NYC Council Passes Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act Aiding Guards Pay and Benefits
The bill will boost the minimum wage for security guards ang give them paid vacation and health benefits. Aland Etienne was one of four people killed by a crazed gunman in a mid-town skyscraper on July 28 last year.
| 03 Feb 2026 | 01:39
Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ, rallies workers at a press conference supporting the Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act, which passed the City Council mere hours after the press conference. (
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City council speaker Julie Menin, who represents the UES, at a press conference at 32BJ SEIU HQ on Jan. 29 before heading to the City Council to pass a new version of the bill to bring about minimum wage hikes to 60,000 security guards. (
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Smith Etienne, brother of the slain security guard Aland Etienne spoke at a press conference supporting the bill named for his brother. (
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Julie Menin hugs Rachel Paoli the longtime partner of Aland Etienne and mother of their now seven year old son, after a press conference to herald passage of a bill named in honor the slain security guard, He was one of four killed by a crazed gunman in a mass shooting in mid-town last July. (
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Unlike Eric Adams who vetoed the bill,, Mayor Zohran Mamdani supports the wage and benefits bill named for a security guard who was killed in a mass shooting last year. Sam Levine, the Commissioner of Consumer and Worker Protestion, expresses support at the 32BJ press conference. (
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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.
The bill was enacted by final vote of 46-5 marking the city’s first law since 1964 to set a minimum wage standard for private sector employees not employed through a city contract. The bill overrides an Eric Adams veto on the bill that originally passed last year. Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a supporter and is expected to sign the bill into law shortly.
Etienne was one of four people killed in July 28, when Shane Tamura drove form Las Vegas and armed with an assault rifle went on a rampage inside an office tower 345 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.
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 bill which passed overwhelmingly a short time later.
The bill when formally enacted will guarantee a minimum wage of $26.49/hour, paid vacation and 8 paid holidays to security officers in the private sector jobs across the city.
After a rousing call and response opening by 32BJ Board Member, Pedro Francisco, union 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.
“No New York City security officer should go to sleep wondering how they’ll make rent, pay medical bills, or feed their families,” said Pastreich. “And 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.”
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’ vetoes that they overrode in a one day blitz, the most of any legislative overrides in New York City in the last decade.
“We 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,” said Menin. “I 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.”
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.
“We come from a country, Haiti, where we say, ‘l’unité fait la force, unity is strength,” said Paoli. “Coming together to uplift security officers makes us all safer. This is the perfect way of honoring a hero’s legacy.”
Smith Etienne also took the moment to acknowledge him and his brother’s 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).
“It’s hard because he’s not here,” said Etienne. “But if he were here, he would be fighting for the same cause. We’re not going to let anyone vilify a hard-working immigrant.”
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’s 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.
”I think is a reminder what a big change we’ve seen in the city since last year,” said Levine. “We went from a mayor who put the interest of large corporations over the people in this room to a mayor like Zohran Mamdani, who’s been very clear that his priority is the working people of the city. This is a big victory and I hope it’s the first of many victories to come.”
