Lifeguards allege retaliation from union after Stein misconduct testimony

City lifeguards who testified in the judicial trial of Peter Stein, the former longtime head of the lifeguard supervisor's union, say they’re facing retaliation at the hands of Stein's former deputies who now run the union. 

Stein retired from the presidency of Local 508 in January after more than 40 years of running the union. Two months later, a judicial panel of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees found that he had violated the union’s constitution. 

Lifeguards brought more than 20 charges against union leadership, and the AFSCME panel heard testimony from several lifeguards about leadership’s anti-democratic behavior including officials’ failures to hold meetings or issue financial reports.

The panel issued formal reprimands to Stein and two of his deputies, Javier Rodriguez and Neil Veloz, for being a "contributing factor to an undemocratic process,” and not producing financial reports. Rodriguez is now Local 508’s vice president and Veloz is the union’s treasurer. Union members say both have been enacting retribution on those who spoke out earlier this year. 

“Everyone who testified in that hearing is in some way being retaliated against,” said one Local 508 member facing retaliation who requested that his name not be used for fear of further reprisals. “This is ridiculous that people have to worry about their livelihoods, and it's the union that’s retaliating against us. We’re literally going back to the way it was when [Stein] was in charge.” 

Rodriguez, Veloz and another former Stein deputy, Marty Kravitz, hold the top positions in the lifeguard corps and have power to reassign lifeguards or cite them for infractions. Since the trio, along with union president Roberto Huerta, run Local 508, lifeguard supervisors who sense they’re facing retaliation have little recourse. 

“It’s those that are writing us up who we’re supposed to be able to complain too,” the Local 508 member said.  

Supervisors say the reprisals have come in the form of withholding promotions from supervisors, writing up lifeguard supervisors for minor infractions or moving them to pools in parts of the city where they’ve never worked before and don’t have established relationships. Kristoff Borrel, who openly challenged Stein last year said that he’s “never gotten written up a day in my life until this year, and now I’ve got three.” 

"It’s the same way for everybody,” said Borrel, who in the off-season works at indoor pools and receives a step-up promotion to supervisor each summer.

Rodriguez did not respond to calls requesting comment. An email sent to Local 508’s inbox did not receive a reply.  

Some lifeguards have been able to appeal to District Council 37 — Local 508’s parent union — to get transfers overturned or charges cleared.  

David Boyd, a systems manager at DC 37 who oversees the union’s parks, cultural and higher education division, has been involved in overseeing the two lifeguard unions. Riley Timlin, another DC 37 official, has also taken on an oversight role of the two lifeguard unions, members said, and has helped resolve some lifeguard and lifeguard supervisor’s claims of retaliation.  

Both Boyd and Timlin participated in Local 461’s first open meeting in decades last month, according to several lifeguards who attended.  

A spokesperson for DC 37 did not respond to requests for comment and to interview Boyd or Timlin. 

Parks Department steps back 

The Department of Parks and Recreation has stepped back from challenging the leadership of the lifeguard unions since the city and the lifeguard unions reached a contract deal last summer that stripped the two locals of some power, lifeguards say. In the first few years of the Eric Adams administration, Parks threw rank and file members a lifeline by, for the first time ever, notifying lifeguards about opportunities for promotions, which until then had been entirely controlled by the union.  

In 2023, Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, at the time Parks’ first deputy commissioner who oversaw the city’s beaches and lifeguards, helped organize the first Rockaway Lifesaving Championships in decades, allowing rank-and-file lifeguards to meet for the first time ever and entertain tourists and locals on Rockaway beach. The “Shack Olympics” had been discontinued by Stein decades before. 

But there has not been a Lifesaving Championships or any other Parks-sponsored event for lifeguards at Rockaway beach since, lifeguards say, and new managers appointed under a provision in the new contract have not been able to stop ongoing retaliation. With the new managers and new union leaders, lifeguard supervisors feel more shut out than before. 

“We feel we're not a part of decision making when it comes to the administrative aspect of our office,” said Edwin Agramonte, a longtime lifeguard who works at Highbridge Pool. Agramonte said he has nowhere to take his concerns about the lack of promotions for longtime lifeguards and the retaliation that he and his coworkers face. 

Rockaway lifeguards too are unsure of where to take their complaints about a policy change made this summer reducing the number of guards assigned to each lifeguard chair. The change means that lifeguards are spending double the amount of time monitoring the ocean from the chairs and less time patrolling the beach, three lifeguards said.  

A Parks Department official confirmed that more lifeguards are working in chairs than walking posts this summer. There are currently over 1,000 lifeguards on staff — more than the 930 on staff at the summer’s peak last year, according to the Parks Department. 

"It's worse,” one Rockaway lifeguard said of his job because of the policy change. “Over the past three years they have doubled the amount of time you're sitting in the lifeguard chair. The job is harder because Rockaway is much more crowded than it used to be."

Elections for leadership of both lifeguard locals will be held in 2027.

hfreeman@thechiefleader.com