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To the Editor:
As we begin the year 2000, the state of the New York state work force is DIS! Each day more and more folks are feeling DISregarded, DISillusioned and DISRESPECTED by the governor of this state.
Here is a man who knows full well that a golden opportunity was laid at his feet at election time some years ago when there was a majority ready to vote for ABC Anybody But Cuomo.
Gov. George Pataki is nice in public and extremely disrespectful "at home" with the work force of this state. During this month, when we remember the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. who said, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice,"
I urge all NYS citizens to call or write to the governor to tell him to make a decent contract offer to the folks who care for the family of New York! Tell him to stop "dissing" the state's work force; to take the high road while remembering that the next election could be won by ABP Anybody But Pataki!
John Butcher
Albany
To the Editor:
During Contract negotiations, please remind our PEF team not to neglect an often forgotten, but oh so important, benefit when we need it - the NYS labor-management model Employee Assistance Program.
This valuable program has been running for hundreds of thousands of state employees and their families on a pitiful budget of $1 million.
A program of this magnitude should have twice this allocation. And this additional amount would be a drop in the bucket for New York state.
Gary Bisogna
Albany
To the Editor:
The pattern for contract negotiations has already been set just look at the package our elected officials have come up with.
The rationale for the 38 percent raises our elected officials received was that their last increase occurred 10 years ago. PS&T members received a cumulative 10-year raise of 26.625 percent. How does one spell P-A-R-I-T-Y?
The 38 percent salary increase for our legislators is a front-loaded raise.
Perhaps we should also bargain for a front-loaded raise. Start with the 11.375 percent difference between what we have received and what our elected officials have received for the past 10 years.
That would soften the blow of four years worth of ZEROs during that span!
Bargain long and bargain hard!
Victor Vignola
Johnson
To the Editor:
It is the rank-and-file state employee, the honorable PEF member, who should feel shame, hurt and rejection.
After all, it was we, the state employees, who allowed this carnivorous beast to prosper among us! Many of us even voted him into office, but why wouldn't we? The fiscal condition of New York state was a catastrophe.
Therefore, as dutiful state employees, we fell for the oldest trick in the book. We sacrificed and we generated more with less.
Through cutbacks, layoffs and wage freezes, we endeavored to persevere until the state had righted itself. Now that it has, we who sacrificed are kicked in the teeth and made to keep sacrificing because those bureaucratic leaders got what we wanted. We showed the Powers That Be we could do more with less.
So why should we think that the gluttonous beast would share what we were duped out of in the first place?
Fellow state employees, remember that once you give up anything, it is lost forever, such as Tier Equity. As long as you come to work content, satisfied and willing to go the extra mile, why should we be viewed as anything but sheep! I
urge all PEF members to pitch in, voice your dissatisfaction and never give anything up.
Greg Lisack
Otisville
The Communicator welcomes letters to
the editor about union issues and events relevant to
PEF's diverse membership.
All letters are subject to editing for space, fairness
and good taste.
Please keep them brief (up to one page, double-spaced or
a maximum of 250 words), and please include your name and
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Send letters to:
The
Communicator
Public Employees Federation
P.O. Box 12414
Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414
or email Denyce Duncan
Lacy, Executive Editor The Communicator - Director of
Public Relations dduncanlacy@pef.org
or Sherry Halbrook, Editor of The
Communicator- shalbrook@pef.org