Move on Sanit, CO Family Health Bill;

After On-Job Deaths
Move on Sanit, CO Family Health Bill


A bill to automatically provide continuing health insurance benefits to families of all city Correction Officers and Sanitation Workers killed on the job has finally moved forward.

JOSEPH P. ADDABBO: Make coverage automatic. The City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee held a brief hearing to review the legislation on March 30. "We rushed it so we can vote it out on the next stated [meeting of the full Council]," said Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., the committee's chair.

The bill was introduced by the Bloomberg administration in January after years of lobbying from the unions representing those titles.

A Political Downside

But making the benefit automatic would eliminate the positive press the Council and the Mayor receive each time authorization is granted to an individual widow or surviving family member. That loss of publicity worried some Council Members, insiders indicated.

"It makes no difference who is to take credit," asserted Mr. Addabbo, who has been a stronger supporter of the legislation. "I guess in the end rational thought prevailed."

The measure would grant surviving spouses and children of those employees the same aid that currently exists for the families of cops and firefighters. Under the proposal, spouses would receive health benefits until they die; children would be covered until at least age 18.

Currently, the city provides health benefits to surviving family members of Sanitation Workers, Correction Officers, and civilian employees on an individual basis. That allows the Mayor and the Council to hold a press conference each time the benefit is extended to include the surviving family of a newly deceased city worker.

Tough on Families

That process, however, has caused the grieving families some unnecessary anxiety, as they have to wait for the Mayor to introduce the legislation amending the current law, union officials noted. "These are eight weeks that the family can get something sooner," Mr. Addabbo said.

It actually took the city close to two months to provide health insurance to the widow and child of Department of Transportation worker Nicky Antico, who was killed in September 2005 by a hit-and-run driver while repaving a street in Staten Island.

More recently, Sanitation Worker Rafael Concepcion died Dec. 15 when he was thrown from the cab of his truck after his co-worker lost control while rounding a corner. Mr. Concepcion's family has received the benefit while the lawmakers have been hammering out the broader bill, insiders said.

Under the new proposed measure, the Mayor and the Council would not have discretion over who receives the benefit, Mr. Addabbo said. The bill has been hailed by the two unions representing the affected titles, the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association.

Wants It Mandatory

Mr. Addabbo has long urged the Bloomberg administration to provide health coverage to the surviving spouses of all civilian employees. Last January, Mr. Addabbo proposed legislation covering all city workers. Mayor Bloomberg, however, opposed the broad bill, which a Council official said could cost as much as $1 billion.

"I think that is of utmost importance," Mr. Addabbo remarked, referring to the expanded proposal. "I really won't be happy until all city employees get the same benefit, but we are really working in that direction at least."