Not for Women Only
When Violence Leaves Home
A labor/management agreement in Los Angeles breaks ground on domestic violence
Los Angeles
Two members of Alice Goff's local were murdered early last year -- one by a husband, one by an ex-boyfriend. In the months leading up to their deaths, workplace policies had offered these women little help or support.
Goff, who is president of Local 3090 (Council 36), helped change those policies. She served on a labor/management team that crafted a domestic violence policy affecting the 700 workers in the Los Angeles city attorney's office, 300 of them AFSCME members.
The policy, which went into effect last fall and is now considered part of the office's collective bargaining agreement, offers workers training and counseling. Its provisions on discipline and security are groundbreaking.
"Most of the time people don't know who to turn to," Goff said. With this policy, "they might be more willing to take that first step."
Recognizing that these women are crime victims, AFSCME persuaded the city attorney's office to treat problems arising from domestic violence with support, rather than discipline.
Cheryl Parisi, a Council 36 staff rep active in negotiating the policy, said, "The last thing you want to do if you're trying to help a victim of domestic violence is threaten her economic independence."
New security measures include approval of transfer and leave time requests for victims and restricted disclosure of personal information. The policy provides guidelines for establishing a worker as a victim of domestic violence.
Getting Started. City Attorney James Hahn initiated this process. He came to the 4,000-member local last spring with a rough draft of the proposal. Both he and Alana Bowman, a lawyer in Hahn's office who worked closely with the union on this policy, felt that labor unions should be an important part of formulating the new policy.
"Unions can identify the issues we haven't heard yet," Bowman said, "the day-to-day issues that might come up at a union meeting or in a grievance or a conversation."
While violence in this country occurs more frequently in the home than anywhere else, the effects of domestic violence don't stop at the threshold. Domestic violence can come to work in the form of frequent absences, lost productivity, increased health care costs and workplace violence.
Goff and her colleagues plan on taking their policy to the L.A. City Council -- they want to see it cover all city workers.
What Can Unions Do?
- Labor/Management Efforts can include negotiating employer-paid legal assistance for use by victims, or working with the personnel department to ensure that procedures are in place to prevent a victim's telephone number and address from being given out to an estranged partner.
- Public Awareness Campaigns make abuse an issue. You can invite speakers, show films, and put information on help for batterers and the work of community-based organizations in your union newsletter. You can also post the phone number of the shelter or hotline on employee bulletin boards and in restrooms where permitted.
- Work with Shelters, hotlines and other community sources. Bring materials from these resources into the workplace. Actively support your local women's shelters -- and if there aren't any, use union organizational skills to get one started.
- Union Training can ensure that members know where to refer co-workers for assistance, help women become more confident by running assertiveness training workshops, and provide information about domestic violence as part of steward training.
Further information and resources are available in English and in Spanish. Write or call AFSCME's Women's Rights Department, 1625 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-5687, (202) 429-5090.
