b'The job of superintendent was basically to see that the services for the residents were being done. So, you reviewedthe work tickets that were out, what the Maintenance Department was doing. You had meetings with your janitorial serv-ices. One of the most important things was motivation; you had to motivate the people who were working for you andhave a good relationship with them. You knew to put a separation between yourself and your staff. Sometimes there wereclose to a hundred people we would be supervising.I want to make an important point. A good manager and a good secretary make for a good superintendent. A super-intendents best helper is his secretary! At Sheepshead- Nostrand I had a great secretary. Her skills and her ability to do allthe paperwork enabled me to get into the field. She went out of her way to help all employees, keeping their time and attendance, helping with any questions they may have. Another great person was my manager, Larry Peters. He had confidence in me and we both worked as a team with the tenants and the staff.The biggest snow days were when I was supervising housing groundsman. The snow removal of the project was the responsibility of the supervising groundsman, mainly. Everybody worked on it, but it was the supervising groundsman whooversaw the machinery. There were times we went in and we worked maybe three or four days without going home. Wewerent around the clock, now, mind you. Wed punch out and sit there, and then punch back in. And it was a good effort.We had a procedure laid down by the Housing Authority on what had to be cleaned up first. We had to make surepeople could get in and out of the buildings. That was the first procedure, to clean the entrances. Then we had to clean the walkways leading out to the sidewalk, and then wed get the sidewalks cleaned.Everybody came in. No matter what. Even if you were not scheduled to work on that day, when that snow starts coming down, everyone goes in to work. If it started snowing, you went in, without being told if it was 2 oclock in themorning, if you were an operator. As the supervising groundsman, I ran one of the machines. I would go in and get onthe machine and start working, and gradually you would start seeing other people coming in to work.There were cases, maybe, in some places, when some of the people couldnt get there. But in general, the turnoutwas good. They understood the job and they loved the job. They knew you had to get in there, and the sooner you got towork, the better off you were, because eventually you had to do it anyway.\x02Bert RoseDirector of OrganizingFollowing is an Oral History Project interview excerpt with Bert Rose, who was the director of organizing for Local 237, under President Barry Feinstein, from 1969 to 1983.When did you first come to work for Local 237?January 1, 1968. I was director of organizing.66 '