Public Employee Press

Pioneer labor organizer Vincent Scovazzo dies

As news of Vincent Scovazzo’s death on Sept. 5 spread through District Council 37 and its national union, AFSCME, people took time to recall his many contributions.

Scovazzo was a pioneer union builder in the early days of DC 37 and in the campaigns that organized the states of Connecticut and Ohio for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

“The passing of Vincent Scovazzo reminds us of the great contributions our pioneers made as they built this mighty union,” said District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

In the early 1960s, Scovazzo recruited Al Viani, former Local 371 president and DC 37 negotiations director, into the union, encouraging him to become active and mentoring him as he would many others.

As a staff rep, Scovazzo represented all of the locals in the Parks Dept. and organized the clerical-administrative employees’ unit at the New York City Transit Authority.

He served as assistant director of the White Collar Division and starting in 1967, guided the newly formed Clerical-Administrative Division through its period of tremendous growth.

New York, Connecticut, Ohio
Scovazzo lent his extraordinary talents to organizing Connecticut and Ohio workers into the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

“To know him was to love him,” said former Local 1320 President and Blue Collar Division Director John Toto, who worked closely with Scovazzo at DC 37 and in Ohio.

“Vinnie was a unique kind of guy —ingenious, intuitive and inventive — and he never ran out of ideas or ways to tackle a problem or situation,” said Toto.

“He called me ‘Lad’”
Now AFSCME Council 31 Regional Director, Buddy Maupin, who started as “a hotheaded militant,” in Ohio, recalled Maupin.

“Vinnie was my supervisor. He called me ‘Lad.’ He’d put his arm around me and say, ‘You’re doing great. Now and then you have to slow down a bit.’ I loved Vinny but never found the time to tell him. Now he’s gone. So I want to tell his family.”

Scovazzo is survived by his widow, Miriam, and daughter, Laurie, of Long Island.