[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 21, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO CHARLES H. MARCIANTE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BILL PASCRELL, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 21, 1997

  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call to your attention 
Charles H. Marciante, president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO.
  For the past 36 years, Charlie has been a leader in the New Jersey 
State AFL-CIO. Prior to the merger of the State's AFL and CIO unions, 
he served briefly as secretary-treasurer of the old State Federation of 
Labor. Charlie served as secretary-treasurer of the New Jersey State 
AFL-CIO from its inception on September 25, 1961 until his election as 
president in 1969. First elected as president in June 1970, he was 
reelected to a 3-year term in 1973 and a 4-year term in 1976, 1980, 
1984, 1992, and again in 1996. Now serving his eighth and last term as 
president, it is apparent that Charlie has given his all to the New 
Jersey AFL-CIO. Identified from youth within the trade movement, 
Charlie has achieved a notable position as spokesman for organized 
labor in New Jersey, as well as deserved recognition in the councils of 
the national labor movement.
  Charlie was born in Trenton, NJ. He was educated in the Trenton 
public school system and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 
political science from Rutgers University in 1952.
  Prior to his election as secretary-treasurer of the State federation 
Charlie served a 5-year apprenticeship and worked in the construction 
industry as a journeyman electrician. In the field of electronics, 
Charlie supervised the installation and military readiness of one of 
the major east coast missile defense sites in New Jersey for the U.S. 
Air Force. He remains a member of Local Union No. 269 of the 
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), AFL-CIO, as a 
journeyman electrician.
  Charlie has served his State in numerous social, civic, and 
charitable leadership capacities while an officer with the New Jersey 
AFL-CIO. A former charter member of the State's Economic Development 
Authority, he has also served as a member of the Economic Development 
Council and was appointed to the Governor's Economic Recovery 
Commission in 1974. Charlie is a founding member of the Alliance for 
Action and the Society for Economic and Environmental Development 
(SEED), which is a dual coalition of labor and business groups seeking 
to expand economic potentials for New Jersey. He served for several 
years on the State Department of Education's vocational education 
board, raising New Jersey's standing from 49th to 6th in the Nation on 
vocational programs and school facilities.
  Charlie led the campaigns to reform New Jersey's workers compensation 
and unemployment insurance systems and devoted himself to the State 
Workers Compensation Reform Act of 1980 and the unemployment insurance 
system task force in 1983 to 1984. He has also served on the New Jersey 
Business Retention and Job Retraining Commission assisting dislocated 
workers to secure extended out of work benefits, retraining and 
education upgrading to assist them to compete job wise and a rapidly 
changing economic world.
  In 1990, Charlie served as cochairman of the Governor's Health Care 
Reform Commission, the first proposed total revamp of the State's 
health care system, which was a prototype of the Federal universal care 
proposal of President Clinton. Many of the ideas generated from that 
commission were incorporated into the Federal proposal. Charlie is a 
member of the board of directors of the Robert Wood Johnson University 
School of Medicine and Dentistry in New Brunswick, NJ, serving on the 
finance and quality of care committees. He and several unions 
successfully led the Federal court challenge to reform of the delivery 
of health care in New Jersey.
  Charlie has acted as a State labor coordinator for Radio Free Europe, 
a U.S. savings bond campaign labor coordinator and vice chairman of the 
President's and Governor's committee to employ the handicapped. He has 
been a major fundraiser for Deborah Hospital, where free heart and lung 
procedures are undertaken, and has served as labor coordinator for 
annual March of Dimes drives in New Jersey.
  Politically, Charlie has served as an elected delegate from New 
Jersey to several Democratic National Conventions and has served in the 
1980's on the labor advisory committee of the Republican National 
Committee along with several other AFL-CIO designated representatives.
  Charlie is married to the former Barbara Quinn of Trenton. They 
reside in West Trenton and have four children, Michael, Catherine, 
Stephen, and Mary Barbara.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join me, our colleagues, Charlie's family 
and friends, NJ SEED, and the State of New Jersey in recognizing 
Charles H. Marciante's many outstanding and invaluable contributions to 
the community.

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