The Public Sector, 1988 August 15

THE PUBLIC

SECTOR

Official Publication of The Civil Service Employees Association, Inc., Local 1000,
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO

Vol. 11, No. 17
Monday, August 15, 1988

SUNY Oswego CSEA Local
G1 President Dale Dusharm, __
right, points out a hastily :
filled-in excavation on the

' grounds of the SUNY
campus to, from left, Local
611 Safety Committee
members Ned Goebricher,
Glenn Loadwick and Don
Sawyer.

INSUIDIE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Summary of meeting

Handicapped
but capable

See pages 14-15

McDermott,
up close
and personal

See pages 10-11

New feature:

Activist

With this issue, The Public Sector in-
troduces a new feature. The Activist page
will provide you with valuable information
about services, issues, education — a
whole variety of topics you can use as an
active CSEA member.

Our first page covers the Public Em-
ployment Relations Board, on page 9.
Check it out to get a real understanding of
the agency that has so much influence on
your workplace!

Notice: Due to a change in the publi-

cation schedule, the next issue of The
Public Sector will be dated Sept. 5.

© Public
ISHChOR!

Official publication of The Civil Service
Employees Association, Inc., Local 1000,

AFSCME, AFL-CIO, 143 Washington Avenue,

Albany, New York, 12210

ROGER A. COLE
KATHLEEN DALY

2

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Editor
Associate Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Public Sector
regularly publishes a summary of actions
taken by CSEA’s Board of Directors at the
Board’s official meetings. The summary is
prepared by Statewide Secretary Irene Carr
for the information of union members.

ALBANY — CSEA’s statewide Board of
Directors met here on July 14. In official
actions, the Board:

+ Agreed to organize Bronxville school
district employees;

¢ Elected Candy Saxon as a CSEA
Political Action Fund trustee;

 Rescinded ‘‘the rule of 25” which
required Board OK to organize bargaining
units of less than 25 employees; hereafter,
organizing decisions will be made by
director of organizing in consultation with
regional offices; c

* Approved paying statewide officers
salaries for one month after they leave
office upon completion of full term;

e Elected Richard Canniff to the Board’s
personnel committee;

¢ Approved special elections to fill Board
vacancies from Essex, Nassau, Orleans and
Otsego counties and for a new Region I

commas

REBUILDING
NEW
YORK

MARIO M CUOMO
Governor J

Give ’em a

BRAKE

NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
MARIO M. CUOMO, Governor FRANKLIN £. WHITE, Commissioner

Local Government educational
representative;

¢ Extended for two years a contract with
Finserv Computer Corporation;

¢ Approved leases for various office
equipment for Nassau County Local 830;

¢ Deferred because of budgetary
considerations the reallocation of three
secretarial positions; and

¢ Approved the following as the Region I
Political Action Committee: John Aloisio,
Jeanne Angiulo, Nick Avella, Eugene
Cammarato, Jeanne Cooke, Tim Courtney,
Jack Geraghty, Catherine Green, Dorothy
Goetz, Pat Hahn, Al Henneborn, Nancy
Hernandez, Roosevelt Jackson, Nicholas
LaMorte, William Maccaro, Gloria Moran,
Robert Specht and Rita Wallace.

Questions from CSEA members concerning
the union’s Board of Directors should be
directed to the member’s Board
representatives, local president or to the
office of the Statewide Secretary. Copies of
the minutes of Board meetings are sent to
all Board representatives and local
presidents.

Many activities
scheduled for
Labor Day 1988

CSEA officials and members are expected
to participate in parades, picnics and
various activities in conjunction with the
celebration of Labor Day 1988 on Monday,
Sept. 5. s

In western New York, Erie County CSEA
Local 815 will sponsor a float in the annual
Labor Council-sponsored parade that begins
in Williamsville. For details, call the Local
815 office at (716) 896-1640.

Monroe County Local 828 members will
march in the annual Rochester Labor Day
parade. For information, call Local 828
President George Growney at (716) 428-5594.

Chautauqua County Local 807 members
will join in a picnic and labor awards
ceremony sponsored by the area Labor
Council. Contact Local President Jim Kurtz
at (716) 753-4481 for details.

The Public Sector (445010) is published every other Monday by The Civil Service
Employees Association, 143 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12210, Publication
Office: 143 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12210. Second Class Postage paid at

Post Office, Albany, New York.

Address changes should be sent to: Civil Service Employees Association, Attn:
Membership Department, 143 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12210,
COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATES

SHERYL CARLIN Region |

(516) 273-2280
Region Il

(212) 614-9200
Region Ill

(914) 896-8180
Region IV

(518) 489-5424
Region V

(315) 451-6330

LILLY GIOIA
ANITA MANLEY
DAN CAMPBELL
CHUCK McGEARY

RON WOFFORD Region VI
(716) 886-0391
Headquarters

(518) 434-0191

STEPHEN MADARASZ

% S
7 SAL CIONEAC
3 -aB-

August 15, 1988

sa MALIA ae 7 Si SE SO SA a Se
BURIED ALIVE/

OSWEGO — Ditches can be dangerous,
sometimes even deadly.

That’s why CSEA is ley ting all CSEA
members who may be asked to work in
ditches, trenches or excavations to take
extra precautions.

CSEA President Joe McDermott advises
employees to visually inspect such areas
before entering them and to notify a union
representative if they have concerns about
safety precautions.

McDermott’s advice comes on the heels of

a tragic accident recently on the campus of

SUNY Oswego. CSEA member John Sawyer,
29, remained hospitalized in Upstate Medical

Center in Syracuse as this issue of The
Public Sector went to press, three weeks
after being buried alive when the sides of a
deep ditch caved in on him.

McDermott, by occupation an assistant to
the safety director of the state Department
of Transportation, said the Oswego tragedy
reinforces the need for action by the state
Legislature on CSEA-sponsored legislation

@ known as the ‘Safety/Health Exception”
bill.

“It would allow an employee to refuse to
perform a work assignment when the
employee has a good faith belief that there

is a real danger of death or serious injury,”

he said.

“If you’re unsur’ about safety precautions

around excavation sites, notify your CSEA
shop steward, your local president or other
@union representatives so we can inspect the
site as soon as possible,’’ McDermott said.
“Too many of my members have been
seriously injured over the years in cave-ins
in ditches and trenches that were not
properly prepared.”
CSEA is charging SUNY Oswego officials
with failing to administer proper safety

e¢ When in doubt,
call the union

CSEA is advising members who are
asked to enter ditches, trenches or
excavations to visually inspect the work
area to determine whether it is safe to do
so.

@ If you have doubts, here’s what the
union recommends you do:

“Immediately contact your CSEA shop
steward, local president or union
representative if you feel an excavation is
unsafe,’ CSEA President Joe McDermott
said. The CSEA regional headquarters
will be notified immediately and the
regional CSEA occupational safety and
health specialist advised of the situation.
@ ‘“CSEA representatives will quickly
respond to such situations and the site in
question will be thoroughly inspected.”
McDermott promises. “If we find the area
is unsafe, the union will take it from
there.”

“T believe most sites our people are
asked to work in around the state do meet
safety standards but obviously not all do;
the SUNY Oswego site certainly did not,”
@ McDermott said.

OTHER HAZARDOUS EXCAVATION SITES on the SUNY Oswego campus, near the site of the

recent accident, are inspected by CSEA Local 611 Safety and Health co-chairman Glenn Loadwick,

left, and Local 611 President Dale Dusharmi.

measures at the work site. State
Department of Labor officials conducted an
investigation of the July 26 accident at the
request of CSEA but have not yet issued a
report. Union officials say SUNY officials
have not responded to repeated requests by
CSEA for a labor-management meeting to
discuss circumstances surrounding the
mishap.

“The fact that John Sawyer was permitted
to enter a 10-12 feet deep trench . . . without
benefit of proper wooden shoring or
protective cribbing is unconscionable and
appears to be in complete disregard of
every basic safety law covering work below
ground level,’ said CSEA Central Region
President Jim Moore.

CSEA also is angry that SUNY officials
ordered the ditch filled in less than an hour
after the mishap, hindering later
investigations.

Sawyer and fellow employee John Bricker
were working in a ditch estimated to be 10
to 12 feet deep without benefit of required
shoring or protective cribbing when the
cave-in occurred. Bricker shouted a warning
to Sawyer and scrambled to safety.

Sawyer was pinned against an
underground steam line and buried alive

Ve

Trust fund established

A “John Sawyer Benefit Fund” has
been established in the Oswego area to
assist Sawyer and his family, according to
CSEA Local 611 President Dale Dusharm.

Sawyer was severely injured and his
recovery period is expected to be lengthy.
Among other injuries, the 29-year-old
husband and father lost his lower left arm
and three fingers from his right hand in
the mishap.

CSEA members statewide may
contribute to the ‘‘John Sawyer Benefit
Fund” by sending check contributions to:

John Sawyer
% CSEA Local 611
SUNY Oswego

beneath several feet of dirt and gravel for
more than 20 minutes before rescuers
digging with shovels, hands and anything
available were able to uncover his face and
head. He was trapped for as long as 45
minutes before being pulled out.

