Public Employee Press


THE UNION CONFRONTS WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
Stops reassignment
Local 376 wins in keeping away a violent supervisor


"Management gave no thought to his history and previous incidents of workplace violence, nor did they consider the safety of our members." - Gene DeMartino, Local 376 President

Union leaders strongly objected when the Dept. of Environmental Protection attempted to reassign a manager with a history of violent behavior to Grand Gorge, a facility where two Watershed Maintainers - who were witnesses against him in a previous assault case worked.

"This would be a very uncomfortable, untenable situation and I simply was not having it," said Local 376 President Gene DeMartino.

After a series of intense labor-management meetings, the agency halted its plan.

An argument about a basketball game in 2014 escalated to violence when a Level 2 Supervisor at Grand Gorge struck a Watershed Maintainer. Two Watershed Maintainers witnessed the attack and were dragged into an agency investigation.

As a result, the department briefly suspended the supervisor, and later reassigned him to its Margaretville facility, about 25 miles away.

When the agency took over waste-water treatment for several Ulster County towns to ensure they meet Dept. of Environmental Protection standards and don't discharge waste into local drinking water, the plant needed a licensed supervisor.

Management tapped the violent supervisor to transfer back to Grand Gorge.

"Management gave no thought to his history and previous incidents of workplace violence, nor did they consider the safety of our members," DeMartino said.

Union leaders recalled how in 2014 these same workers were traumatized after a 16-year veteran engineer fatally shot a 33-year-old coworker at the facility in Kingston; the agency provided grief counseling for dozens of employees there.

"We appreciate management listening to our very real concerns and stopping a transfer that would have reopened a lot of sensitive issues for members about
their safety, possible threats and retaliation, and other workplace violence issues," DeMartino said.

— Diane S. Williams