By JANE LaTOUR

The hiring of 35 Senior Special Officers and five Principal Special Officers is the lynchpin of a new plan put together by the Human Resources Administration to confront workplace violence.

As incident piled upon incident and management, under the prior administration, failed to act, the issue of workplace violence went to the top of the agenda for DC 37 locals within the agency.

Progress began last year when DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and HRA Commissioner Verna Eggleston put their heads together. On Nov. 14, Ms. Eggleston met with a delegation of DC 37 union leaders to review the details of the new plan. “Safety is all of our issue,” she said. “We remain committed to keeping our promises, even during budget cuts.”

The plan is meant to bolster security at the 31 centers ranked at the top of the list for violent incidents. Under the HRA plan, the new Senior Special Officers will provide supervision for the approximately 600 security guards under private contract at the centers. In turn, the Senior Special Officers will report to a designated Principal Special Officer.

All officers are scheduled to receive training provided by John Jay College. Members of Clerical-Administrative Local 1549 and Social Service Employees Local 371 will also receive special instruction as part of the annual Right-to-Know training.

Coping with frustration
One key part of the plan focuses on the agency developing a Customer Service Model for the welfare centers. Recognizing that long delays in waiting time create the frustrations that lead to clients striking out at the front-line workers, HRA is instituting various measures designed to expedite service.

Better communication with the clients is another component. Simple steps such as posting information about the hours at each center will help to remove a common source of frustration. HRA will post signs in the waiting rooms regarding the behavior expected from clients. Borrowing a practice from other service providers, such as the airlines, HRA will install televisions in the waiting rooms of the 31 designated centers.

The agency is implementing a system of electronic record- keeping to document and track violent incidents. The aim is to follow cases all the way through from beginning to end—including prosecution and judicial resolution. Electronic data will be shared with the security personnel on a daily basis. The agency is installing physical barriers and other devices to protect and serve the needs of the work force.

The union is responding to the plan with cautious optimism. At the Nov. 14 meeting, Ms. Roberts said the union must have a role in implementing the plan in order to make it work: “We are asking for the list of centers, and we need to hold joint meetings at those centers. We want a written procedure, and we want input in the training.”

Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez emphatically supported the intent of the HRA administration, while recognizing the limits of the plan: “We appreciate the plan. But it’s not enough. We need more Special Officers.” Rodriguez also argued for addressing staff workloads.

Ronnie Harris, Clerical Division Director, backed up this contention. Throughout the meeting, Harris argued that the number of security personnel is too low: “Until they get there, you could be killed. We’ve raised it before and we’ll raise it again and again.” Local 371 Vice President Anthony Wells and the rest of the Local 371 leadership team supported these arguments: “We need to create an environment where management is sensitive to the workers. If they’re not sensitive to the workers, how can they be sensitive to the clients?”