In Memoriam: NALC's Vincent R. Sombrotto
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Vincent R. Sombrotto, 89, a towering figure in the history of the National
Association of Letter Carriers and one of the most significant U.S. labor
leaders of recent decades, died Jan. 10. As a rank-and-file letter carrier at
Grand Central Station in New York City, Sombrotto assumed leadership of the
pivotal 1970 wildcat postal strike that led directly to the creation of the
modern United States Postal Service. The following year, he was elected
president of NALC Branch 36 in New York City. Seven years later, he was elected
as NALC's 16th national president, a position he would hold from 1978 to 2002.
His seven-term tenure atop the union was marked by extraordinary changes in the
letter carrier craft and by remarkable progress for letter carriers. He also
served as a vice president of the AFL-CIO. “Vince’s long tenure and tireless
work for this union, at both the local and national levels, has left a lasting,
positive impact on all the men and women who have carried the mail since the
Great Postal Strike, and on those who will do so in the decades yet to come,”
NALC President Fredric V. Rolando said. Click here for
more about Sombrotto.