New Workplace Violence: Spitting

It’s not deadly, but in New York City, spitting on a bus driver is an assault — at least under the contract between the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It’s also commonly called “aisle rage”: a resentment toward declining mass transit. In 2009, 51 spat-upon bus drivers took, on average, 64 days of paid time off after the spitting incidents. A total of 80 drivers were spat upon in 2009, which means that 21 of them took no time off. Being off 64 days is the equivalent of three months with pay.

New York City, already under a budget crunch, is beginning to take this new form of workplace violence seriously — not because it’s tantamount to serious violence but because it isn’t. And the problem is going to worsen. In June, dozens of bus lines will be eliminated. Thus, aisle rage will increase.

Members of the Authority’s board understand a driver’s concern about diseases, but they’re beginning to wonder why a driver can’t just “go home and shower off, take a nap, take off the rest of the day and maybe the next day.” The union’s president has an answer: “Being spat upon –  having a passenger spit in your face, spit in your mouth, spit in your eye — is physically and psychologically traumatic. If transit workers are assaulted, they are going to take off . . .  to recuperate.”

As gross as the spitting sounds, 64 days of leave seems a bit excessive to recover. But we are talking about a city government agency’s contract with an employees union. That creates a different kind of playing field most employers will never know. Of course, if New York City goes broke, a lot bus drivers will be mad enough to spit, because they’ll lose their jobs.

I’m not encouraging a spitting policy. I’m encouraging a culture that ensures the same goal for the employer and its employees.