The Italian American Labor Council honored Lawrence Picardi Sr. as Man of the Year at its dinner dance on Oct. 14 at the Drury Lane Oak Brook in Oakbrook Terrace.
Picardi is the financial secretary treasurer of Cement Masons Union Local 502. His father brought him into the union as an apprentice in 1980, and he worked for years for various Chicago-area contractors as a foreman and union steward.
Picardi was elected as a trustee of the local’s Welfare Fund in 1988, a member of its executive board in 1997 and its business agent in 2006. In 2012, he was appointed financial secretary treasurer and subsequently elected to the position, which he still holds today.
Picardi also holds the position of pension fund trustee of the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association, and he has been a delegate to several of the international conventions of the OP&CMIA. He serves as a delegate to numerous other trade organizations and is a member of the board of directors of the Italian American Labor Council.