Public Sector Employees of New York City and State
By Pamela Vossenas
Program Coordinator
District Council 37, AFSCME
July 29, 2003
My name is Pamela Vossenas. I am a Principal Program Coordinator employed by District Council 37, AFSCME. I was hired on a temporary basis to fill in for another employee who is on leave, to work primarily on gathering testimony for two Hazard Abatement Board hearings - June 9th, Subway Track Worker Safety and June 23, Workplace Violence Safety. I was responsible for coordinating all testimony for the above two hearings from DC 37 and its affiliate unions which included interviewing, drafting testimony, obtaining documents, etc. Additionally, I drafted a resolution in support of a PESH standard on workplace violence to be sponsored by City Councilman James Davis who gave testimony at the Hazard Abatement Board hearing on June 23, 2003.
Four weeks from that day, I eagerly accompanied my co-workers Lee Clarke, Director of Safety and Health; Guille Mejia, Principal Program Coordinator, Safety and Health; and Susan Chin, Political Action, DC 37 to hear Councilman Davis read into the record the workplace violence resolution at City Hall. While there we met a fellow DC 37 staff member, Rudy Orozco, of the Communications Department.
It was my first time at this historic building and I was taking in the architectural details as Guille and I filed into the second row of balcony seats, which is where the public is allowed to sit. My gaze was up high and to the left when I heard a loud boom. I panned to my right until my gaze fixed on a man just a few feet away firing a handgun non-stop and very steadily. Sparks were flying. Guille quickly dragged me down to the ground with her and there we stayed. At least a dozen shots went whizzing by. Then all was silent.
Suddenly from all corners and from the staircase to my left came a half a dozen men in civilian clothes, terror stricken, with their guns drawn yelling, "Nobody fucking move. Put your hands up in the air." I thought to myself, well, if I put my hands up in the air, then I will have to move; I was afraid that the police would kill me. After they scrambled around, they finally came over and asked if we were okay. I knew that Lee and Susan were on their way up the stairs and that Lee must be worried about us. I then heard Lee yell for us from the stairwell and so I yelled back that we were okay.
We were then allowed to stand and as I turned to face the first row, it was then that I saw the bodies of two men on the floor. One face down, dead. The other on his back, emitting a gurgling sound, either of blood escaping or difficulty breathing. Little did I know then that one of them was Councilman Davis.
The entire day was a series of trauma:
The realization that our advocate for a workplace violence PESH standard had just been shot and was dead.
Finding out while waiting with members and staff of the City Council to look at photographs of the suspect, that there was a policy of privilege to allow them to bypass the metal detectors and anyone they invited along with them;
Realizing that there was no security on the balcony, neither uniformed nor plain clothed to serve as a deterrent and to protect the public and anyone else up there. That is why we had to wait for them to come rushing up the stairs, after the fact. This lack of security cost Davis his life and put at risk the lives of the public;
Overhearing one of the City Council staffers say that the reason Davis was in the balcony was to greet "the people from DC 37", namely us. This disturbed me that he was up there because of us, with no security in sight, vulnerable to the killer.
Realizing that there was no uniformed police at the entrance to City Council Chambers to serve as a deterrent and to protect the staff and City Council members who sit on the first floor.
What happened at City Hall on July 23, 2003 is typical of workplace violence incidents, i.e. lack of security by the employer; security measures implemented but not followed by management; the victim, in this case Davis, blamed for his own death. City Hall had a responsibility to protect its employees and members of the public who were there related to work or as visitors. City Hall violated the general duty clause of the PESH standard by not providing a safe workplace free of known and recognized hazards. City Hall as an employer must be held accountable: a full PESH workplace investigation must be done with citations and fines as appropriate. But that is not enough. A date for the next round of Hazard Abatement Board hearings to determine the content of a NY PESH standard on workplace violence must be announced immediately, followed by a swift adoption of such a standard, similar to the one already drafted by a coalition of labor unions, by the New York State Commissioner of Labor.