ALBANY, N.Y. — The 120 members of the PEF Executive Board, representing more than 54,000 New York State employees, voted unanimously at their quarterly meeting on March 27 to consider a no-confidence vote against Office of Mental Health (OMH) Commissioner Ann Sullivan when they meet again on June 12.
“The board spoke strongly and in unison because they are sick and tired of the lack of action by Commissioner Sullivan when it comes to addressing conditions in the agency that are leading to violent assaults against PEF members and other staff who work there,” said PEF President Wayne Spence.
The board agreed to draft a resolution before its June meeting that will list all the assaults the union is aware of that have not been addressed. In addition, the union leaders committed to holding rallies and press conferences in the coming months outside facilities where workplace violence is occurring.
Not every assault makes headlines, but since April of last year three people were stabbed at Buffalo Psychiatric Center (PC), a PEF member was struck in the head and spent weeks on a respirator after an attack at South Beach PC on Staten Island in September, and just this month a PEF member was sexually assaulted at Pilgrim PC in Suffolk County.
“PEF members at OMH understand they work in a dangerous setting, but this is not part of the job,” said President Spence. “They care for New Yorkers who really need the services they provide, and it’s time for the State to do everything in their power to protect its workforce.”
PEF is advocating for funding to install body scanners at OMH and other State agencies in this year’s budget and is committed to discussing additional policy changes with OMH that will make all facilities safer.
###
The Public Employees Federation is a labor union representing more than 54,000 professional, scientific, and technical workers in New York State. About 6,700 of those members work at the Office of Mental Health. PEF members work in more than 3,000 different titles – from social workers to nurses to engineers to parole officers, and from Long Island to Buffalo.