Union Career
In 1953, at the age of 26, Mazzocchi was elected president of the United Gas, Coke, and Chemical Workers' Union (UGCCWU) Local 149, having run on a pledge of equal pay for women. Within a few years, he had not only won equal pay for equal work for women but also negotiated a health insurance plan—one which included the first dental insurance coverage in the private sector in the U.S. During his tenure as president of Local 149, Mazzocchi also led numerous successful organizing drives. He merged several smaller locals into his own and conducted a number of organizing drives, until Local 149 represented workers in 25 companies. He was elected Vice-President of the Nassau-Suffolk CIO Council from 1952 to 1955, and (after the merger of the AFL and CIO in 1955) the Long Island Federation of Labor from 1955 to 1973.
Mazzocchi became increasingly influential within UGCCWU. He helped engineer the 1955 merger of UGCCWU with the Oil Workers International Union to form the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union. In 1957, he was elected to the International Executive Board of OCAW from District 8. He served until 1965, when he was appointed OCAW's Citizenship-Legislative Director.
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