“We’re the blood that runs through the veins of Lockport.” says Mark Cocco-Vice-President of Lockport local 855. Mark & President Ryan Magee love their jobs, love their Lockport community and are thriving in their new roles in union leadership.
Ryan has worked for the City of Lockport for over 16 years. He took numerous civil service tests and waited patiently for a position to open. His mom called him excitedly when she learned he had gotten a job with the City. He took the Wastewater Operator State Trainee for DEC and was trained on the job for eighteen months. Subsequently, he became NYS-certified as an operator.
Access to clean water is a public safety issue and Ryan takes his job seriously. “Rome fell due to a lack of clean water.” The risk of contamination is constantly being addressed and mitigated. The Lockport wastewater facility is one of the few in the area that has its own lab and tests for ecoli, bacteria, fecal chloroform and more. DEC periodically inspects the facility and record keeping is a top priority of the job. Homeland security also has oversight over water systems and the wastewater facility is a fully secured facility.
As a wastewater operator he maintains the wastewater facility. This includes managing & producing clean water. He and his coworkers take the inflow of water and treat it in a process called activated sludge which produces clean water for fishing streams. He must follow all DEC protocols and attend an intense two-month DEC training at Buff State. He also credits his training from long-term operators in helping him learn the job.
Ryan loves that “every day is different.” He must monitor if a storm is coming, when something breaks, a system is down or if there’s a power failure. On days when a storm hits, he may work from 7am-11:00pm. Ryan believes that wastewater will never go fully automated. Systems tasked with monitoring water systems sometimes fail. “You need the human element.” Lockport has the 2nd oldest water lines in the nation. There were even wooden water lines until just a few years ago. The facility has since been retrofitted with modern equipment and needs constant maintenance.
Mark Cocco, Vice President of local 855, is a Senior Water and Sewer maintenance worker and a Foreman of the water department. Mark also takes safety very seriously and has been placed in life threatening situations on the job.
In one incident the forced sewer main was not able to shut down. Every fifteen minutes sewage was pouring onto Mark, whose only protective equipment was his work boots. Because of this extensive sewage exposure, he contracted a strain of meningitis. He was placed in a local ICU, received 6 spinal taps and was then transferred to Buffalo General. Mark’s exposure to sewage was so severe that his medical team decided to give him medications against every form of meningitis.
Mark had a baby at the time and his biggest fear was that somehow his meningitis could be transmitted to his baby. The infectious disease specialist at the hospital told Mark that the meningitis has spread into his brain causing encephalitis and was potentially deadly. Yet, surprising the seasoned medical professionals, even with this news Mark stayed calm. Once he realized meningitis was not contagious, he accepted the situation no matter what the outcome. Thankfully he fully recovered.
In spite of all of the serious risks and responsibilities of the work, Ryan and Mark “love their jobs” and “love serving the community” they live in. “Lockport is a good place to raise a family.” They see the importance of the role of local 855 members in the community. For example, they take care of fire protection hydrants, rebuild them and de-ice them. Water has to work so the fire department can put out fires. “You don’t get to the fire if the streets aren’t plowed or if they don’t have water to put out the fire”
Ryan and Mark also make sure that local 855 is visible and makes a difference in the Lockport community. In their seven months in leadership, they have raised money for Salvation Army, held a can drive and are hosting a book drive at the end of summer.
Mark credits his interest in unions to his parents who were both UAW members at the GM Lockport plant. Mark’s wife, also a union member, is a constant support system for him from sharing union knowledge to finding union literature and researching union topics. They’ll even discuss unions over their weekly Sunday dinner.
Both Ryan and Mark took on leadership roles in the union only about seven months ago and felt someone needed to step up and have the “courage to get involved.” Ryan and Mark work tirelessly in their volunteer union leadership roles and “call each other every day” to discuss union business. They also appreciate the support of their union leadership team. “We have a great group from eboard to our secretary treasurer. They are all phenomenal and all work well together” says Ryan.
In a relatively short time, they have already made a tremendous impact. Ryan and Mark observed that members were getting poached by other municipalities that paid more. They were deeply concerned with how to continue to maintain an understaffed water department and turned that concern into action.
They met weekly with the Mayor and relentlessly advocated for raises. They also credit advice from Lockport’s longest serving employee Danny Cole who has worked for the City for 29 ½ years. “Danny wasn’t necessarily going to benefit but went to meetings to stand up for other members and share his knowledge. He cares about his coworkers, our city and takes pride in his work” says Mark. Through Ryan and Mark’s advocacy coupled with Danny’s knowledge and support from the Mayor and Council, they were able to secure an unprecedented outside of contract $4 an hour raises over the next year for members.
AFSCME Local 855 ratifies amended contract with City of Lockport | News | lockportjournal.com
The reward of this hard work is the member appreciation that comes from “fulfilling promises and building trust.” Ryan says the best reward is when someone waves you over and “thanks you and says my family thanks you.” “These are Lockport families you are talking about. We need to see raises as a community investment. Families use these facilities we’re working on. They flush their toilets and drink clean water because of our hard work.”-Mark Cocco.
“When we win it’s a “victory for our members, a victory for our community and a victory for union solidarity!”-Ryan
