doing the fewyears I was there, so it was easy.What type of problems did you have to deal with as a shop steward?I had to talk to people about being late, drinking, normal little things, not doing their job properly, causing problems on the job, or something like that. Sometime I would help other people in other unions. There were differentunions in the hospital and people came to me to solve problems. They came to ask you for advice. I represented the 7 or 8 cooks at the Hospital. I was shop steward for 15 years.Did you attend union meetings?Yeah, shop steward meetings here at the Union. There were a few problems brought up at meetings here. We wouldjust talk about problems and that was it. I wasnt involved with contract negotiations or stuff like that. The Union wouldask my opinion and I would tell them.Can you recall any benefits that the union got for you in your earlier years? Well, we got little raises, and the benefits, medical, eyeglasses, teeth. We had a lot of benefits,we were covered.The Teamsters, they just cover everything. I can't think of a benefit we didn't have. A lot of people know I was in the Teamsters. They say: Man, I wish I could get in that union. Everybody wants to be a Teamster. I keep my [Local 237] hatson all the time, different hats, and people approach me who have been retired and we talk about unions. I tell people, 127 "