CSEA workers key to cleanup FORT PLAIN — As one state Department of Transportation worker put it, “This is the fourth 100-year flood that I’ve had to clean up from in the past few years.” With severe weather events across the state on the rise over the past few years, it’s CSEA members who are being called on more than ever before to respond to Mother Nature’s wrath. When severe flooding recently affected Central New York and the Mohawk Valley, with the Village of Fort Plain in Montgomery County and the City of Oneida in Madison County being among the hardest hit areas, it was CSEA members who came to the rescue and cleanup efforts. Throughout the flood zones, municipal public works, county highway and state Department of Transportation workers were on the scene, cleaning debris, clearing roadways, and in some instances, helping rescue flood victims from the rising waters. “No matter how large the crisis, Albany County State Department of Transportation worker Gary Casso, left, and Schenectady County State Department of Transportation worker Brian Taft, right, shovel rocks to rebuild the side of the road that had been mostly washed away from flooding outside of Starkville in Herkimer County. it is CSEA members who are always responding to help their communities first, even when their own homes are at risk,” CSEA President Danny Donohue said. “This is only another example of why public employees are valuable to our communities, and I am proud of all of our workers.” — Mark M. Kotzin Jim Smith, left, shovels dirt into the bobcat operated by Stacy Henley, as the state Department of Transportation Region 2 (Utica) workers clean up flood debris from the roads in the Village of Fort Plain. State Department of Transportation employee Mark Wertman, a CSEA activist at the Department of Transportation Region 1 Local in Schenectady, uses a Gradall to rebuild a roadside that had been mostly washed away from flooding outside of Starkville in Herkimer County. 12 The Work Force September 2013
Sept_13_WF
To see the actual publication please follow the link above