Page 5 - Work Force June 2024

June 2024 5
The Work Force
Union pushing for change amid workplace violence
BUFFALO — CSEA is pushing the
state for positive change after three
workers at Buffalo Psychiatric Center
were attacked
On April 3, Calvin Haskins, a
patient at the Buffalo Psychiatric
Center, attacked and stabbed three
workers at the facility, including a
CSEA member who was seriously
injured.
All three workers are recovering,
but the incident called to light
shortcomings in the approach to
security at these types of facilities.
“We are working closely with
the New York State Office of Mental
Health (OMH) and they recognize
something has to change,” said CSEA
Buffalo Psychiatric Center Local
President Lovette Mootry. “We may
not know what that [change] is yet,
but we’re all committed to working
on it together because we cannot
continue to do
business as we are
today.”
Mootry noted
that OMH recently
hired a health and
safety director just
to address issues
and incidents
such as this
one. That new
director was one of the people on
the ground when the state Public
Employee Safety and Health (PESH)
Bureau performed the inspection in
response to the incident.
As this edition went to press,
PESH is continuing to investigate the
incident.
Mootry said that whatever
changes are made will have to be
initiated throughout New York State
by OMH.
“What happened at my facility
could happen at any facility,” said
Mootry. “In this case, one of the
people assaulted was our [union]
member and more staff, but it just
as easily could have been another
patient who lived at the residence.”
Mootry said that there are a
number of approaches to consider,
such as adjusting the staffing ratio
for outpatient clients by creating
positions, working with local law
enforcement on incident response
and updating security policies and
procedures.
“It’s challenging because these
patients are in transitional living,”
said Mootry. “They shouldn’t feel
like they’re in jail, but we should still
have security measures in place to
protect everyone.”
“Our thoughts are with the victims
of this stabbing as they recover,”
said CSEA Western
Region President
Steve Healy. “I
applaud the CSEA
leadership at
Buffalo Psychiatric
Center for their
swift and caring
response in the
moment and
their follow-up in
making sure real changes are made
to prevent an incident like this from
occurring in the future.”
Mootry, who also serves as CSEA
Statewide Committee Chair for
Labor-Management for the Office
of Mental Health, continues to
participate in labor-management
meetings with the OMH to address
these and other workplace concerns.
— Mathew L. Cantore
Mootry Healy
In addition to endorsements in two key
congressional primaries (see pages 6 and 7), CSEA
has made endorsements in several contested state
legislative primary races.
Make your voice heard by voting in the Primary
Election. Make a plan to vote!
Primary Day is June 25 – get out to vote!
GET
OUT
THE
VOTE
cseany.org/vote
Long Island Region:
Senate District 6 - Siela Bynoe
Metropolitan Region:
Assembly District 35 – Larinda Hooks
Assembly District 37 – Johanna Carmona
Assembly District 54 – Erik Dilan
Assembly District 68 – Eddie Gibbs
Assembly District 69 – Micah Lasher
Assembly District 70 – Jordan Wright
Assembly District 82 – Michael Benedetto
Southern Region:
Assembly District 103 – Gabi Madden
Assembly District 106 – Didi Barrett
Western Region
Assembly District 137 – Demond Meeks
Assembly District 147 – Mitchell Martin
June 25 is Primary Election Day Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Early Voting will be available June 15 – June 23.
For more information, including where and when to vote, visit cseany.org/vote.
The candidates listed below have been vetted by CSEA’s member-driven endorsement process. Members
had a clear goal of supporting moderate candidates with strong ties to CSEA and other labor unions.