b'Taylor Law. Civil service employees werent allowed to strike. Theyre still not.The strike was the highlight of my career. I never was in a strike before. I knew the old stories about scabs and strikesand busting heads and things like that. But it went pretty well as far as we were concerned.OrganizingIn the 70s we still had people to sign up for the union. Not everyone joined. Rudy Petruzzi, who was a bridge operator- in-charge at the time (he later became a supervisor), and myself, also a bridge-operator- in-charge, Eddie Dale,who also became a supervisor, and a couple of other fellas went out at night during the 4 to 12 shifts because they werethe ones who couldnt get to meetings. We went to the different locationsthe Gowanus Canal area in Brooklyn, Green-point, Newtown Creek, Coney Island, Cropsey Avenue, Mill Basin and we spoke to the fellas about the union. It was agood experience.We went to most of the meetings despite our abnormal hours, our round the clock shifts. We would get in a car poolto get to the headquarters. Frank Scarpinato, and then his son, Frank Jr., took care of our group. He was in charge of ourmeetings. Getting to the union meetings was important, because thats where you learned what was happening. I workedin the B, Q and R (Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond) section. I met people from other sections.If you had any complaints, you brought them up and the union told you what their function and their program was,and what we were looking for and what we hoped to bargain for in the next contract. We brought the information back tothe men who werent able to go to the union meetings. I never wanted to be in the limelight. I was solid rank and file, agood union member.\x02Rudy PetruzziSupervisor Bridge OperatorMember since 1953Rudolph (Rudy) Petruzzi, a supervisor of bridges when he retired in 1986, helpedorganize his co-workers into Local 237 in the 1960s and participated in the 1971 bridgestrike that shut down the city for two daysalthough he didnt fully agree with it.Following are excerpts of an interview for the Local 237 Oral History Project conductedin February 2003 in Hollywood, Florida. His wife, Sally, was also present.When did you first go work for the city? How did that come about?In 1953 I came out of the service. I was on a special military list because I had taken the test in 1950. My brotherworked for the department. At that time, I think it was the Department of Bridges, and then it became the Department ofHighways. So, I went to work for the city in 1953 as an assistant bridge operator.27 '