ENACT PUBLIC DISCLOSURE — PEF President Roger Benson tells reporters at an Albany press conference why the state needs a law requiring disclosure of state contract costs.
— Photo by Sherry Halbrook
Benefits of focus, mobilization accrue to all members: past, present and future
By ROGER E. BENSON
When this administration came into office in 1997, PEF was reeling from a loss of nearly 2,650 members, the negotiation of a contract that led to three Aprils with no base wage increase, and the loss of our contracting-out protection. Many members had lost faith in their union’s ability to achieve contract gains and protect the job security of its members.
Over the last nine years, we have worked to transform PEF from the caretaker/service model to a militant and mobilized union that can put membership muscle and resources behind its contract, job security and pension demands.
The ability to focus and mobilize our membership in support of our goals has led to unprecedented success, in our core areas of contract negotiations, job security and retirement reform.
We have achieved contract gains in sick leave parity for all PS&T members, eight base wage increases over the eight years of the last two contracts we negotiated, and we have taken the first big step in grade for grade wage parity with the Civil Service Employees Association that had been bargained away in the early years of PEF. And we achieved this without major contract concessions.
We have enhanced the job security of our members by showing the state we will fight any time our members face even the potential of layoffs. I can proudly say, not one PS&T member was involuntarily laid off during this administration, despite the crippling attack on the World Trade Center which resulted in the worst fiscal climate in New York state since the Great Depression.
We have fought for and achieved state retirement reform, including the elimination of the 3 percent retirement contribution for pension Tiers 3 and 4 after 10 years, two years of service credit for Tiers 1 and 2, a permanent and automatic cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) to state pensions for our retirees, tier reinstatement, five-year pension vesting, and deferred compensation-IRA rollover.
Every PEF member — past, present or future — will benefit in some way from what we have been able to achieve through our efforts to mobilize around our issues. We have learned that when we speak with one voice, act with unity, and are willing to fight hard and smart, we can succeed for our members.
However, as much as we have achieved, we cannot rest on these laurels. We have not always won, and we face many challenges in the next several months including threats to our job security, our pensions and the civil service merit system. We continue to fight to improve the working conditions and job security of our members through campaigns against workplace violence, nurse staffing shortages, and wasteful contracting out and privatization.
We know what works to achieve our goals and, as this administration continues its sprint to the finish, we will not rest until we have achieved all that we can. Thank you for your continuing support.
The
Communicator February 2006
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