Private sector security officers took a big step towards securing workers rights in the memory of one of their own whose life was taken too soon with the passage of the Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act.<\/p>\n
Etienne was one of four people killed in July 28, when Shane Tamura a deranged gunman armed with an assault rifle went on a rampage inside 35 Park Ave. killing Etienne and three others: Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, NYPD officer Didarul Islam and Julia Hyman, a 27 year-old associate at Rudin Management. The gunman then took his own life.<\/p>\n
The act which was passed by the city council last year October only to be vetoed by Eric Adams as he headed out the door in December, was passed by a wide margin on Jan. 29 and is expected to be signed into law by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n
In a crowded room at the headquarters of 32BJ Service Employees International Union near Union Square, community members and city officials met to show their support for the It marking the first new law since 1964 that raisesthe minimum wage standard for private sector security guard employees.<\/p>\n
The bill when formally enacted will guarantee a minimum wage of $26.49\/hour, paid vacation and 8 paid holidays to security officers across the city.<\/p>\n
After a rousing call and response opening by 32BJ Board Member, Pedro Francisco, President Manny Pastreich spoke about how this act will address the 77 percent turnover rate of 81,9000 predominantly Black and Latino security officers across the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo New York City security officer should go to sleep wondering how they\u2019ll make rent, pay medical bills, or feed their families,\u201d said Pastreich. \u201cAnd at a moment when the federal government has taken away health benefits and support for working and poor people to fund the biggest tax break for the rich in history, this legislation will be life changing for tens of thousands of hard-working New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill was originally proposed in October 2025 and then vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams in December 2025. City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Council Member Hudson Crystal, who was a co-sponsor of the original bill, joined the event to speak on behalf of its importance before attending the City Council meeting where they planned to override the veto. Their votes on the bill was one of 17 Adams\u2019 vetoes that they overrode in a one day blitz, the most of any legislative overrides in New York City in the last decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a responsibility to honor the memory of Aland Etienne by ensuring that security guards have the fair pay, benefits, and time off they deserve,\u201d said Menin. \u201cI was proud to cast a vote in favor of the bill last December, and I will be proud to vote alongside my Council colleagues to override the veto and ensure the bill goes into effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etienne is survived by his partner Rachelle Paoli and their now seven year old son, as well as his brother Smith Etienne and an older daughter. Both Paoli and Etienne spoke at the conference about his character and how he often put his work before himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe come from a country, Haiti, where we say, \u2018l\u2019unit\u00e9 fait la force, unity is strength,\u201d said Paoli. \u201cComing together to uplift security officers makes us all safer. This is the perfect way of honoring a hero\u2019s legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith Etienne also took the moment to acknowledge him and his brother\u2019s status as Haitian immigrants and stand in solidarity with all those in New York and across the country being targeted by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard because he\u2019s not here,\u201d said Etienne. \u201cBut if he were here, he would be fighting for the same cause. We\u2019re not going to let anyone vilify a hard-working immigrant.\u201d<\/p>\n
On behalf of the office of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Commissioner Simon Levine of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection also joined the event to show the administration\u2019s support of security officers and workers across the city. While he was still the Democratic nominee for mayor and a state Assemblymen, Mamdani attended the 32BJ SEIU headquarters last summer to meet with and console Smith Etienne and Rachelle Paoli.<\/p>\n
\u201dI think is a reminder what a big change we\u2019ve seen in the city since last year,\u201d said Levine. \u201cWe went from a mayor who put the interest of large corporations over the people in this room to a mayor like Zohran Mamdani, who\u2019s been very clear that his priority is the working people of the city. This is a big victory and I hope it\u2019s the first of many victories to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Private sector security officers took a big step towards securing workers rights in the memory of one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[53278,9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-121601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-manny-pastreich","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}