He suffered severe burns from the steam
pipe and multiple injuries to his arms, legs,
chest and back.

( There’s no excuse 2

for ignoring the
safety regulations

“There is no excuse for requiring people
to work in unsafe trenches or
excavations,” says CSEA Occupational
Safety and Health Director Jim Corcoran.

Corcoran says Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) standards
are very specific concerning requiremerits
for shoring trenches, ditches and
excavations.

“Anyone who supervises such
operations must be familar with and
enforce those regulations,’’ he says.

According to Chapter XVII, Part 1926,
Subpart P of Title 29Labor, Code of
Federal Regulations, “‘Banks more than 5
feet high shall be shored, laid back to a
stable slope, or some other equivalent
means of protection shall be provided
where employees may be exposed to
moving ground or cave-ins.” The
requirments also state “‘Sides of trenches
in unstable or soft material, 5 feet or
more in depth, shall be shored, sheeted,
braced, sloped or otherwise supported by
means of sufficient strength to protect the
employees working within them.”

CSEA says employees were working in
a 10 to 12 feet deep excavation without
any shoring or other protective measures

Oswego, N.Y. 13126

at the time of the cave-in on the SUNY
a

August 15, 1988

\Oswego campus.

_ THE, PUBLIC SECTOR

protecting the rights of workers

Herkimer Community College guilty of
giving a bad order about Good Friday -

HERKIMER — Herkimer County
Community College (HCCC) was wrong
when it directed several CSEA members not
to report to work on Good Friday 1987, an
arbitrator has ruled.

CSEA filed a grievance on behalf of

several clerical employees who were told
not to report to work on Good Friday even
though the college remained open. CSEA
later took the matter to arbitration when it
could not be resolved through the grievance
procedure.

GOOD (FRIDAY) NEWS — Unit Steward Candy Mancini, center, indicates Good Friday on a
calendar while Herkimer County Community College employees Josephine Sanganetti, left, and Mary
Lou Cavanaugh, right, give “A-OK” victory signs.

LOWVILLE — The Appellate Division of
state Supreme Court has ordered an
arbitration hearing for a former Lewis
County deputy sheriff who, CSEA says, was
fired for union activities as a shop steward.

And CSEA is also demanding immediate
arbitration in the case of another former
Lewis County deputy sheriff who was fired
after he ran unsuccessful primary and
write-in political campaigns against the
sheriff last fall.

CSEA says Lewis County Sheriff Floyd A.
Martin illegally terminated both deputies
and then refused to submit the cases to
arbitration when the union protested the
firings. CSEA filed a lawsuit against the
sheriff.

A state Supreme Court justice last year
ordered an arbitration proceeding in the
case of former deputy Charles W. Leviker.
Sheriff Martin appealed that ruling and the
Appellate Division recently unanimously
upheld the lower court order.

4

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Court gives CSEA justice from ’
stubborn Lewis County sheriff

That, says CSEA Field Representative
Tom Dupee, should also clear the way for a
hearing for former deputy Donald W.
Sawyer. Sheriff Martin had refused to take
the Sawyer case to arbitration pending the
outcome of the sheriff's appeal in the
Leviker case.

CSEA says Leviker’s firing in January
1987 was motivated by his activities as a
shop steward for CSEA Local 825. Martin
claims he fired the 10-year veteran deputy
for alleged misconduct and failure to
perform duties. The union protested the
firing and filed the lawsuit after the sheriff
refused to take the issue to arbitration.

CSEA says the sheriff fired Sawyer as a
retaliation measure after the eight-year
veteran deputy conducted unsuccessful
primary and write-in political campaigns
against the sheriff in 1987.

One day after winning re-election, Martin
suspended Sawyer for 30 days without pay,
later refusing to submit the case to

- is open . . . the county violated the contract

The arbitrator has ruled HCCC must pay
those employees one day of overtime at one-
half the daily rate or one-half day of leave
at the option of the employees to
compensate for the holiday pay they would
have received.

CSEA’s contract with Herkimer County
provides for 13 paid holidays per year, one
of them being Good Friday. Because HCCC’s
academic calendar differs from the work
calendar of other county employees, unit
members employed at the college are
required to work some holidays.

CSEA regional attorney John Scholl
successfully argued that since Good Friday
fell during the regular work week and the
college was open and the work load not e
reduced, there was no reason or evidence to
support the reduction of the workforce.

“Tt is clear that all unit employees are
expected to work on those holidays falling
within their normal work week if the college

by directing employees not to report to work
on Good Friday 1987.” the arbitrator ruled.

’Herkimer County CSEA Local 822
President Pat Labrozzi called the decision
“an important victory not only for the
clerical employees at the college but for all
CSEA members in the unit and local.”’ He
praised the work of Unit President Sharon
Morris, Unit Steward Candy Mancini, CSEA
Field Representative Ercole Ventura and
attorney Scholl for their work.

arbitration. The sheriff later terminated
Sawyer, claiming the deputy allegedly failed
to report a complaint. CSEA has filed two
Improper Practice charges against the
sheriff, claiming anti-union bias and refusal
to submit the case to arbitration.

CSEA’s Dupee called the Appellate
Division ruling ‘“‘a landmark decision’’ that
is gratifying but long in coming. Dupee said
both Leviker and Sawyer “‘have suffered a
lot of mental and financial hardships since
being terminated” and are looking forward
to a resumption of their cases.

“The next step is up to PERB (Public e
Employment Relations Board). Hopefully a
hearing officer will be appointed soon.
We’ve waited patiently for more than a year
for this decision and every member of CSEA
Local 825 is anxious to see a resolution,”
Dupee said.

Leviker is currently employed as a state
parks police officer at Lake Ontario beaches
while Sawyer works as a laborer at Lowville
Academy and Central School. @

August 15, 1988
SR SSN: OE EUR Vn! Coe eae ee ES he Do |

“Tt’s time for the state to come clean on
the Binghamton State Office Building and
release all the information now,” said
CSEA President Joe McDermott. ““CSEA
has worked very hard with the state to
develop a level of trust and understanding
over the clean-up work — but this
information undermines the entire effort.”

Following the disclosure of the cover-up,
McDermott contacted Gov. Mario Cuomo
urging that Rings be replaced for lack of
credibility. The state responded through
OGS Commissioner John Egan.

Egan expressed ‘astonishment,
puzzlement and disbelief’ at CSEA’s

Binghamton
blow-up

Surpressed report

contradicts official
state assurances

BINGHAMTON — A recent story in the Binghamton Press
and Sun Bulletin revealed that the State concealed a 1984 report
on extensive contamination in the structure’s duct system. CSEA
has obtained a copy of the report and has found that the data con-
tradicts statements made by Office of General Services (OGS)
safety and health Director David Rings and other OGS officials
during a meeting with CSEA and other groups in Aug. 1985. CSEA
is now reviewing the report for other inconsistencies.

Binghamton
State Office Building
as it once looked.
Photo by

Keith
Hitchens,

position, claiming that the newspaper
account had been shown to be
“substantially in error.”

But CSEA documents appear to back up
details of the published report that Rings
knowingly misled the employee unions
and the state’s expert panel on the clean-
up, when he told them that 40 miles of
ducts had been cleaned but that no testing
had been done prior to the undertaking.

“The real issue is credibility — David
Rings no longer has credibility on this
issue or any other situation that we have
to deal with him on,” said CSEA Director
of Occupational Safety and Health James
Corcoran.

Corcoran also pointed out the Versar,
New York Inc. which conducted the
testing for OGS backed the state’s claim
that no testing had been done. The
surpressed 1984 report found PCB
contamination in the ducts 40 times higher
than the safe limit.

“Tf Rings lied and Versar, Inc. backs
his lie, how reliable is any of their data?”
asked McDermott. ‘“‘Obviously since the
state was paying the bills they felt
compelled to say whatever the state
wanted said.”

Because of the extent of the
contamination and the concealment of the
information, CSEA has serious questions
about whether OGS cleaning removed the
toxins from the ducts, even though the
state Health Department has declared the
building safe.

“Had this information come out at the
time the report was written it would have
been understood that more clean-up was
needed,”’ commented Corcoran. ‘‘Now it
raises serious concerns about whether
we're getting the whole picture.”

The Binghamton State Office Building
has been closed since a 1981 fire spread
PCBs and other toxins throughout the
structure. The clean-up effort, estimated
at $40 million, was expected to be
completed and the building reopened this
winter. CSEA believes this new
information puts the building’s future into
serious doubt.

“From the employees’ point of view,
I’m not sure what impact this new
information has,” said CSEA Binghamton
State Employees Local 002 President Tim
Henehan. “‘As far as we’re concerned the
state lost credibility over this issue a long
time ago. Back in 1981 we were told we’d
be back in the office in a week — it’s now
seven and a half years later, so we
remain skeptical.”’

August 15, 1988

5

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

By Daniel X. Campbell
CSEA Communications Associate

ALBANY — For nearly 10 months a year
you see them everywhere — bright yellow
school buses transporting hundreds of
thousands of children to and from hundreds
of schools across the state.

