Vincent Sombrotto

Early life

Vincent Raymond Sombrotto was born on June 15, 1923 in Manhattan, New York. His parents were Raymond and Agnes Sombrotto. His mother supported the family by working as a seamstress.

World War II

During World War II Vincent Sombrotto, wishing to serve his country, served in the US Navy.

Post War Years

After World War II Mr. Sombrotto worked as a truck driver. He took a part-time job sorting mail at Christmas in a local Post Office. For most of the next 30 years he worked as a letter carrier delivering mail from Grand Central post office in Manhattan New York.

In July 1969 Mr Sombrotto supported a mass sick call of Postal Workers in Bronx New York.

U.S. postal strike of 1970

On March 1970 members of National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 36 met in Manhattan, New York City and voted to call a wildcat strike. Vincent Sombrotto and the members of the NALC began picketing the next day. At first the strike was just in New York City but soon it grew to more than 210,000 workers across the entire country.

President Richard Nixon appeared on national television and ordered the employees back to work, but this only stiffened the will of existing workers, angry strikers, and workers in 671 places in other cities joined the strike.

At the time, postal employees were not permitted by law to bargain collectively. Striking postal workers felt they had very low wages and that working conditions were poor, unsanitary, and unsafe. The immediate trigger for the strike was an act of Congress to increase the salaries of postal workers by only 4%, while Congress raised their own pay by 41%.

Nixon summons the National Guard

As the strike grew to a national scale and began to disrupt mail delivery across the United States; President Richard Nixon became involved. Nixon used the military and the National Guard as strike breakers. Instead of backing down, workers became more vocal and the strike gained even more support.

Workers from other government agencies also announced that they would strike if Nixon pursued legal action against postal employees.

Nixon spoke to the nation again on March 23, asking workers to return to their jobs and announcing he would deploy the National Guard to deliver mail in New York. This announcement was accompanied by Proclamation 3972, which declared a national emergency. The national emergency Proclamation was never revoked.

The resulting expansion of presidential power was investigated in 1973 by an agency of Congress called the Special Committee on the Termination of the National Emergency, which warned that the national state of emergency gave the president the right to seize property, organize the means of production, and to institute martial law.

Nixon then ordered the force to 24,000 military personnel to begin distribution of mail. Operation Graphic Hand was at its peak of more than 18,500 military personnel assigned to 17 post offices in New York, from the regular Army, National Guard, Army Reserve, Air National Guard and the Navy, Air Force and Navy Marine Reserve.

The strike of postal workers in 1970 severely tested the working relationships within the federal government. The Department of Labor played a major role in mediating the strike. After the soldiers were briefly called, a compromise was reached with the postal unions and the wildcat strike ended quickly.

The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970

The successful strike involving almost 250,000 postal employees resulted in the passage of the The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 by the US Congress.

The Law established the United States Postal Service, a corporation-like independent agency with an official monopoly on the delivery of mail in the United States.

The Law also gave The NALC and other Postal unions the right to collectively negotiate a national agreement with the newly formed United States Postal Service.

President of NALC Branch 36

On December 2, 1971, Mr Sombrotto was elected President of New York Local 36. He and six other members of Branch 36 were known as "The Magnificent Seven". This group of union organizers worked to reform and democratize the NALC.

President of NALC

In 1978 Mr Sombrotto was elected as President of the NALC. A position he would hold for the next 24 years. As president, Mr. Sombrotto led seven contract negotiations that provided basic wage increases in every contract.

In 1993 he played a key role in helping to reform the Hatch Act, the law which forbade the partisan political activities of federal employees.

Charitable and philanthropic activities

President Sombrotto's belief in social responsibility caused him to seek the help and support of union leadership and membership to actively help others in need.

Over the years the NALC raised money for many charities, with members volunteering time and resources to the community projects, and an offering a helping hand to those less fortunate.

With the active support of the union's membership, the NALC raised millions of dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the annual NALC food drive has become the world's largest one-day food collection drive.

Grand Central Station Post Office Renamed

In 2014 New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney introduced a bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives and was signed into law by President Barack Obama which renamed the Grand Central Station Post Office, in New York City, the "Vincent R. Sombrotto Post Office."

Archival Collection

The Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, Michigan houses the NALC Office of the President: Vincent Sombrotto Records. This collection illustrates his time in office such as administrative functions, political involvement, organizational affiliations, and relationships with union members.