b'\x02Arthur "Sonny" IlleryHHC Dietary Aide & 237 VPThis interview was conducted at Local 237\'s Founders Day in 1998.In his own wordsI went to work for the city in 1952 as a dietary aide at Metropolitan Hospital.Before that, I had three jobs, and I had three kids. When I got to the hospital, I finallyearned enough. I earned $1,100 a year. . . .One day a guy named Bill Lewis [then president of Local 237] came around andsaid, Were starting a union. Do you want to join? I asked, Why? He said, Because, you need representation.He pointed to my supervisor and said, Shes in the union. She has someone to stand up for her. Who do you have?So, I thought about it. I thought about my kids. And I said to myself, if shes in the union, I better be in the union too.So, I joined.Then, Bill said, if you get ten people to join, you wont have to pay dues. So, I went and got ten people to join. Thenhe told me that if I collected dues from those ten peopleThats how I learned to drink. The workers used to go to the baron payday, so I went to the bar to collect their dues.In 1958 Bill made me a business agent. They put me out on Staten Island, organizing the union. We fought Local 420 like cats and dogs. Once, I started giving out leaflets at a hospital, and the watchman told me I couldnt do that because they were 420. He took the leaflet and tore it up. We got into a fight. Then we became friendsand he became a Teamster.At Morrisania Hospital, a 420 guy pulled out a knife and stuck it against my stomach. We got into a tussleand hebecame a Teamster, too. Another time, in Rockaway, they put sugar in my gas tank.No matter how you see it, we had to stand up against all oddseven when the cops came to arrest us. I had a partnernamed Max. We were arrested for failure to obey. . . . Another time we had a guy locked up at midnight. . . .At the time, we didnt have a death benefit. When a member died, we used to pass around a hat. Bill Lewis said,This isnt going to work. We need a death benefit. So, we got the agency to pay. Thats how you got your death benefit.The same with your health benefits, your dental benefits, your optical benefits.\x02James JeffersDietary Aide/Cook/Senior Cook, HHCIn his own wordsI went to work at City Home in 1951 as a dietary aide. I went into the army in 1952, and when I returned to mydietary aide job in 1954, the City Home patients had been moved to Coler Hospital. I became a cook in the 1960s.In those early days the name DC 37 was seldom used. It was mostly 420. Some people still get mixed up with thetwo names.The days leading up to the election at Coler Hospital as well as the other hospitals were rather tense; some friends193 '