Behind the steering wheels are some of
the most skilled professional drivers on the
roads, delivering the most precious cargo of
all. Many thousands of those drivers are
CSEA members employed by school
districts where CSEA represents non-
teaching personnel.

Many of the finest school bus drivers in
the state were at the wheels of buses
recently even though schools were in
summer recess. The drivers were competing
in the statewide finals of the ROAD-EO
competition sponsored by the New York
Association for Pupil Transportation
(NYAPT) during its annual workshop here.

Finalists had already earned their way
into the statewide competition by winning at
regional events held earlier this spring and
summer. Many of the statewide finalists
were CSEA members.

“T enjoy the competition, but I like being
a good bus driver,” CSEA member Janet
Lindquist from the Carmel Central School
District said explaining why she was at the
statewide finals. ‘I won second place in the
lower Hudson competition in May and I’m
here to do my best.’

To do their best seemed to be the ultimate
goal of all of the 40 plus competitors from
around New York state.

“This is a very good experience for bus
drivers and transportation supervisors no
matter their employment status,” said
Judith Clemente, a transportation supervisor
from the Connetquot School District. “It’s a
good experience and it shows the public
what they can do, what they must know to
handle a bus safely.”

Peter Carson, a public employee bus
driver in the Wappingers Falls area was
really keyed up after the pre-trip bus
inspection test.

“This is a fun competition. It adds
something to the job — pride in doing your
best and pride in your fellow co-workers’
efforts to do their best,’’ he said.

A group of CSEA members from the
Middle Country Central School District

“T enjoy the
competition, but I like
being a good bus driver
... l’m here to do my
best.”

— Janet Lindquist

They play

Local 870 were in attendance to cheer on
their co-worker Yoland Cannizzo.

“T felt nervous during my run. I’ve won @
the Suffolk County competition three times,”
she said. “But here you're up against the
best and it’s a tighter course with a lot more
personal pressure.”

TOO CLOSE — ANOTHER DEMERIT — for a stop that’s off by just inches,

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

August 15, 1988

Edna Keenan, a fellow CS9EA member
from Long Island Middle Country has strong
feelings about the contests.

“T believe contests really improve school
bus drivers’ safety,” she said, wearing a T-
shirt proclaiming the superiority of school
bus drivers.

Despite missing out on making the top
three spots, CSEA members Kathy Dunn
and Kathy Force from Horseheads Central
School, were both excited about being in the
finals no matter what the outcome.

“We came to compete and we did,’’ they
said after the final results were announced.
The top three van drivers for 1988 are:
first, Thomas Johnson with a score of 77.75
out of 100; second, Barbara Dilworth, 75.25;
and third, Louis Riley, president of

AFSCME Local 1671.

In the big bus competition Bonnie Kaiser
won with the highest score ever in state
competition 94.25; second was Michael
Competillo 92.25; and third was Stanley
Tocedlowski, 89.00.

At a luncheon banquet for the competitors
NYAPT President Paul Sharpe noted that

all of the drivers should be congratulated on

their dedication to transportation safety.
“You have spent countless hours

developing your driving skills so that you

can carry our most precious cargo — our

students — to and from school more safely,”

he said. ‘‘You should all be congratulated
for this dedication.”’

“We came here to
compete and we did!”
— Kathy Force, right,
and Kathy Dunn

“T believe that
contests really improve
school bus drivers’
safety.”’

— Edna Keenan

THE BACK TENNIS ball is not touching, but how about the front one? A judge checks it out as a driver

guides a big bus through the test area.

August 15, 1988

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

ALBANY — CSEA has won a major
victory for longtime seasonal workers in the
state Parks Department.

Under a new policy, seasonal workers will
not be laid off simply so the department can
avoid giving them benefits. CSEA represents
about 5,000 seasonal workers in the Parks
Department.

“These loyal employees will now get the
benefits they deserve,’’ said CSEA President
Joe McDermott. ‘‘Many of them have
worked the ‘hire-fire’ cycle for years.

CEE,

p

J

e

pe

“T think it’s about
time....”
Chris Sheehan

Stopping the cycl

Parks Department ends
seasonal hire-fire system

Finally, they are going to get the respect
they deserve.”

Previously, the Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation
regularly laid off its seasonal employees just
before they were eligible for benefits
including vacation, sick and personal leave,
paid holidays and health insurance
coverage. Under CSEA/State contracts,
employees must work at least 19 consecutive
pay periods to be eligible for those benefits.

After 15 days, the employees would be
rehired, only to face the same cycle again,
some for years. :

For Chris Sheehan, an employee a‘
Saratoga Spa State Park, the policy is a
welcome relief.

“T think it’s about time the state reward
the longtime seasonal employees for their
dedication,” Sheehan said. ‘‘I went through
the hire-fire cycle several times about every
nine months, sometimes twice a year. Each
time, I lost five weeks. That’s unfair.”

Co-worker Joyce Linen agreed.

“Park employees were the only state
workers who were left going through this
hire-fire cycle,” she said. ““The worst time
for me was when I was fired at Christmas
time. It’s hard because you’re off and when

“The worst ... was
when I was fired at
Christmas.”

Joyce Linen

you’re hired, it’s a five-week pay lag. If you
have a mortgage or a car payment, it’s
really hard to make ends meet.”

CSEA has been trying to resolve the issue
for years. It was raised again during
contract negotiations, when both parties
agreed to find a solution through
labor/management discussions.

“The end of the 15-day break represents a
significant betterment in working conditions
for seasonals,’’ McDermott added. ‘‘It’s a
big boost to morale and I certainly
congratulate Parks Commissioner Orin
Lehman for his cooperation in finally ending
this longtime abuse.”

AMERICA WORKS BEST
WE SAY

deadline
set for

Nominations

L/M awards

ALBANY — The deadline for nominations for the 1988
Labor/Management Awards presented by CSEA and the
Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) is less than a

month away.

state.

The awards are made annually to acknowledge employees
who promote labor/management cooperation at all levels in the

The deadline for nominating an individual, team or

committee for the 1988 awards is Sept. 1.

Nominations should be sent directly to the GOER/CSEA

Labor Management committees.

To get a nomination form, contact your personnel and
employee relations office or CSEA regional field staff and local

presidents.

If you have any questions about the programs, contact:

Committees
Suite 1930

New York State GOER/CSEA Labor/Management

One Commerce Plaza

Albany, New York 12260

(518) 473-3416

8

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

August 15, 1988

ACTIVIST

“The kinds
of things we
advocate for
unions and
manage-
ment, we
have

ourselves.”’
— Ralph Vatalaro,
PERB executive
director

The state Public Employment Relations
Board (PERB) was established more than two
decades ago to assist public employee unions
and organizations and agencies of state and
local governments in resolving labor relations
disputes arising under the Taylor Law.

By Kathleen A. Daly
Associate Editor

ALBANY — Most public employees never
see the Albany offices of the Public
Employment Relations Board (PERB), but the
work of this small state agency affects all of
them

“PERB acts as an umpire in a baseball
game,” said Executive Director Ralph Vatalaro
“Somebody has to make a judgment call to be
sure employers and employees play by the
rules set by the legislature.”

The agency was created in June 1967 with
the passage of the Taylor Law, which gives
public employees in New York state the right
to bargain collectively.

In more than 20 years, PERB’s role has
changed, but it has maintained its status as the
chief voice of reason between employers and
unions during stalled contract talks and as
arbitrator in disputes over employment
practices

PERB consists of a three-person board and
a staff of 55. Currently, the board has a
vacancy created when Jerome Lefkowitz left
to join CSEA as deputy counsel last year

The agency is waiting for the appointment
of the third member to join Chairman Harold
Newman and Walter L. Eisenberg, Vatalaro
said, and break tie votes in several cases

The functions PERB serves is broken down
into three departments: Conciliation Office,
Employment Practices and Representation
Office and Counsel’s Office

CONCILIATION OFFICE

The Conciliation Office goes to work when
an employer and a bargaining unit reach
impasse in contract talks. A mediator is
appointed to help both sides come to a
resolution, Vatalaro said. The mediator may be
a PERB staffer or one of many who work for
the agency on a per diem basis.

“The mediator goes in under the first step
of the impasse procedure and uses persuasion
to try to cajole people into agreeing. He is as
familiar with the issues as the people involved,”
Vatalaro said. “He really comes in with nothing
but a lot of expertise.”

A mediator cannot force the parties to agree.
If they don't agree, the impasse goes to fact
finding. Often the mediator will also act as fact
finder. In that role, he listens to each side
present its case and writes a report
recommendation. Again, that recommendation
is only an option, Vatalaro stressed. The parties

August 15, 1988

do not have to accept it

“The report and recommendation go to both
parties,” he said. “We routinely announce it to
the press after five days. It becomes public
information. The theory is that the public will
put pressure on the unreasonable parties to
settle.”

The only time a PERB mediation carries the
force of law is in interest arbitration involving
police and fire fighters.

“These types of employees are considered
so critical to the well being of the community
that the legislature decided not to take any risks
that there would be an interruption of services,”
Vatalaro said.

