ALBANY — Highway workers dodging speeding traffic. DMV employees facing harassment from frustrated customers. Child protective workers entering homes without knowing what dangers await.
Those were some of the stories CSEA members shared with lawmakers during a recent two-day lobbying effort at the state Capitol.
CSEA members employed by state Department of Transportation, Department of Motor Vehicles, county departments of social services and 911 call centers urged legislators to pass workplace safety measures and other legislative priorities this session.
Protecting highway workers
Work zone intrusions, harassment, injuries and deaths mean highway workers risk their lives to make roads safer. CSEA is urging legislation to increase penalties for speeding through work zones and violating the Move Over Law, and expand the Work Zone Camera Program.
CSEA activists employed at DOT shared their stories with legislators.
Southern Tier State Employees Local President Andrew Maroney said police presence deters speeding motorists. “Drivers respect the red and blue,” said Maroney. “They don’t respect the amber.”
Transportation Region 8 Local President Darryl Evans-Williams described hostility from passing motorists. “[Motorists] throw stuff, yell and curse,” said Evans-Williams.
Keith Cipperly, a Transportation Region 1, Rensselaer County Residency Unit member, was working the day Robert Bornt died following a work zone intrusion in Pittstown.
Cipperly also told legislators about speeding drivers who escape consequences.
“We had a Tesla zip through on I-90 at 112 mph,” said Cipperly. “The cops said they were moving too fast to catch them.”
Reducing harassment
State Department of Motor Vehicles (New York City) Local President Benjamin Greene, State Department of Motor Vehicles (Region 2) Local member Michael Ko, Dutchess County Unit Secretary and DMV worker Steve Rifenburg, and Motor Vehicle (Albany) Local President and CSEA Statewide Legislative and Political Action Committee Chair Cindy Stiles discussed with lawmakers the need for legislation that would increase penalties for assaulting or harassing DMV workers while on the job.
Each described verbal and physical harassment from customers, noting frustration often stems from long wait times caused by understaffing. Meanwhile, continued harassment drives staff away, worsening understaffing.
Urging for panic buttons
Department of Social Services (DSS) workers urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would create additional safety protections such as panic buttons
Nassau County Local 2nd Vice President Donna Worsley-Hines, Erie County Social Services Section President Renee O’Neill, Saratoga County Unit Vice President Ron Woodbeck, Cortland County Unit President Melissa Norton, and Orange County Unit Secretary Shanea Butts, all of whom work in Child Protective Services (CPS) in their respective counties, shared situations where a panic button could have immediately alerted emergency services.
Woodbeck said CPS workers often enter homes with only a name badge and little information about what they may face.
“We have families we want to go home to,” said Woodbeck. “These panic buttons would give us the extra layer of security and safety.”
O’Neill shared a co-worker’s harrowing experience during a domestic violence home visit.
“Situations are real,” said O’Neill. “It’s unpredictable what we’re walking into.”
In Westchester County, panic buttons and other procedures were brought forward after the murder of CSEA member and Westchester County caseworker Maria Coto in May 2024.
During Lobby Day, members met with state Sen. Peter Harckham, who has proposed two pieces of legislation in Coto’s memory that aim to create additional protections for CPS workers, including panic buttons.
Norton works with homeless individuals and often enters hotel rooms to conduct welfare checks.
“If you walk into a hotel room, the door gets shut behind you, and you have no way out,” said Norton. “Being able to push one thing would get you help. Having access to emergency services rapidly is lifesaving. Going home at the end of the day is our right as caseworkers, it is not a privilege.”
Emergency response
Emergency call center responders from throughout the state urged lawmakers to pass “25-and-out” legislation, which would create a pathway to retirement for 911 call center operators after 25 years on the job.
CSEA members spoke with legislators about challenges that call center operators face. Members described stress that leads to high turnover burnout and, in some cases, suicide. They compared their work to police and firefighting jobs that offer earlier retirement due to stress.
“Do you really want someone who has been working for 35 years and is burned out picking up the phone when you’re having an emergency?” said Kelly Martucci, executive vice president of the Nassau County Police Communications Operators Unit. “To you, it’s an emergency. To them, it could be another call they have to get through to get to someone else who needs help even more.”
Also lobbying were Danielle Davidson, Nassau County Police Communications Operators Unit president; Brian McMillan, Westchester County Unit member; Mike Hennessey Jr., Town of Colonie Unit “D” president, Mike Woolever, Broome County Unit 1st vice president and Shawn Mills, Steuben County Correctional Officers, Dispatchers and Court Security Officer Unit member.
Members noted that police officers and firefighters are given early retirement packages, yet they could complete their work without dispatchers or call center operators who are on the front line and who often have the incredibly stressful job of keeping callers calm in difficult situations while help arrives.
— Therese Assalian, Mathew L. Cantore and Alexandra Whitbeck