CWA 1180 - Solidarity Works

DOL: City Must Consult Unions on Job Violence In Taking Preventive Steps
By ARI PAUL
© The Chief-Leader, July 31, 2009

State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith has denied a request by the city Law Department to repeal a part of the state's workplace violence regulations for public employers that requires allowing unions to participate in risk-assessment surveys of worksites.

The 2006 legislation mandating regulations to prevent violence against public workers calls for public employers and unions to review possible risks at worksites and empowers management to implement and enforce safety measures.

Questions Union Right to Input

In a letter last month to Ms. Smith, Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo asked her to make this provision invalid. He cited a letter he wrote last year to David Nocenti, the Counsel for then-Governor Eliot Spitzer, in which he called union input in the site-safety reviews "an impermissible expansion of employee/union participation rights."

"In fact, under the draft of the regulations that was recently issued, employers cannot even withhold confidential security information from their written program without first running it by the union," he said.

In her denial of Mr. Cardozo's request in a letter earlier this month, Commissioner Smith said, "The clearly stated legislative intent, therefore, is: a) that both public employers and employees participate in the workplace violence evaluation; and b) that the workplace violence protection program itself be designed and implemented by the public employers."

District Council 37 Safety and Health Director Lee Clarke explained in a phone interview that even before the workplace violence statute became law, safety and health issues were routinely negotiated by unions and public employers.

'City Doesn't Want Us Involved'

"It's really clear that the City of New York certainly does not want the unions to be part of the process of conducting workplace assessments," Ms. Clarke said. "But the law mandates that we're part of the process of looking at the workplace and reviewing the risk and making suggestions."

Jonathan Rosen, the safety and health director for the Public Employ- ees Federation, said there is precedent on the state level for union input in workplace safety and his and other unions, including the Civil Service Employees Association, have had a positive working relationship with state agencies whose workers face risks from violent clients, inmates and patients.

"We have found that for the most part we've had a very high level of cooperation from the state agencies," Mr. Rosen said. "Violence is a very negative factor. The city should get onboard like these state agencies are and work with unions to reduce violence in the workplace instead of using time, energy and resources fighting a very reasonable piece of legislation."

He said that at least a dozen state agencies including the Division of Parole have been eager to work with unions in designing workplace violence prevention programs because the unions often have a firm understanding of the types of violent incidents than can happen in a workplace.

'Rank And File Knows Risks'

"Nobody knows better than the rank-and-file what the risks are," Mr. Rosen said. "If they work in collaboration with management, they can reduce those risks."

While noting that unions' input in site-safety reviews would be helpful in protecting employees, Ms. Clarke added that the current set-up still allowed the employer to have the final say as to what regulations it imposes.

"The law mandates that the employer put together a program to reduce or eliminate threats to workers," she said. "Under the law and the regulation, it's the employer's sole responsibility to do that."

Ms. Clarke said she was not surprised by the Corp. Counsel's move and expected a legal challenge from the city in the future.

"The city, I believe, is trying to exhaust all their administrative remedies before they go to court," she said.

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