The mediators and fact finders who work for
PERB all have advanced degrees, Vatalaro
said

“We require all of them to have a master’s
degree,” he said. ‘Most of our jurisdiction is
school districts. Our people, we feel, have to
be at least as educated as the people they're
dealing with.”

EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES

In 1969, the law was changed to give PERB
jurisdiction over employment practices. That is,
unions can allege an employee is guilty of
certain types of improper actions. If an
administrative law judge agrees, the unions can
win some kind of remedy, Vatalaro explained.

“This kind of jurisdiction gives us a kind of
watchdog role over employers and
employees,” he said

The Employment Practices and
Representation Office also handles
representation procedures and petitions by
employers who want employees designated as
management or confidential.

COUNSEL’S OFFICE
The main job of the Counsel's Office is to
a a te sas oA RoR

“‘PERB acts as an umpire ina
baseball game. Somebody has to
make a judgment call...”

— Ralph Vatalaro

defend board decisions in court. When an
administrative law judge makes a decison in a
case, it can be appealed to the three-member
board. At that point, the board's decision
becomes case law, Vatalaro said, unless one
of the parties wants to appeal to the state
Supreme Court.

“The track record (of court appeals) is fairly
clear,”’ Vatalaro said. “Courts don’t usually
second-guess an agency like PERB. They trust
our expertise in labor relations. The court will
only step in or intercede if PERB oversteps its
bounds. In other words, they leave to PERB
the substantive issues.”

WORKING FOR PERB

“Because we are a labor board, we set an
example, or we try to,” Vatalaro said of his own
agency. “Everything that’s come up in the last
four or five years, like job sharing, we've had
for quite a while.”

Labor management programs, a key tool the
agency likes to promote among public
employers and unions, is a big part of the PERB
Office.

Based on its own success, PERB has been
trying to build more labor/management
committees between public employers and
their employees. In the last four years, PERB
has helped start 75 committees

“It results in fewer grievances being filed,
fewer IPs being filed and an easier contract
settlement,” Vatalaro said. “We think it's critical
that government and unions join together to
promote their enterprises, whether it's running
a city hospital or a highway department. The
unions and the government have far more to
agree about than to disagree about. When they
do have problems, they're easier to settle
because the parties have a channel of
communication that's open all the time.

“The kinds of things we advocate for unions
and management, we have ourselves,” he said.
“We literally knocked down walls to make
people happy. We're restructuring an area to
make people more comfortable . . . for more
room. It’s acredit to the employees. We make
it happen, but they make the

recommendations.”

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

By Kathleen Daly
Associate Editor

ALBANY — In 45 days as president of the
state’s largest public employee union, Joe
McDermott has begun to implement his
unique meld of old-time union philosophy
with his faith in modern management — all
part of his plan to make what he calls “a
damn good union”’ better.

“We've got to run CSEA more like a
business,’’ McDermott said. ‘‘We’ve grown
so big in the last 20 years and we didn’t
keep up from the standpoint of how to
manage ourselves as an organization.”

McDermott, in his quest for efficient, cost-
effective service, still believes the core of
the union lies in the dedication and activism
of the members.

ACTIVISM

“At some levels we’ve lost some of the
desire to get involved, to do for other folks;
I don’t know why. Maybe the members think
that now that we’ve got laws on the books
and the dues are more expensive, we should
take care of all these things with our staff,”
McDermott said. ‘“‘But we can’t survive asa
union just by paying staff to do the work.
We’re too big. If we lose the volunteerism,
we're never going to be able to serve our
members the way they ought to be served. I
prefer the volunteerism, too, because that
builds leaders. Those are the people that
ought to ultimately be running the union.”

Now chief officer of CSEA, McDermott
became a leader through just those channels
of leadership — from the worksite to the
local to the region, and finally, to
headquarters and the large corner office on
the second floor.

HIS HISTORY

McDermott has been involved with CSEA
for well over two decades but it was a fluke
22 years ago that thrust him into activism.
As a technical inspector for the state
Department of Transportation, he was holed
up in the Adirondacks for weeks.

“Those were the type of jobs that were
away from everybody. You spent the whole
week there, you worked 16, 18 hours a day.
If you came home one weekend day, you
were lucky,”” McDermott recalled. ‘“‘I got
my ballot for our local DOT CSEA elections
and my name was on the ballot to represent
the technicians in the region. I didn’t know
anything about it. Some of my ‘friends’
figured, ‘he’s got a big mouth, he always
speaks up, so he’d make a good candidate.
McDermott paused for a laugh. “I was
elected. That’s how I became an activist in
CSEA.”

The election led him to what has been his
career. He hasn’t been at his job with the
state DOT since his election as Region IV
President in 1973. Instead, he has battled his
way up the ranks of CSEA. And through it
all, McDermott has remained motivated by
what kept him going in his DOT local.

“T don’t like to see people get stepped on.
So any time I saw an injustice, I would
always speak up,” McDermott noted.

He had a favorite uncle who years ago

1 0 THE PUBLIC SECTOR

~~

warned him never to work for the
government because it was huge and cared
little for the people it employs.

“He said they’re a tool, they don’t care
about people, all they care about is pushing
paper and growing. They don’t care about
the little person,’’ McDermott recalled.
“Well, somebody has to worry about the
little person. We don’t have anybody to do it
except our union.

“People who think the employer gives
them something are very naive. A lot of
people think public employers give us
something. They don’t give us anything we
haven’t fought for.””

CSEA improves the employees’ odds in the
battle for good wages, benefits and security,
he said.

A DAMN GOOD UNION

“CSEA is a vehicle to accomplish good for
public employees. It’s a damn good union.
We do a lot of things wrong, we drop the
ball maybe once too often. But we are a
clean union. Most of the people involved are
good people, they volunteer their time and
services because they care about other
people,” he said. “‘While we don’t see eye to
eye on politics or on how to accomplish
things all of the time, generally speaking, in
their hearts they’re good people and that’s
what makes this a good union.”

McDermott is not afraid to admit that he
has often had disagreements with other
union leaders and just as often has found
himself at the center of controversy.

“T have a big mouth, that’s why. I’m not
afraid to say what I think. I never run and
hide from an issue. Never,’’ he said
emphatically. “Sometimes I say the wrong
thing, make the wrong decision, but I never
run and hide.”

Those disagreements should be handled
quickly and in a businesslike way, and then
the leaders should move on to new issues,
McDermott said. Paramount in his dealings

e
EDITOR'S NOTE:
his hopes for CS§

public employee don.

bseph E. McDermott, CSEA’s newest president, recently sat down to discuss his views, his plans and
The following interview resulted, and gives a picture of the man now heading the state's largest

with people is honesty; he is honest and he
demands honesty of others.

“J don’t lie. I may take very circuitous
routes to get to a place that I want to be
sometimes, but I’m straightforward in what@
I say to people. I always level with people
and I don’t like people who don’t level with
me. When people oppose me and they’re up
front and tell me that, I respect them.”

GETTING THINGS DONE

Some people may not see him as
“upfront,” he said, because he will wait and
work to achieve his goals a piece at a time.

“I’m a nickel and dime man,” he said. ‘‘I
want the whole bag of money, but I’ll take i@
a nickel and a dime at a time. I'll do
something a piece at a time to get to what I
want. Most people don’t see what I’m after
and they’ll go out and talk about how I’m
moving this person or changing this piece of
the structure. But I do have a picture of the
whole puzzle I’d like to put together.”’

That puzzle is a complex one; McDermott
sees CSEA’s situation as far from simple.

He wants to develop what he calls a sense 0o®
mission, provide a businesslike way of
running the union and increase the respect
of the members for the union.

A SENSE OF MISSION

“The growth of CSEA has caused even our
staff to lose that central ethic that we’re
here to serve the members. It isn’t just a
job to the people who we use the dues
money to employ. It’s a whole social
movement,’”’ McDermott said. “If that e
means we have to educate our staff to make
sure that when they come to work for us
they know that they’re not here just to do a
job, that we have a mission, then we have to
do it.

“T don’t think we’ve ever defined what the
mission is. That’s one of the first things I’m
going to do. We’re going to define in writing
what our mission is so everybody knows it.
That’s why I’ve created these transition
teams; they’re spending a lot of time on it.””

McDermott has been working not only to
create a sense of purpose, but also to instill
pride in the staff. He recently distributed a
card, each with a CSEA pin, to the staff,
telling them to “Be proud of who you are
and what you do.” But more than offering
symbols, McDermott is giving staff an
opportunity to make decisions and
recommendations.

MAKING DECISIONS

“You can’t run an organization this size or
a business this size with one person making
every little decision,”’ he said. ‘‘I believe in
decentralized decision-making with one
authority. Anybody who comes in here and
says, ‘What do I do about this?’ I say to
them, ‘What are you recommending?’

“It’s a way of building their posture. They
have a job. I want them to make decisions
on behalf of this union and to come and
make recommendations if its not their
decision to make, not to say ‘What do I
do?’”

And when they make the wrong decision?

