NY State of siege

The governor had brought more than 300 troopers in from throughout the state to form a cordon around the Capitol and keep the protestors at a distance. It was a shock for the peaceful state workers to find barriers of steel, plastic fencing and long grey lines of troopers with billy clubs blocking their approach to the Capitol.
In fact, the governor's office did everything it could to thwart and belittle the contract protest.

Psychological warfare

A spokesman for the governor was quoted in the press a few days before the rally, alleging the protest was just a "political rally" for union leaders.
When this ploy failed to discourage rally participation, rumors began to fly through state worksites that the state was making a lucrative contract offer, so the rally was no longer needed.

Union leaders were busy dispelling this falsehood, when the governor threw up his next line of defense.

Out of sight

"We were ready to go to court Tuesday," said PEF General Counsel Bill Seamon, "to protect our right to protest."
The day before the Wednesday rally, the Capitol Police (an arm of the State Police) threatened to revoke the union's permit for the rally because the anticipated numbers of protestors had steadily increased.

The police tried to move the rally off to the south end of the Empire State Plaza - a quarter of a mile from the Capitol.

Union leaders refused to be intimidated and finally hammered out an agreement with the police to restrict the protest - originally intended to encircle the Capitol - to the north end of the Plaza facing the Capitol.

Bottlenecks and slowdowns

But it was a struggle every step of the way. Buses weren't allowed to park or unload passengers in the convenient areas usually used for such events. Instead, they were forced to line up and unload a few at a time in front of the Pepsi Arena. By 11:30 a.m. when the rally speakers were ready to begin, buses were still lined up all the way to I-787 waiting to unload.

Then the march to the Empire State Plaza was slowed to a crawl as state police directed the demonstrators to use a narrow, enclosed walkway from the arena to the plaza.
Even at 3 p.m. when it was time to go home, the protestors faced obstacles. The police switched the place where buses could pick them up and would only allow a few buses to go up at a time. But no amount of hindrance, intimidation, belittling or denial by the governor or his forces could diminish what the members had done.

No hiding the truth

"The rally was a huge success," said PEF President Roger Benson. "It demonstrates that our power really does reside in our numbers.
"The press coverage in Albany was diverted from the State of the State to our rally and, in fact, one TV station had split-screen coverage," he said.

"And the 20-year tradition of post State-of-the-State receptions in the Governor's Mansion was broken because of hundreds of PEF members who picketed the mansion on Eagle Street," Benson added.

Benson thanked the leaders, members and staff who "worked so hard for the past two months to bring this event to fruition. Without those efforts, our negotiating team and officers would only be 13 individuals whining about fairness. Your efforts on behalf of all our membership are deeply appreciated and recognized."

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