 PEF launches new online training center By SHERRY HALBROOK For years, PEF has struggled to get training to its stewards and other elected leaders in isolated or remote parts of the state or whose job duties or hours made scheduling difficult. Now, PEF has begun to make that training available online. On December 17, the union launched its new online PEF Training Center where stewards for the state’s PS&T bargaining unit can learn how to better represent their members and enforce their contract. The first of five basic training modules for stewards is now offered at the online site. “Because PEF’s convention delegates, stewards and elected leaders can be most effective when they understand their contract, the “Know Your Contract” basic training module was selected to be our first online learning program,” said PEF President Roger Benson. This module provides both information about union contracts in general and about the PS&T contract specifically. The online module can be accessed through the PEF Web site at www.pef.org by clicking on Education and Training and then on PEF Training Center. The training also will be available soon on CD for members to use offline. The other basic training modules are: The Many Roles of a Steward; The Grievance Procedure; Discipline and Discharge; and Mobilization. The training was adapted for online learning by PEF staff and Rockefeller College. “By adding this option for stewards to learn the basics online, they will be able to complete the training at their own pace and at a time convenient to them,” said Clifford Merchant, PEF’s director of education and training. Benson said the online training center “became a goal of this administration as a direct result of listening to the needs expressed by leaders of our steward councils, as well as recommendations from the PEF Training Committee and the resolution adopted by the 2004 PEF Convention.” |
 Joint committee improves PSTP Vouchers Program for SFY 2006-07By SHERRY HALBROOK PEF and the state, through their Joint Committee on Professional Development, have agreed to make some important changes to the PSTP Voucher Program for 2006-07 — the program’s final year before the PS&T contract, which funds this and other joint education and training benefits, expires April 1, 2007. Currently, members enrolled in undergraduate or graduate studies can receive one $600 voucher per course, and are eligible for a maximum of six vouchers per year. Starting April 1 of this year, that will change. Vouchers for undergrads will still be worth $600. However, for the first time, members will be able to use up to two vouchers per undergraduate course. Changes are also being made to the voucher program for members taking post-graduate courses. These graduate-course vouchers will now be worth $1,200 each and members can continue to use two for one course. Both grad and undergrad students will still be eligible for a maximum of six vouchers for the 2006-07 state fiscal year. According to PEF Director of Human Resources and Education Clifford Merchant, these changes are designed to address the needs identified in a recent survey of members using the voucher program to help pay for their college coursework. The value of the vouchers has historically been linked to state University of New York (SUNY) tuition rates. According to the survey, 62 percent of participants are grad students and the average cost of a three-credit-hour graduate level SUNY course is $1,175. The other 38 percent of participants are pursuing undergraduate studies and the average cost of three-credit-hour courses at SUNY is $492, but an increasing number of students are taking four-credit-hour courses, which cost more. “The enhancements to the voucher program are only for the 2006-07 state fiscal year, which is also the final year of the PS&T contract,” Merchant said. “I strongly advise our members to take maximum advantage of this added financial assistance before our current PS&T contract expires in April 2007. In the past, funding for this program was interrupted during negotiations until a new contract was in place. And no one can be sure now how educational benefits will be funded after March 31, 2007.” |
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