Pataki Sends Police to Attack Injured Workers

October 15, 2002

The sun was shining in Albany on October 15th. A young South Asian woman gently pressed forward a wheel chair containing a smiling elderly Caribbean woman. They joined others walking slowly in the public street that goes past the Governor's Mansion. A carefully hand-painted banner, held aloft by a black teenager and a middle-aged Chinese guy blew in the breeze, proclaiming "Pataki: Hazardous to Workers Health." Bright red, yellow and orange signs bobbed as the crowd of families from Lower Manhattan and injured workers chanted, strolling forward.

Suddenly mayhem. Many did not even know what was happening. Police rode horses into the crowd creating chaos and fear. Assaulting women, they knocked one woman to the ground, trampled the foot of another, and knocked another out of her wheelchair. The cops ignored the protestors' two permits to march and arrested four organizers. One officer tripped and slammed a young woman to the ground then thrust his knee into her back, using all his weight. Clearly, the police did not want injured workers and 9-11 victims to tell the truth about Pataki's dismal record on workers' health.

Pataki had just spent millions to paint himself as a friend of working people and Latinos, convincing many Democrats and unions to back his re-election. He wasn't about to let the truth come out - that working people faced a dramatic decline in health conditions during his first eight years as governor, working longer hours on the job, getting injured, and then waiting for years at a time for their Workers' Compensation benefits and medical treatment. The working people of Lower Manhattan lost jobs, suffered health problems and experienced varying levels of trauma after 9-11. They were victimized again by Pataki's "feed the rich and rob the poor" response to that disaster.

But the police attack backfired. Albany's press swarmed to film the marchers and do interviews. The story was broadcast state-wide on Channel 13. Afterwards the American Civil Liberties Union in Albany got involved. NMASS and the groups that were with us - the New York Unemployment Project, the Chinese Staff & Workers Association, and Workers Awaaz - planned to return to assert our First Amendment right to march and speak out. On October 30th, one group of injured workers and 9-11 victims and their families rallied again at the Governor's Mansion in Albany while another protested at his office in Manhattan at the same time. Civil rights activist Norman Seigel spoke at the Manhattan rally and organizations such as the Greens and Project Reach turned out to support. Four protestors were again arrested for marching in the street outside the Governor's mansion. A day before the election people returned to Albany a third time to protest a Federal Judge's denial of our right to march in Albany. The legal battle for our right to assemble and speak out about the concerns of injured workers continues. The seven workers arrested - of which four are injured women workers - have declined a judge's offer to dismiss all charges if they don't sue the police. They have vowed, instead, to fight and take this to trial.

With the election over, now we must take our demands on Pataki and the State government to a new level. We are calling for the enactment of legislation like the Workers' Health & Safety Bill (#A08270) introduced last year in the State Assembly which would overhaul the Workers' Compensation system and end mandatory overtime. We are also calling for expansion of the Family Health Plus Program and a medical program to study and treat victims of 911 affected by the toxic air.

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