“You obviously tell them that wasn’t the
correct decision and tell them why,”

McDermott said. ‘‘Everyone learns by their
mistakes. You don’t fault someone for
aking a mistake. I fault somebody for
failing to make a decision.”

@ BUILDING RESPECT
One thing he has decided is that the
embers of CSEA have lost some of their
espect for the union.

“T really don’t think the union has the
‘espect of its members. I’d like to get that
espect back,’’ he explained. ‘“That doesn’t
ecessarily mean solving everybody’s
problems. It means that the members know
hat you are working on their behalf, in
he® best interests, that you’re not going to
let problems lie around and not seek
Solutions.”

McDermott is very clear about what he
opes to accomplish as CSEA president.

“If I leave without having gained a lot of
benefits for the members sometime in the
‘uture, I think I will at least leave it so that
it is representing those members in a more
‘eady fashion than it has in the past,” he
kai® By the end of his three-year term, he
said he’d like to see “that every problem
hat came to our attention would get
attention within 24 hours; not solved, but get
pttention. This isn’t happening. I think we
Sweep too many things under the rug and
e put them off because we have so many
pressing issues. We never quite pick them
back up.

oe I’d really like to see is that our
Bta' sit every worksite in the state. I
hink that’s probably impossible, but if I had
A map, I’d like to know that within a few
vears there would be a pin stuck in it for
pvery worksite and somebody would have
been there.’’

AWAY FROM THE UNION
McDermott is willing to work hard to
achieve his goals. He recently took his
pec vacation in 10 years simply because

e Rows it will be at least three years
before he has another chance. He often puts
n two hours of work at home before he gets

to CSEA headquarters at 8:30.

“T don’t come here and sit here 18 hours a
day on some days just to collect a paycheck.
I think I could do pretty well out there on
the outside. This isn’t just a job to me,”
McDermott said.

If CSEA is more than a job, does
McDermott have a life of his own, beyond
CSEA?

“My wife would tell you that I don’t have
a life outside of this union,” he said. ‘I am
extremely fortunate that right from the first
time I ran for local president, my wife
encouraged me. It hasn’t been easy with
five children.”

McDermott and his wife, Laura, have
raised four sons and a daughter, and he has
“made all the graduations and parties,” but
he admits he hasn’t always been there for

his kids. Many times, they didn’t understand.

why their father wasn’t home.

“My younger boy said to me one time,
‘Another meeting, Daddy? You’re going to
another meeting?’ I’ve put up with that for
a lot of years. As he got older, he said to
me, ‘You don’t do anything except go to
meetings and dinners.’”’

McDermott is quick to credit his wife,
calling her the bedrock of the family.
Despite her devotion to the family, she has
also found she has a life of her own, he said.

“We’re very fortunate that she has
learned that. She has her own circle of
friends, and now when I manage to be home
for an evening, many times I find that she’s
out.”

McDermott no longer golfs or bowls; his
real joy is found in books.

“T am an absolutely crazed reader. I read
like you wouldn’t believe,”’ he said. “It’s my
relaxant and my escape. I love history and
historical novels and spy novels.”

IN THE FIELD

It doesn’t take long for McDermott to
direct the conversation back to CSEA — his
most consuming concern.

August 141988

He plans to get out and speak to members

and staff, so that he clearly understands the
problems and can take advantage of the
ideas in the field.

“T go to other peoples’ offices as often as
they come to mine,” he said. “It lets me
know what’s going on around here. I can’t
come in here at eight o’clock in the morning
and lock myself up in this office and expect
to know what’s happening in this union.”

In fact he’s planning to travel to all the
regions with the other three officers,
Executive Vice President Danny Donohue,
Secretary Irene Carr and Treasurer Mary
Sullivan.

“J think our employees and our elected
people have a lot of good ideas and a lot to
offer. I’m willing to listen,” he said. ‘‘We
represent so many different constituencies
and jobs out there that we couldn’t begin as
individual officers to understand the work-
related problems and personal problems of
the members unless we do get out and talk
to them.”

THE FUTURE

That’s important in a world that is
changing so quickly, McDermott pointed
out. The union must continue to meet those
changing needs.

“CSEA represents people from the cradle
to the grave,’’ McDermott said. ‘“‘We’re
concerned about our members’ children,
about their parents, about what’s going to
happen to our members after they leave
service. You have to look at all those issues
as they socially impact on people, as they
financially impact on people.

“The members need to know that the
union cares about them and their problems
and the future,” he continued. “‘We have to .
look to the future here.”

McDermott is planning to appoint the
“Committee for the 21st Century” to do just
that.

“This union is going to be around when I
leave. I hope it’s going to be stronger and
better. It’s important that we begin to look
at what this union is going to be in the 21st
century,”’ he said. ‘‘It’s close, awfully close.
I probably won’t be around as a union
leader in the 21st century, but I want to
make sure that the union is ready for it.”

THE PUBLIC SECTOR 1 1

Snafu leaves pay raises weeks away .

The state Legislature should finally stop “We are tired of being used while they try leaving 110,000 CSEA members hanging in
playing volleyball with what should have to balance the budget. .. I feel as others do, _ limbo. This is an insult to dedicated state
been a routine pay bill when members of the that we should collect interest on our employees.”
state Assembly return to Albany next week. money. . .” In addition to the 5 percent increase

Administrative problems and delays in the Another member sent a copy of a letter retroactive to June, employees will also get
legislature means CSEA-represented state she wrote to her state senator. a 5 percent hike next April and a 5.5 percent
workers will have to wait even longer before “The Senate left Albany for its vacation increase in April 1990.

receiving their retroactive pay increases
contained in new contracts negotiated by
CSEA with the state.

Typographical errors in a pay bill passed
July 16 by the Assembly rendered the bill
useless and the Assembly is expected to
quickly pass a corrected version when
members return from an extended summer
recess on Aug. 23. Members of the state
Senate, which skipped town in July without
considering the pay bill, returned for a brief
session in early August and passed the bill.

The state Comptroller’s office will begin
processing the 5 percent pay increases
retroactive to June once the pay bill is
passed and signed but that is a lengthy
process. The state Comptroller has yet to
announce specific dates when the increases
will appear in employee paychecks.

Delay angers union, members

The long wait for CSEA members to
receive their negotiated pay increase,
caused in part by legislative delays in
passing the pay bill, angered union officials
and members alike. CSEA mounted a
campaign to have members call and write
legislators to complain about the delays. cit a ie : ii

Among the many letters from CSEA EMPLOYEES OF THE VALLEY HEALTH SERVICES (VHS) nursing home and health care

members received at union headquarters facility in Herkimer will be voting Aug. 25 and 26 in an NLRB-supervised election to decide e
was one which said, “I am writing in whether to join CSEA. More than 150 non-union workers are eligible to vote at the facility

disgust of what is happening with the pay between 2-4 p.m. Aug. 25 and 6:30-8:30 a.m. Aug. 26. CSEA will sponsor a “Meet The Union”

raise we are yet to get. night program for VHS employees from 5-10 p.m. Aug. 23 at Thurston, Frankfort.

DON’T BUY CALIFORNIA TABLE GRAPES!

Support the campaign to unionize farm workers «

CSEA has joined with its international McDermott recently asked CSEA local presidents statewide to
union, AFSCME, in urging members to not organize teams of volunteers to visit all supermarkets in their area
purchase California table grapes as a and ask store managers to remove California grapes from their

demonstration of support for efforts to stores.

9%, unionize farm workers. “Farm workers in the California vineyards work under awful

} © “Cesar Chavez and his United Farm conditions,” McDermott said. ‘‘They suffer from abnormally high

Workers (UF W) union are engaged in a incidence of cancer and birth defects resulting from long-term
literal life-and-death struggle with California exposure to deadly pesticides used on grapes in the field. Some of °
grape growers in an effort to improve those poisons don’t wash off and unwary consumers purchase
working conditions for farm workers and grapes with a health-threatening residue.”
stop the poisoning of grapes sent to
market,” said CSEA President Joe While gains are being made on behalf of farm workers in some
McDermott. agricultural areas, California grape growers continue to resist all
“Until grape growers recognize the rights of efforts to unionize farm workers. The UFW wants to allow free and
farm workers, the very least we can do is to fair union representation elections, ban the use of the five deadliest
show our support for their cause by refusing to _ pesticides used on California table grapes, require the testing of
buy California table grapes.” grapes for pesticide residue before shipping to market, and create
UFW President Chavez began an unconditional water-only fast good faith collective bargaining throughout the California ®

on July 16 to dramatize the struggles of farm workers. As this issue agricultural industry.
of The Public Sector went to press Chavez was continuing his fast

despite severe weight loss and danger to his health, according to a “They need our help, the help of labor people everywhere and
doctor who recently examined him. the help of all decent, caring Americans,” McDermott said. ‘‘Not

CSEA President McDermott and AFSCME International buying California table grapes is one way we can make a ;
President Gerald W. McEntee have both telegraphed messages of difference. We can get by without grapes as long as we have to, but
encouragement and support to Chavez on behalf of their the California growers cannot get along without consumers very
memberships. long.”

e

1 2 THE PUBLIC SECTOR August 15, 1988

—————————————rrrrrrrlrearnereES

ENGINEERS

By Lilly Gioia
CSEA Communications Associate

QUEENS — Sweltering their way through
summer’s sizzling hot spells, most folks
don’t generally stop to think about where

vital services in state buildings come from; ,

services like lights, air conditioning or heat.
@ Jf suddenly there is no more cool air

conditioning in summer, or no heat in

winter, only then they might take notice.

