Public Employee Press

DC 37 speaks out on workplace violence rules

When rage erupts in city workplaces, public sector employees become targets. Too many DC 37 members in too many job titles have their personal horror stories about the violence visited upon them while they did their jobs.

At a Nov. 20 state Labor Dept. hearing, unionists spoke out on the merits and demerits of a standard proposed for implementing the new workplace violence legislation that state lawmakers passed after a lengthy union campaign.

“We appreciate that threatening behavior and verbal abuse are included in the definition of violence,” said DC 37 Safety and Health Director Lee Clarke.“However, we are concerned that it does not specifically include domestic violence, which is a significant factor in injury and death on the job, particularly for female workers.”

The standard is designed to solicit input about workplace practices from both labor and management. New YorkCity Safety Chief Sylvia Pryce argued that the standard would impose an undue burden on management.

She said the law already establishes an “appropriate level of employee and union participation” and pointed out that employees can file complaints.

The new standard for subway track safety has been cited as a successful model for preventing workplace injury and death precisely because the union lends its expertise to the mutual effort to save lives. The city’s opposition to the workplace violence standard seems to center on a reluctance to share power, said union safety experts.

Local 1549 Workplace Violence Coordinator Kenneth Mulligan testified against requiring workers to submit a written notification to management regarding imminent danger. Mulligan’s extensive files document in gruesome detail the many attacks that have resulted in serious injuries to clerical-administrative employees at HRA work sites.

Juvenile Center Employees Local 1457 President Alex Parker testified on behalf of his members. “When you work in a juvenile residential incarceration facility, violence is a constant threat and all too often a reality,” he said. Both residents and staff get hurt in almost daily clashes.

Standard falls short
Clarke commended the Labor Dept. for drafting the standard, but she voiced her disappointment that it does not cover Dept. of Education employees.

“Our school aides, cafeteria workers, and others often complain of a system that does little to protect them from assault,” said Clarke. “A comprehensive, effective standard,” she said, “could help our members feel that day-to-day violence and threats of violence are no longer an accepted part of city jobs.”