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.