Vince Montoro
“I became effective as a shop steward and I did a good job I think for the years I served there. I thought maybe I could be helpful to the guys, you know, to represent them in the union. I filed a lot of grievances in order to get the guys what they had coming to them, and at the times, I get in arguments with some of the foremen because of the filing of grievances. So I figured, hey, I got my job to do, you got your job to do. You’re a superintendent, you’re a foreman, and you’re doing your job. I got elected as shop steward. I’m doing my job. So either we sit down and agree on something or we go through grievances again. So I never regretted being a shop steward or being president or an officer of the local union.
Was I proud of my union activities? I certainly was! It was through the union I learned a lot and I even told my grandchildren that, I says, I learned more through the union than I learned in school. Because the union taught me how to protect people, how to protect their jobs, how to back 'em up in situations where they didn’t know how to protect themselves, so I was always proud that I was active in the union. So if I had to do it over again, I’d do it again. I did my job and I was proud to do it. So what else can I say? I never backed down from a grievance and never gave in. Fought it to the hilt till the men got what they were entitled to.”