Page 2 - Work_Force_June_2018

Photo of the Month
PESH issues violation in death of Long Island Region member Stephen Giorgio III
Photo by Jill Asencio
Sandra Darling, right, a licensing serices clerk at the state Liquor Authority, receives assistance from Amrit Singh, CSEA Director of Information Systems, with the new ‘My CSEA’ app as Marjorie Joiner, left, looks on.
See OSH conference coverage, pages 3, 4,10-12.
Get our new My CSEA app
for Android and Apple devices!
on Play Store for Android devices or App Store for Apple devices
or download the MY CSEA app at
cseany.org/mycseaapp
Yonkers shortfall cuts staff, services
The state Public
Employees
Safety and Health
(PESH) Bureau
issued a violation to
the Town of Oyster
Bay for failing to
report on a timely
basis a fatality
following the Dec.
13, 2017 death of
CSEA member Stephen Giorgio III.
On Oct. 30, 2017, Giorgio, 63, was driving a town bus. While the bus
had been stopped, a woman who
was standing outside the vehicle was barred from boarding the bus because she was behaving in what witnesses called a violent, aggressive manner.
The woman threatened Giorgio, who had locked the bus to keep her out. She also attacked the bus with a knife, damaging the bus radiator. Police soon arrived and arrested the woman.
Several hours later, Giorgio, who had appeared to be shaken from the incident, became ill and was admitted to a local hospital, where he passed away on Dec. 13, 2017.
Because the circumstances of the incident were believed to have led to Giorgio’s illness, his death is being treated as an occupational fatality.
PESH is citing the Town of Oyster Bay because the state law states that any “employment accident resulting
in a fatality or hospitalization of employees was not made within
eight hours” of the death or incident. Because Giorgio’s death was not reported to PESH until Jan. 19, 2018, the bureau determined the town was in violation of that part of the statute.
The investigation showed that the town was in compliance with other PESH safety and training standards. Town officials must correct the violation by July 3.
“It’s a tragedy that we lost our union brother and dear friend, Stephen Giorgio,” Town of Oyster Bay Local President Jarvis Brown said. “He
will be missed by all who knew him. This is why it’s so important that we maintain a strong health and safety committee in the workforce and to hold management accountable to our state’s safety and health standards.”
Giorgio III
ALERT
CSEA President Danny Donohue to meet
with Capital Region members
CSEA President Danny Donohue will visit the CSEA Capital Region on Wednesday, June 13. The meetings will be held from noon to 5 p.m. at our Plattsburgh Satellite Office at 6 Booth Dr., Plattsburgh. Please call the satellite office at (518) 563-0761 for an appointment and directions.
2 The Work Force
June 2018
YONKERS — As has happened many times in previous years, Yonkers city leaders are imposing massive layoffs as the city grapples with a huge budget shortfall.
Due to a $45.3 million city budget gap, members of the Yonkers Board
of Education voted May 17 to cut 127 jobs from the CSEA Yonkers School District Unit, including bus monitors, safety officers, clerical workers, school aides and custodial workers. Many non-CSEA positions, including teachers, firefighters and police officers, are also slated for layoffs.
“This is going to cripple our school system because we’re already at bare bones,” said Unit President Lionel Turner.
Turner said he and his members
are outraged that after just recently ratifying a fair contract, they are now being asked to make concessions. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano was quoted in local media stating that he won’t support exceeding the state tax cap
to help make up the shortfall without
givebacks from city unions.
“We’ve already made concessions,”
Turner said. “The city apparently knew this was coming. These shortfalls have become a pattern for the city. Blaming the unions is wrong. Our unit is strong and united, and we’re going to keep fighting for our members.”
Yonkers is one of the state’s Big 5 school districts; these districts are in cities with over 125,000 residents in which school funding comes via city budgets. That funding structure has been a source of repeated financial crises over the years.
“We will not allow the Yonkers Board of Education and the city to continue treating us in this manner,” said Yonkers Public Schools Unit 3rd Vice President Yvonne Couto, a bus monitor, to elected officials at a city budget forum. “How much do our students, CSEA members and teachers have to give up on a yearly basis? What more can you possibly take away?”
— Jessica Ladlee