Metropolis Council Speaker Adams plans to introduce a invoice this week that will require non-public safety guards obtain active-shooter coaching and earn greater wages — proposals aimed toward creating higher situations for the front-line staff within the wake of this summer time’s grisly Park Ave. mass capturing.
The July 28 bloodbath on the 345 Park Ave. skyscraper in Midtown left 4 victims useless, together with Aland Etienne, a 45-year-old safety guard on the constructing, which homes the workplaces of NFL that the suspected shooter sought to focus on earlier than killing himself.
In keeping with police, Etienne, who was unarmed, unsuccessfully tried earlier than he was killed to crawl over to a desk within the constructing’s foyer to hit a button that will have shut down all elevator service — an effort that highlighted the plight that advocates for safety guards say they face on daily basis on the job.
Capturing sufferer and safety guard Aland Etienne.
Prior to now few weeks, representatives for 32 BJ, the union Etienne was a member of, have engaged in conversations with Speaker Adams about drafting laws that will improve security and dealing situations for safety guards following the tragedy on Park Ave.
“Security officers like Aland are integral to New York City’s public safety infrastructure, but too often they are not compensated or treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” stated the speaker, who’s leaving the Council on the finish of this yr as a result of time period limits, making this doubtlessly considered one of her remaining substantive legislative pushes. “I’m proud to introduce the Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act, which would establish and enforce minimum pay standards, benefits and training for our city’s security guards, while ensuring they have the support and preparation they need.”
Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit
Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. (Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit)
All that coaching could be on high of already state-mandated programs on common job duties guards want to finish earlier than beginning work.
On wages, the invoice’s a bit vaguer, solely directing town Division of Client and Employee Safety to find out, over the course of a four-year interval, what stage of hourly compensation, paid sick go away, trip and different advantages could be wanted to make sure sufficient expert safety guards will be attracted and retained throughout varied sectors within the metropolis. The division would then be anticipated to place new mandates on firms to pay sure wage minimums to the roughly 82,000 safety officers working within the metropolis.
Although it doesn’t suggest actual new wage ranges, the actual fact sheet cites a current UC Berkeley Labor Middle report discovering that safety guards in New York Metropolis earn a median earnings of about $40,000. That’s lower than 40% of town’s space median earnings, and the actual fact sheet says that has resulted in a “turnover crisis” within the native safety guard trade that drives away expertise and jeopardizes public security.
To ensure that the invoice to turn out to be legislation, it could doubtless want the assist of Mayor Adams. Requested in regards to the speaker’s forthcoming invoice, mayoral spokesman Zachary Nosanchuk stated, “The Adams administration is dedicated to keeping New Yorkers safe in every corner of our city, and we will review this legislation.”
Smith Etienne, the youthful brother of Aland Etienne, lauded the Council speaker’s new invoice.
“If he were with us today, he’d be fighting for this legislation,” he stated of his late brother. “Let’s honor his legacy by uplifting and protecting his colleagues across the city.”
Initially Printed: September 23, 2025 at 1:22 PM EDT
