By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Local 1457 leaders are beefing up their skills to represent their co-workers, who face workplace violence, fear and management abuses. About 25 activists, elected officers and shop stewards gathered Jan. 17-19 for Juvenile Center Employees Local 1457’s first-ever educational conference, held in Tarrytown, N.Y.

“Many of the participants had not been trained before in the ABCs of labor unionism,” said Local 1457 President Alex Parker. “So, the conference provided a very good forum for people to learn together and get on the same page. Virtually everyone came away fired up to defend their co-workers and strengthen the union’s presence at the city’s three youth detention centers.”

One of the union’s key goals was to develop a new shop stewards network. Most of Local 1457’s stewards are new, and the conference offered them a chance to trade war stories and share information. Participants left the conference with a firm grounding in the local’s working conditions contract. They came away more confident and better equipped than before to act as enforcers of work rules and protections at the Dept. of Juvenile Justice.

The theme of the conference — which Larry Kelly, an assistant director of the DC 37 Education Fund, coordinated with other DC 37 staffers, the DC 37 Professional Division and the local — was “Building Blocks for the Future.” “The local has a full plate,” said Professional Division Director Stephanie Velez. “The title of the conference recognized that the leadership has a tough road ahead and is committed to mobilizing the rank and file to vigorously move that agenda forward.”

One of the main focuses of the gathering was to help the local leaders address violence on the job. The 400 Juvenile Counselors represented by Local 1457 live with a constant fear of being attacked in the detention centers, where youths are held on criminal charges ranging from drug possession to murder. Youths attacked Juvenile Counselors 50 times last year and 81 times the previous year. Over the years, several assault victims have sustained lifetime injuries.

The dangerous working conditions in the centers have received media attention. On Feb. 7, a Daily News article about the violence quoted Mr. Parker expressing his outrage over the conditions and the agency’s inadequate safeguards against workplace violence. The article was published about a week after he and two injured members testified about the specter of violence at a City Council hearing (see box). Five days after the hearing, Juvenile Counselor Robert Marceis was treated at an emergency room after a resident at the Crossroads Detention Center punched him in the face, bloodying his face and breaking his nose.

At the conference, Program Coordinator Cathy Browne of the DC 37 Education Fund led a workshop on writing incident reports, Principal Program Coordinator Lisa Baum spoke about safety and health issues, Principal Program Coordinator Guille Mejia discussed Workers’ Compensation, Assistant Research and Negotiations Director Nola Brooker analyzed the local’s working conditions contract, and Health and Security Plan Field Services Director Dennis Deahn spoke about pensions. Mr. Kelly, Council Rep. Tyler Hemingway and consultant Marilyn Moore led a role-playing workshop in which members tackled hypothetical workplace conflicts.

Guest speakers DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and DC 37 Treasurer Mark Rosenthal spoke of the challenging bargaining climate that the union faces in negotiations for a new economic agreement.

Agency officials spin record of violence

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Deputy Commissioners Crystal Monge and Andrew A. Gonzalez recently took on the dubious task of reporting that working conditions are wonderful at the Dept. of Juvenile Justice.

The pair wrote Editor Bill Schleicher on Dec. 27 to complain about an article in the December Public Employee Press. They charged that reporter Gregory N. Heires “omits the facts essential to a balanced, accurate and objective story” and said he “portrays DJJ as an overly bureaucratic agency insensitive to the risks faced by its employees.”

Mr. Heires found that when workers are assaulted on the job, DJJ runs them through a hellish maze to get their paychecks and uses a panel that includes no medical experts to force injured staff back to work. And these two want an award for compassion?

As for the charge that our newspaper is biased, we plead guilty. We are a partisan, pro-worker newspaper whose calling is to speak for our members. As labor journalists, we’re proud not to be “balanced” or “neutral.” But we do adhere to strict standards of accuracy. Above are excerpts from Ms. Monge and Mr. Gonzalez’s letter — along with the facts.

Managers say:		The facts:
“…the Department has undertaken great effort to enforce stringent safety and security protocols to protect staff members.” “Overall, violence has been substantially curbed, our facilities are safer and morale is higher.” “Only those [child abuse] cases where evidence establishes merit to a claim of abuse result in the imposition of sanctions against departmental staff. After investigation, the majority of child abuse allegations prove to be unfounded.” “The Department provides consistent cooperative service to each and every employee who seeks it. No one injured in the line of duty is encouraged to return to work prematurely.”		Ask Juvenile Counselor Stephen Hill, who has been out of work for several months. While he was being assaulted, he pulled his portable electronic body alarm — but there was no response. Members at Crossroads Juvenile Center say they’ve never even been given body alarms, which should be standard issue for counselors. (Stringent safety — yeah, right.) Assaults decreased last year, but one is too many. Members still live with a constant fear of being preyed upon. On Feb. 5, Juvenile Counselor Robert Marceis suffered a fractured nose when a resident punched him at Crossroads. Continuing violence and management indifference leave morale in the pits. (Go ahead, stay in denial.) The agency itself acknowledges that most charges are false, but DJJ passes along frivolous and unfounded child abuse allegations to the state without investigating the validity of the charges. Managers aren’t trained about child abuse, and their cavalier reporting hurts members. Child abuse charges remain on the books for 10 years after the youth’s 18th birthday; only after that can our members request to have their records cleared. Meanwhile, their reputation is trashed, and they have trouble taking in foster children or adopting. (Sounds like a sanction. Straighten this out, then tell us how much you care.) At a recent City Council hearing, Juvenile Counselor Julius Gardner described the runaround she is getting as she seeks help with her Workers’ Compensation claim. Unfortunately, she’s the norm, not the exception. Injured members on leave routinely report that the agency offers scant support with the paperwork nightmare they go through. Their money runs out before they’re healed, because the agency doesn’t follow the citywide contract, which calls for workers assaulted on the job to remain on payroll. Many are forced to return prematurely. (Note to deputies: If you want the facts, get off your bureaucratic butts and do what PEP did — talk to your employees.)