“Hardly anyone ever goes down to the
basement or power plant to see what’s going
on down there,” says SUNY Maritime
College Professor Aaron Kramer, a staunch
advocate for better training of power plant
workers. Kramer is one of the architects
behind a new “Casualty Control Program’’

@ for stationary engineers that is being
sponsored by the CSEA/State Joint
Apprenticeship Committee.

Charged with maintaining over 5,200
buildings, the state’s stationary engineers
have very critical jobs requiring a high
degree of technical knowledge, noted Joint
Apprenticeship Committee Program
Administrator Paul McDonald.

“There is a definite need to train workers

@ how to prevent explosions and loss of life,”
McDonald pointed out, reflecting an a recent
boiler room accident at Brooklyn’s
Downstate Medical Center where scalding
steam burned SEA members.

According to McDonald, the Casualty
Control Program not only enhances the
skills of stationary engineers, but builds on
knowledge about handling boiler room
emergencies. The course not only protects

@ the workers, but the public as well, he
emphasized.

The 64 stationary engineers from Long Is-
land’s StonyBrook University to Buffalo
Psychiatric Center who have attended so far
give the course great reviews.

“It was excellent training,” said Gerald
DeGaray, assistant stationary engineer and
CSEA member in Local 428 at Willard
Psychiatric Center in Seneca. “‘The
expertise shown by the instructors was the
best I have ever encountered; they really
know their business.”

DeGaray said the course included studies
of casualty situations like overheating
boilers, loss of power, kicking in emergency
generators or using stand-by pumps to keep
water in the boilers. Calling the teachers
“fountains of knowledge,” he hailed the

@ quality of the instructors from both
Maritime College and the Marine Safety
Institute at LaGuardia Airport, where
simulators provided actual hands-on
experience.

Having spent 17 years of his previous
military career as a bomb disposal sergeant
with his own bomb squad, DeGaray can
appreciate high quality training for quick-

pcan an a a a Na AC ET

August 15, 1988

STATIONARY Keeping it all together in

boiler rooms,

sii

Supervisor Walter Nelson.

'E at New York’s LaGuar
stationary engineers experience advanced training. In
the foreground, Professor Luciano Germano explains
technical points. From left are Kingshoro Psychiatric
Center Local 402 member Ed Clohessy, Mid-Hudson
Psychiatric Center Local 448 member Thomas
Kerrigan and SUNY Maritime Professor and Training j

power plants

TY
Airport helps

thinking whether it’s a bomb or a boiler
about to explode.

“In our boiler room we had one boiler
blow out a few years ago, buckling out the
sides of the boiler with the pressure,” said
24-year veteran stationary engineer Ed
Clohessy, a CSEA member who works at
Brooklyn’s Kingsboro Psychiatric Center
power plant.

“Tn an emergency you can’t get into a
panic and you have to know what to do,” he
stressed. “If one thing doesn’t work, this
training showed you what else you can do to
avert various emergency situations.”

Expressing a desire to take additional
training for air conditioning technology,
Clohessy observed that the ‘‘better you know
your job, the easier it is for everybody else.
The less money it costs the state when you
know what you are doing.”

The highly successful Casualty Control
Program, jointly funded by participating
agencies and the CSEA/State Joint
Apprenticeship Committee, is currently
training stationary engineers from the state

Office of General Services, the Office of
Mental Health, the Office of Mental

Retardation, the State University system
and the state Department of Corrections.

Reflecting on the quality of union/state
training programs for operational
employees, Gerard DeGaray recalled joining
state service in July 1982 as a power plant
helper after 22 years service in the Army.

“T later became an assistant stationary
engineer and am half-way through the
apprentice training to be a full stationary
engineer a year from this coming
December.

“T was over 40 with a degree when the
state hired me and I told them if they did,
they would get two things from me,
punctuality and loyalty.” Priding himself on
his dependability on the job, DeGaray is
enthusiastic about becoming a full
stationery engineer soon and now feels even
more confident of his ability to act swifty
and correctly in the event of any power

plant emergencies.

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

CONGRESS
OF HANDICAPABLE
EMPLOYEES IN STATE SERVICE

The Congress of Handicapable Employees in State
Service (CHESS) seeks to improve the quality of
worklife for disabled persons who are employed in
state government. CHESS was founded in 1981 during
the International Year of the Disabled. From its
beginning CHESS has been a leading advocate for the
rights of the disabled.

By Lilly Gioia
CSEA Communications Associate

More than 800,000 working-age residents of New York state have
disabilities. Some people are disabled from birth while the vast
majority — 80 percent — of people with disabilities acquire them
during their adult years.

An estimated 600,000 workers nationwide become disabled each
year, having to leave work on long-term disability. Only about half
of them will return to work. Here in New York an estimated two-
thirds of the disabled are not working.

Many of those disabled people who are working are employed
by the state, and of those, several recently participated in the 1988
annual Convention of CHESS at the World Trade Center in New
York City. CHESS is the Congress of Handicapable Employees in
State Service, founded in 1981 as an advocate organization for
disabled state employees.

Joe Montalvo, a claims examiner with the state Crime Victims
Board and a member of New York City State Employees CSEA
Local 010, was among the convention participants. Montalvo doesn’t
mince words when it comes to equal rights for disabled workers.

“Disabled employees are conscientious; they have to be,”
Montalvo said. “‘You’re always under a microscope with others
watching so you’ve got to produce.

“Unless you have a family member or went to school with a
disabled person, or perhaps have a friend or acquaintance who is
disabled, you don’t necessarily project yourself into that kind of
situation or think of being disabled yourself,” he pointed out.

Many people refuse
to let disabilities
stand in their way

AMONG DELEGATES attending the annual convention of CHESS was
Gerald Gollinger, left, a disabled CSEA member of New York State Public
Service Commission Local 450. :

‘i4

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

onvention

CHESS MEMBERS register for the organization’s 1988 annual convention in e

New York. Each arrived with one or more forms of disability

overshadowed by their sense of pride in overcoming their disabilities to

become productive members of society.

Frances G. Berko of the state Office of Advocate for the
Disabled told convention delegates that ‘qualified workers with
disabilities must not be overcome by the rejection we have all
experienced. Fortunately, the industrial age is dead.”’ She noted
that in today’s competitive workplace employees need different
characteristics such as creativity, self-direction, self-responsibility
and education.

The new computer/information age ushers in a ‘‘window of
opportunity for persons with disabilities that has never existed in all
of history,” Berko maintained.

CHESS delegates arrived at the convention on crutches, with
canes, accompanied by seeing-eye dogs, sitting in wheelchairs and
wearing hearing aids and leg braces. Other disabilities are not as
visible, such as heart conditions, hearing or vision impairments,
epilepsy or breathing impairments.

CHESS members attending the annual convention received
copies on a new state Supervisor’s Guide titled “Working With
People With Disabilities.”” The manual was partially funded by
negotiated monies through the CSEA/State Joint Labor/Manage-
ment Committee on Worklife and Productivity.

Delegates were reminded that as recently as 1970 people with
disabilities had few rights. In 1973 Congress passed the landmark
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which provides equal
employment opportunities. Executive Order 6 signed by Gov. Mario
Cuomo in 1983 assures “‘full and equal opportunity for minorities,
women, disabled persons and Vietnam-era veterans at all
occupational levels of state work.”

A 1986 poll by Louis Harris showed 90 percent of employers
rated the performances of workers with disabilities as good to
excellent. Polls also show disabled workers as reliable, punctual,
hard-working individuals who do their jobs as well as or better than
employees without disabilities.

And Peter Elmendorf, director of the Division of Policy Analysis
for the state Department of Civil Service, reminded CHESS
members that they may file discrimination complaints if they have
been denied reasonable accomodations at their worksites.

- ‘August 15, 1988

Not surprisingly, his pet peeve is
people who park in handicapped spaces

‘because I’ve been through it
myself, believe me, I know

Joe Montalvo is a 42-year-old CSEA member stricken with polio at age seven. The th te 9
lifelong Manhattan resident, a claims examiner for the past ined years with the state e sys m
Crime Victims Board, understands well the issues of disabled workers. He spent two
years in an iron lung and is confined to a wheelchair.

Montalvo is highly motivated to advancing himself within state service and
believes networking with other disabled CSEA members should be intensified and
facilitated by his union. CSEA statewide President Joe McDermott agrees, and has
pledged to work to protect and expand the rights of disabled workers.

NEW YORK — Joe Montalvo’s alarm clock blasts off every morning at 5 a.m. to
enable him to beat the New York City rush-hour traffic and arrive for work at the
Crime Victims Board offices between 6:30 and 7 a.m.

