Sanitation ladies don't just talk trash
BY LISA L. COLANGELO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, March 29th 2008, 4:00 AM
Watts/News
The male-dominated Sanitation department honored Verlin Gallo (below) and 84 other women at a ceremony Friday.
Handschuh/News
Verlin Gallo, all 5 feet 3 of her, stood proudly by her "wrecker," the heavy-duty tow truck she commands through the streets of Manhattan.
No one would ever suspect that she is a 60-year-old grandmother of six and a 20-year veteran of the Sanitation Department.
"I tell women, 'You can do the job,'" she said.
Gallo, the third woman ever hired to be a sanitation worker in New York City, is one of 85 women in the department honored yesterday at a special ceremony. All have more than 20 years on the job.
Five of the women, including Gallo, have more than 20 years as uniformed sanitation workers.
Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty - who started as a sanitation worker - said these trailblazers didn't have it easy in the male-dominated department.
"You not only showed the men in the department you could do the job, you showed the world, including myself and a lot of other people," he said.
Gallo, who grew up in Brooklyn surrounded by brothers, said she wasn't intimidated by the physical part of the job. She laughingly remembered her first day on the job, as she struggled to handle the large brooms once used to sweep the streets.
"I kept hitting myself in the face," she said.
Sanitation worker Migdalia Ebbin, known as Chickie, said she was drawn to the pay and benefits of the job, which allowed her to pay for her daughter's private school and college education.
"People would be shocked to see you in the street," said Ebbin, 54, who came on the job in 1987 and now works in the Manhattan Borough office. "They weren't used to women being behind a truck."
Williscean Young, who worked in the Bureau of Cleaning and Collection for more than 30 years before she passed away in January, was honored posthumously.
"It's a big honor, and I was more than happy to stand in her stead," said her husband, Kumada Young, who attended the ceremony with his daughter Atiya and his 14-month-old grandson, Christopher. "She [Williscean] loved it. She would have put in another 30 years if she could."
Carole Daleo, 65, received special recognition for working in the department since 1960.
"I don't know where the years went," said Daleo, administrative manager of operations for the Bureau of Cleaning and Collection. "It was going to be a summer job just for three months, and the rest is history."
BY LISA L. COLANGELO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, March 29th 2008, 4:00 AM
Watts/News
The male-dominated Sanitation department honored Verlin Gallo (below) and 84 other women at a ceremony Friday.
Handschuh/News
Verlin Gallo, all 5 feet 3 of her, stood proudly by her "wrecker," the heavy-duty tow truck she commands through the streets of Manhattan.
No one would ever suspect that she is a 60-year-old grandmother of six and a 20-year veteran of the Sanitation Department.
"I tell women, 'You can do the job,'" she said.
Gallo, the third woman ever hired to be a sanitation worker in New York City, is one of 85 women in the department honored yesterday at a special ceremony. All have more than 20 years on the job.
Five of the women, including Gallo, have more than 20 years as uniformed sanitation workers.
Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty - who started as a sanitation worker - said these trailblazers didn't have it easy in the male-dominated department.
"You not only showed the men in the department you could do the job, you showed the world, including myself and a lot of other people," he said.
Gallo, who grew up in Brooklyn surrounded by brothers, said she wasn't intimidated by the physical part of the job. She laughingly remembered her first day on the job, as she struggled to handle the large brooms once used to sweep the streets.
"I kept hitting myself in the face," she said.
Sanitation worker Migdalia Ebbin, known as Chickie, said she was drawn to the pay and benefits of the job, which allowed her to pay for her daughter's private school and college education.
"People would be shocked to see you in the street," said Ebbin, 54, who came on the job in 1987 and now works in the Manhattan Borough office. "They weren't used to women being behind a truck."
Williscean Young, who worked in the Bureau of Cleaning and Collection for more than 30 years before she passed away in January, was honored posthumously.
"It's a big honor, and I was more than happy to stand in her stead," said her husband, Kumada Young, who attended the ceremony with his daughter Atiya and his 14-month-old grandson, Christopher. "She [Williscean] loved it. She would have put in another 30 years if she could."
Carole Daleo, 65, received special recognition for working in the department since 1960.
"I don't know where the years went," said Daleo, administrative manager of operations for the Bureau of Cleaning and Collection. "It was going to be a summer job just for three months, and the rest is history."
