Public Employee Press

Emergency room worker wins dignity

TV-land presents characters for viewers to care about and, typically, their problems are resolved within an hour. But the real-life dramas taking place in the city’s emergency rooms take longer to reach a happy ending.

Local 1549 member Antoinette Jenkins has worked at Kings County Hospital for 18 years, nine of them in the Psychiatric Emergency Room. Like any character on “ER,” Jenkins exhibits virtues that are reflected in her work every night on Tour 1, midnight to 8 a.m. Her supervisors agree that “she performs her work with a high degree of responsibility.”

Grievance Rep Linda Bullock, who started work at the hospital in 1981, is another character in this story. She filed an out-of-title grievance on behalf of Jenkins back in February 2004.

“This is not a person who cuts corners,” Bullock said. In fact, the list of duties actually carried out by Jenkins fills up more than a page of typescript. Unlike its TV stars, the union has to argue its case without a script. After management denied Jenkins’ contention that she was performing the duties of a Clerical Associate III, with more responsibilities than set out in her CA II job title, Bullock argued her position in front of an arbitrator: “The psychiatric ER is a stressful area to work in with difficult patients and greater responsibilities that go beyond Clerical Associate Level 2.”

In Jenkins’ words, her job is “very stressful. Conditions are constantly rotating. We deal with kids, adults, prisoners, and sometimes they are highly agitated. We have to get as much information as possible so they can be treated.”

On April 28, an arbitrator upheld the position of the union, awarding Jenkins retroactive pay from the date she filed her grievance. She has since been promoted to CA III.

“I feel great about the way that the union came to bat for me,” she said. “Linda Bullock and the attorneys—Jesse Gribben and Dena Klein—it was like a dream team. Now I feel empowered in my real job title.”

Her hope is that other clerks will come forward and speak out if they find themselves in similar situations. “They should speak to their union reps and let their voices be heard,” she said.

Bullock is pleased at the resolution of this episode. “It means a lot to me. These people really deserve to be well-treated and respected for the work they actually do,” she said.