Montalvo uses a van equipped with a wheelchair lift. He says his pet peeve is people
without disabilities who park in designated handicapped parking areas.

“T have gotten into several heated exchanges with people who park in those spaces,
especially when I hear my son asking me, ‘Dad, why do people park there?””’ Montalvo
said. He said he becomes incensed when perfectly healthy drivers prevent those with
very limited range of movement from using designated parking spaces.

“In Florida the fine for parking in a disabled parking space is $200. Here it’s only
$10,” he noted.

Montalvo applauds a program in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County, in which
volunteers take pictures of parking violators and the photos are used as evidence
to issue $35 summonses. The money generated will be used to fund an
employment program for disabled persons, he said.

Montalvo is very conscientious about his job, not only arriving early
but frequently staying late. When it comes to assisting innocent victims
of criminals, especially those disabled by criminal violence, he said he is
effective because he “‘knows the system.

“I know where to tap sources to help them. From my own
experience I know what red tape is all about. I know where to get
information and services and what happens at the Office of
Vocational Rehabilitation. Because I’ve been through it myself,
believe me, I know the system,” he said.

Montalvo readily agrees much has been done in recent
years to raise public awareness of people with disabilities, but
believes much more should be done.

“Let’s roll up our sleeves because there’s still a lot of
unfinished business when it comes to career development for
New York’s disabled workforce,”’ he stated.

CSEA to maintain
leadership role

for disabled

CSEA President Joe McDermott has pledged his union will
maintain a leadership role in protecting the rights of working people
with disabilities.

“CSEA will continue to be in the forefront of efforts to protect
and expand the rights of disabled workers and to improve
workplace accessibility so they may gain greater independence in
their lives,’ promised McDermott.

“We have an obligation to do everything we can to help people
overcome obstacles to reach their potential.”

August 15, 1988 THE PUBLIC SECTOR 1 5

CSEA rips SUNY New Paltz
for giving member “raw deal’’

Wk

mT

By Anita Manley
CSEA Communications Associate

NEW PALTZ — CSEA says SUNY
officials are harrassing a 10-year veteran
employee of SUNY New Paltz who suffers
from allergies irritated by pollutants in the
air of buildings on campus.

“There appears to be a continual
harrassment of Gayle Weisberg,” charged
SUNY New Paltz CSEA Local 610 President
Diane Lucchesi.

“She’s getting a raw deal and we'll fight it
all the way,” Lucchesi pledged. She said
SUNY officials have filed notices of
discipline against Weisberg, threatened her
with termination from her job and placed
her on half-pay because of physical
problems associated with allergies.

Weisberg had complained that allergies
activated by pollutants in the unventillated
Smiley Arts Building on campus make it
physically impossible for her to work in that
building.

Weisberg’s personal physician has
certified she suffered hypersensitive
reactions to pollutants in the building. An
inspection by representatives of the state
Department of Labor in June, requested by
CSEA, revealed serious problems in the
Smiley Arts Building which would cause
allergic reactions in anyone who was
hypersensitive to certain pollutants.

Weisberg, who works a ‘“‘split assignment’
for two departments in two buildings, had
been required to work part of each day in
the Smiley Arts Building. After suffering
physical ailments, she refused to work in
that building upon advice of her physician.
SUNY officials served her with a notice of
discipline.

She has been assigned for a half-day to an
office used by Empire State College, but
there are apparent health problems
associated with that location also.

Lucchesi said that when Weisberg first
reported to that office she immediately
began to suffer from symptoms of her
allergies again.

“The office is right over a room with oil
tanks,” Lucchesi said, adding a photo-copy
machine and chemicals in the office add to
Weisberg’s discomfort. Additionally,
according to Lucchesi, the building is poorly
maintained.

College officials recently served Weisberg
with three notices of discipline. They charge
she:

1) violated her split assignment from
September 1987 until February 1988 (the
period that Weisberg was assigned to the
Smiley Arts Building but, with
documentation from her physician of serious
allergic problems and advice not to enter
the building, she refused to work there);

2) Weisberg refused to report to work at
the Empire State College office; and

3) Weisberg refused to report to the
Employee Health Services office (Weisberg
did report to the office as directed but
refused to submit to certain procedures of a
physical examination covered in a report

16

THE PUBLIC SECTOR

‘We proved that
the building -
was dangerous’

State Department of Labor investigators
found five violations of the Occupational
Health and Safety Act when they
inspected the Smiley Arts Building in
June. The inspection was prompted by a
complaint by CSEA Local 610 President
Diane Lucchesi after member Gayle
Weisberg was served with a notice of
discipline for refusing to work in that
building.

Not the least of those violations was a
faulty exhaust system in the building.

“There was a distinct possibility that
material being exhausted from the
building was being recirculated (through
the building),”’ according to the c
Department of Labor report. Investigators
also found unsafe lead accumulations in
clay dust in a pottery studio.

The college has been ordered to clean
up the building and repair the exhaust
system before classes resume next month.

Se

GAYLE WEISBERG suffered several health
problems after working in the Smiley Arts
Building.

Lucchesi said the findings were no
surprise to her. She noted that several
employees had requested transfers out of
the Smiley Building because of illnesses
caused by pollutants in the building.

“We proved that the building was
dangerous,” said Lucchesi. “I think that’s
enough evidence that Gayle is being
unfairly singled out.” J

from her personal physician as to problems

she experienced in connection with her

assignment in the Smiley Arts Building).
Lucchesi said college officials warned

Weisberg that if she refused to report to the
Empire College office she will be accused of

job abandonment, which carries a penalty of
dismissal. SUNY officials have already
implemented a directive that Weisberg be
placed on half-pay, which reduces her
income and ultimately affects her
retirement benefits.

August 15, 1988

Lewis County
scholarship

total tops
$23,000

LOWVILLE — For the 12th consecutive
year, CSEA Lewis County Local 825 has
awarded scholarships to outstanding sons
and daughters of its members.

The five 1988 awards bring the grand
total to $23,200, a crowning achievement
for a CSEA Local with less than 400
members.

Perfetto

Beaver River Central School. He is also a
member of the National Honor Society and
the gifted and talented program. He was
active in band, chorus and musicals
during high school, and hopes to pursue a
career in physical science. His mother,
Susan, is employed as a laboratory
technician at Lewis County General

Sweet Lyndaker

According to scholarship co- Hospital. Rita Bero,
chairpersons LaVonne Allen and Donna president of Local
Cooper, the 1988 winners were selected by JULIA SWEET, daughter of Thomas 825, extended best
evaluation of academic achievement, and Wendy Sweet, of Lowville isa wishes for successful
school and community activities and graduate of Lowville Academy. She is a careers to the
financial need. Each winner received a National Honor Society member and was winners
check for $500 to be used for further active in sports and music while in school. congratulated the
education. She plans to major in chemistry at parents, and on

THE 1988 AWARD WINNERS Rochester Institute of Technology. Wendy —_ehaif of CSEA

LEANN LYNDAKER, daughter of Sweet is a registered nurse at Lewis members in Local

Christian and Fern Lyndaker, Lowville, is
a graduate of Beaver River Central
School. A National Honor Society member,
as well as being enrolled in the Gifted and
Talented Education Program, Leann has
been active in sports, music and
cheerleading. She plans to major in
business management at Syracuse
University. Her mother, Fern, is a
registered nurse at Lewis County General
Hospital.

JASON PERFETTO, son of J. Susan
Reutling of Castorland, is a graduate of

County General Hospital.

graduate of Lowville Academy. His school
achievements include president of
National Honor Society, class vice
president, and varsity soccer team.
captain. He plans to attend Niagara
University as a four-year ROTC student
majoring in pre-law. His mother, Patricia,
is also a registered nurse at Lewis County
General Hospital.

Scholarship time

825, issued special

7 : thanks to the
ANDREW KRAEGER, son of Dennis : ie
and Patricia Kraeger, of Lowville, is a aed commit

Bero said.

CSEA takes special pride in its annual scholarship awards at the local, regional
and statewide levels to the deserving children of members. The awards recognize

outstanding academic achievement and help defray the high cost of a college

education.

In this edition of The Public Sector, we present the winners in two excellent
local programs. In a future edition we will present the 18 recipients of CSEA’s
statewide Irving Flaumenbaum Scholarships. Winners of those scholarships have

been notified.

CANTON — Continuing a tradition that has
surpassed the quarter-century mark, St. Lawrence
County Local 845 recently announced the names of its
two 1988 scholarship awards. Both winners received
increased awards of $400 at their high school
graduation ceremonies.

THE 1988 WINNERS

JAMES CRUIKSHANK, son of John Cruikshank,
of Lisbon, is a graduate of Lisbon Central School. He
plans to attend SUNY Potsdam and major in Liberal
Arts. His father is employed by the St. Lawrence
County Department of Weights and Measures.

JEREMY SCHWARTZ, son of Verna Schwartz of
Canton, is a graduate of Canton Central School, and
will attend Tufts University to major in science.
Verna Schwartz works for the County Department of
Social Services.

