[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4761-S4762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO ERNEST ``ERNIE'' GRECCO

 Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I would like to congratulate 
a dear friend of mine, Mr. Ernest ``Ernie'' Grecco, for 55 years of 
dedicated service to the labor movement and to working men and women 
and their families in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and 
across the Nation. Ernie recently retired after serving for 20 years as 
president of the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO Council, which covers 
Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Harford, 
and Howard Counties. For the last 15 years, he also served as secretary 
on the board of directors of the United Way of Central Maryland. 
Ernie's vocation and his avocation have been to make life better for 
other people. There is an old saying, ``You make a living by what you 
get; you make a life by what you give.'' Ernie has given so much to so 
many for so long. It is why I feel privileged and proud to call him my 
friend.
  Ernie became involved in the labor movement in 1962 while he was 
working at Calvert Distilleries. He was a member of Distillery Workers 
Union Local 34 and was elected shop steward. He served as shop steward 
until 1970, when he was elected secretary-treasurer of Local 34-D. He 
also served as trustee of the Distillery Workers International Union.
  In 1973, then-President Nick Fornaro of the Baltimore Central Labor 
Council hired Ernie as a job placement officer for the Institutional 
Training Project. In this capacity, Ernie was responsible for helping 
find jobs for hundreds of men and women housed at the Jessup and 
Hagerstown Penal Institutions who were qualified for work-release 
status. In 1976, he became the director of the Metropolitan Baltimore 
AFL-CIO Council's Committee on Political Education, COPE. He served in 
this position until 1983 when he became the COP director for the 
Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO. He was elected to 
serve as president of the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO Council in 
1987, and he also served as first vice president of the Maryland State 
and DC AFL-CIO.
  Ernie has held many other leadership positions over the course of his 
illustrious career. For instance, he chaired the Young Trade Unionists, 
which was created to bring younger people into the labor movement, and 
he served as president of the Union Label & Service Trades Council, 
which promoted the purchase of union services and products. Ernie has 
also served on the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, the Maryland 
Transportation Commission, the Maryland Workers Compensation 
Commission, and the Maryland Racing Commission.
  As president of the Metropolitan Baltimore Council, Ernie established 
monthly meetings with the mayor of Baltimore City to encourage better 
communications and collaboration between the city and the unions. The 
committee consists of all city unions and a representative from the 
building trades. Ernie also championed the council's community services 
division. The community services division provides assistance to 
working people through information and referral advocacy to help them 
solve personal and family crises. The services include education and 
training for union peer counselors; Baltimore Works, a job placement 
program for dislocated workers; and Project LEAP, an adult education 
literacy program.
  It should come as no surprise that Ernie has received numerous awards 
for his indefatigable service to people. He has the distinction of 
receiving not one, but two, national awards for community service, the 
Samuel Gompers Award from the American Red Cross in 1991 and the Joseph 
A. Beirne Award from United Way of America in 1999. Last year, United 
Way of Central Maryland gave Ernie its Philip H. Van Gelder Award for 
Community Services. In 1995, the Baltimore City Fire Fighters Local 734 
and Baltimore City Fire Officers Local 964 created the Grecco Labor 
Award to be given to a firefighter who ``best exemplifies the 
continuing and complex efforts of the local union membership to build 
the relationship between labor and management.''
  During Ernie's career, he has been much loved and respected not just 
in Baltimore, but in Annapolis and across the State of Maryland for his 
steadfast commitment to the labor movement and working people. He is, 
understandably, an avid Orioles, Ravens, and horse-racing fan. His 
retirement is bittersweet because his beloved wife Dorothy--``Dot''--
recently passed away, but I know Ernie will spend much of his time with 
his daughter, Nina Grecco Dukes, and his son, Gary, and Gary's wife, 
Kelly, and his grandchildren, Ashley, Adam, Katy, and Ben.
  I have relied on Ernie's sage counsel on labor matters and other 
issues over

[[Page S4762]]

the years, and I treasure our friendship. I have been a better and more 
effective legislator because of Ernie's friendship and advice for which 
I am truly grateful. On behalf of the entire U.S. Senate, I 
congratulate Ernie on his accomplishments and his well-deserved 
retirement, but knowing Ernie as I do, he will find new ways to be of 
service to others; it is simply at the core of who he is.

                          ____________________