- Photo by Sherry Halbrook
GET MOVIN' - Mobilizing PEF members are Bill Parolari, Dennis Anderson, Lou Barr, Eric Miller, Ruth Gaines, Jennifer Faucher and Neila Cardus.

Members begin to mobilize support for contract
As PEF's PS&T Contract Team begins bargaining for a new agreement, the union's Organizing Committee, chaired by PEF Region 9 Coordinator, Neila Cardus, is ready to mobilize members to support the union's team and issues.

"One chief negotiator and an eight-member PEF Contract Team do not solidarity make," said the team's chair, Eric Miller. "We can speak for the members, but no one will take us seriously unless the members back up our words with their voices.

"The success of last year's local contract meetings demonstrated dramatically that this is an effective subject for organizing and mobilizing members. The 55 meetings we held throughout the state attracted 4,000 members, some attending a union meeting for the first time."

PEF will need to organize and mobilize the right number of members to vigorously back up what their team says at the table, Miller added. "Four thousand is a good start at that goal," he said, "but 40,000 could really make things happen."

Cardus said those 4,000 members who came to the meetings form a vital core of strong interest and if each of them contacts and motivates 10 more PS&T members, the union could field an army of 44,000 dedicated to winning a fair contract.

Cardus said the committee plans to recruit a cadre of membership mobilizers or "m&ms" to be liaisons between the PS&T Contract Team and the union's division leaders, Executive Board members, regional coordinators, and PS&T membership.

"We want to develop a database of members' home e-mail addresses," Cardus said. "We want members involved in PEF's political-action program demonstrating solidarity and holding our elected representatives accountable."

PEF, NYS ready to bargain

As negotiations with the state get underway on a new PS&T contract, PEF negotiators have provided the following answers to some of the questions they are most often asked:

Q. How much of a raise is PEF asking?
A. A base-salary increase in every year of the contract is always a primary goal. However, it's best to avoid publicly fixing on a specific number prior to negotiations, as it may be less than the other side is prepared to pay.

Q. How is PEF developing contract proposals?
A.PEF has been actively collecting information for negotiations since last summer.

Two surveys were distributed - one for PEF leaders and one for the general membership. Nearly 4,000 members met with the bargaining team at 55 local meetings held throughout the state.

Other members submitted suggestions directly to the team, which has also received suggestions from PEF staff and has drawn upon the resources of PEF's two international affiliate unions for support. All of this information was used to develop PEF's issues and priorities.

Q. Can all issues be negotiated in the contract?
A.Not all subjects can be addressed through the bargaining process.

The law sets forth certain mandatory, permissive, and prohibited subjects of bargaining.

Issues pertaining to a job title and the salary grade assigned to it, for example, are addressed with Civil Service.

Retirement benefits are a prohibited subject of negotiation and must be addressed legislatively.

And certain agency practices are addressed through contract enforcement and the labor-management process.

Q. The state often does not abide by the negotiated provisions of the contract. Can we address that in negotiations?
A. Existing language in the contract, and sometimes in statute as well, gives PEF members opportunities to remedy problems in the workplace.

However, if PEF attempts to change contract language because it has difficulty enforcing the current agreement, the union could end up bargaining against itself.

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