St. Lawrence County Winners

Speaking for scholarship committee members
Dick Reno, Key Walton, Joan Whitmarsh and Ada
Warner, Chairperson Linda Todd said the two winning
finalists were selected after careful screening of
candidates submitted by parents or guardians from
within all units of Local 845.

“We had 17 entries, but the committee’s careful
selection narrowed down to two candidates with the
combination of high academic achievement, good
community service record and financial need.”

“T would like to personally thank the members of
the committee for their effort. And I also want to
encourage St. Lawrence County students to work and
look forward to those 1989 awards. We have increased
the scholarships from $300 to $400 each to help
with the higher costs of college education,” Todd said.

WENDY NORTZ, daughter of Ronald
Nortz and Susan Gyore, of Glenfield, is a
graduate of South Lewis High School and
was active in sports, cheerleading, and
served as senior editor of the yearbook.
Her mother, Susan is a registered nurse at
Lewis County General Hospital.

“For 12 years we have continued to
show our sincere concern for deserving
children of CSEA members in Lewis
County by helping with their pursuit of
more education. We hope these financial
awards will encourage other students to
work for scholarships in future years,”

Kraeger

Schwartz

August 15, 1988

CAMERA CLOSE-UPS

DAVID BLOOM LINDA FRANCIS KATHY CORDONE LINDA SCHRIMPE

Ontario County New York City State Tioga County Suffolk County
Local 835 Employees Local 010 Local 854 Educational Local 870
Region VI Region IT Region V Region I

“He’s only four “Now that my teen- “Tn July they attend “My son’s 19 and
months old, but my age daughter is of age a recreation program he’s working now
wife, Anne, takes our to obtain a learner’s sponsored by Newark putting in above-
son, Casey, to permit, her first Valley School System. ground pools. My son is
Canandaigua Lake priority is learning to Other than my August a hustler!”
Beach every day. He’s drive. This summer’s vacation time, I use a
the only four-month-old leisure time will be baby sitter.”

with a tan.” spent behind the wheel
of a car learning how
to safely and
competently enjoy the
roadways.”

HELENA A. BROWE
Teachers Retirement
System Local 658
Region IV

“This summer, my
two children, ages 7
and 11, attended a
school program for the
month of July from 9
a.m. to 11 a.m.
everyday. For the rest

of the day, they were RISTIINA WIGG

at home with a Dutchess County
responsible child care Local 814

worker. I also use my Region Tit eter
accumulated vacation My son, Zack, is in
time to travel and do day care and they have
special things with my a wading pool, an
children.” outdoor playground

and a sandbox.”

1 8 THE PUBLIC SECTOR August 15, 1988

@ numbers are listed on page 2.

Book a cruise on the S.S. Newburgh

Newburgh Free Library employee Regina Angelo puts the finishing
touches on a wall hanging made from fabric which is on display in the
library as part of a program to encourage youngsters to read this summer.
Angelo uses her artistic talents to promote the many programs held at the
library as well as projects she is involved in as a councilwoman in the City
of Newburgh. Angelo is a member of Orange County Local 836.

Service is honored
Members of CSEA SUNY Cortland Local 605
recently received awards for 20-25 years of state
service. SUNY Cortland Personnel Director Don
McHugh, standing left, presented the awards on
behalf of President James M. Clark at a campus
luncheon for 54 employees. CSEA honorees included,
seated left to right, Doris Tyler, Donna Mastronardi,
Betty Thomas and Local 605 Secretary Sharon Baker.
Standing, left to right, Don McHugh, Nancy Cove,
Alice Gorman, David Colantonio, Leon Cranson,
Robert Hutchings and Local 605 President Bill
Powers.

| He gets their vote

Custodians in the
Syosset School
District Unit of
CSEA Nassau
Educational Local
865 recently voted to
declare a music
teacher their choice
for a “Teacher of
the Year Award.”

According to Ben
Gummin, a member
of the unit’s
executive board,
“Joe Hassid has
displayed his down-
to-earth attitude by
choosing to take his
coffee breaks and
lunch periods with
custodians and
maintenance
personnel.”’

Hassid was
presented a plaque
by Gummin.

CS=EC Leadership

LOCAl 1000 assignments

AFL a
Between its three AFSCME International Vice Presidents
— CSEA President Joe McDermott, Executive Vice
President Danny Donohue and Region II President George
Boncoraglio — CSEA’s interests will be well represented on
key AFSCME Executive Board Committees.

McDermott will serve on the Finance and International
Affairs committees. Donohue will serve on the Organization
and International Affairs committees, while Boncoraglio will
serve on the Organization and Convention Site committees.

THE PUBLIC SECTOR 19

If you have an item of interest for This, That & the other thing, bring it to
the attention of your CSEA regional communications associate. Their phone

When the exhaust smoke cleared and the controversy was
finally settled at an agency level hearing, SUNY Binghamton
grounds workers, members of Local 648, not only won their out-
of-title grievance, but now have a new title for the backhoe operator
(SG-8 Equipment Operator. )

Local 648 President Bob Goeckel reports it all started when
former steward and president Chuck Eynon filed a grievance in
March 1987 to clarify what was a light tractor and what was heavy
equipment. And where do you draw the line on occasional use?

When CSEA officials finished their ‘‘hoework,”’ the distinctions
were clear. The backhoe is, in fact, a piece of heavy equipment, and
80 percent time use by the gr ‘ounds crew was certainly more than

occasional.
Not only did CSEA involvement gain a new job title, it also
gained back pay for the operator.

August 15, 1988

.

Wyoming County ‘drops ball’
on employee security items

make them feel more secure in their
workplace, many months after those
assurances were made.

the lack of progress,” declared Sandy
Dominissey, president of the Wyoming

County Employees CSEA Unit. ‘After all,

e it’s been about a year since we had the
incident that exposed the utter lack of
security for our members in the Social
Services Building.”

She was referring to an incident last July
when a disgruntled client walked directly
into the building, splashed gasoline down 100
feet of corridors during working hours and

threatened to torch the facility.

While the gasoline was not set afire, the
employees were terrified, and in the rush to
exit the building several reported injuring
themselves as they slipped on the gasoline-
slicked tile floor. The incident also pointed
out the fact that there was no emergency

exit at the south end of the building, the
windows do not open and there is no

By Ron Wofford
CSEA Communications Associate

WARSAW — While some promised safety
measures are in place, Department of Social
Services workers in Wyoming County are
still awaiting completion of others that will

“We may have to reconsider our earlier
decision not to picket and demonstrate over

NO SECURITY IN SIGHT in the lobby of the Wyoming County Social @
Services office. Despite county promises to improve security after several

incidents that threatened the safety of workers, little has been done.

security presence in the building.

Several other incidents, such as a client
threatening DSS workers with-a gun, have
further heightened fears and lowered
morale, according to the Local 861
members.

“We had to lock the doors until help
arrived that time, but clients and workers
alike were very upset. It’s frightening and
dangerous. Two workers have quit because
they couldn’t handle not feeling safe at
work.””

Following the gasoline incident, employees
and union activists including Dominissey,
Social Services steward Sandy Boyd and
Local 861 President Roy “‘Corky”’ Upright
petitioned the Social Services Commissioner
and the county Board of Supervisors to
enact a series of security and safety
measures.

“They were quite receptive to our safety
concerns,” recalled Dominissey. ‘“‘And an
agreement was made to implement our list
of desired security measures. Some of them
are in place, but our members’ safety
should be top priority and there’s been a
breakdown somewhere.”

The completed safety measures include
crash bars on a rear door, installation of an

L

SECURITY IS THEIR PRIORITY — Wyoming County Employees CSEA Unit President Sandy
Dominessy, left, Social Services shop steward Sandy Boyd and Local 861 President Roy
“Corky” Upright discuss the county’s failure to follow-through on needed security measures.

20 THE PUBLIC SECTOR

emergency exit at the building’s south end,
carpeting to eliminate skidding, and in the
support services building next door, a
payment window has been installed where,
previously, anyone could walk directly into
the office.

A major problem
still to be resolved is
the basic issue of a
security presence — a
deputy sheriff, police
officer or security
guard on duty during
working hours.

“They’ve got to
realize this is the
1980s,”’ said social
welfare examiners
Mary Ann Rase and
Michelle Newville, who
both fell during the
gasoline incident.
“Most counties
routinely have a
security contingent
present in their social
services department,
but all we hear is that
the sheriff is resistant
to the idea because
‘there wouldn’t be
enough to keep him
busy’ The sheriff has been lax in protecting -
social service department workers.”

The local officers said they had worked
out an arrangement with the village
assistant police chief to have one of the r)
police patrol cars periodically cruise past
the offices. But that arrangement was halted
by the police chief because the office falls
under the sheriff’s legal jurisdiction.

A direct call-in line to the sheriff’s office
for emergencies has proved unworkable.

“We do a lot for this community,” said
the social workers. ‘And we could do a
much better job if we felt safer.”

MARY ANN RASE

e
‘Our members’ safety
should be a top
priority, but there’s
been a breakdown
somewhere’

°

August 15, 1988