Top contract issue, COLA, gets unified backing

By DEBORAH A. MILES
As The Communicator goes to press, PEF leaders and the PS&T contract team are waiting for Gov. Eliot Spitzer to appoint a state director for employee relations, and a chief negotiator for the PS&T contract talks.

PEF’s contract team is well prepared and ready to start negotiations, according to Lou Matrazzo, PEF vice president and contract team chair. But in the interim, union leaders are working behind the scenes on one of the top priority issues — a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to raise location-based pay for members who work in high-cost areas of the state.

And they are doing something they have never done before, team with other unions to put a unified COLA package on the bargaining table.

“This is one of the biggest things happening in bargaining,” said Roger Scales, PEF director of labor relations and chief negotiator. “We are building the foundation to move forward with the COLA issue.”

PEF — the frontrunner
PEF was the only union to present a comprehensive COLA package during the last round of bargaining. “If the unions stick together, we have a likelihood of succeeding. If not, we will fail,” Scales said.

PEF President Ken Brynien has already gained the support of Danny Donahue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). United University Professions has indicated they are also in favor of joining forces on this important issue.

“We must fight to achieve economic justice for all state employees working in high-cost areas,” Brynien said. “PEF and leaders from other unions realize that a person who is a salary grade 27 and lives on Long Island is eligible for government assistance in getting a mortgage. The high cost of housing, which Gov. Spitzer even noted in his State of the State Address, is driving people off the Island.”

“We are losing a lot of talented people on Long Island because of the cost of housing,” Scales said. “And our members are living the problem.”

Ready and waiting
PEF is also working with the Fiscal Policy Institute to detail the geographic cost-of-living problems.

“We will be well armed when the governor gets his house in order,” Brynien said. “We are ready to bargain and along with across-the-board raises, COLA will be the top issue.”

For news on appointments and other contract issues, visit the PEF Web site at www.pef.org, Active Informed Member (AIM) electronic updates or check the weekly PEF Information Line.

The Communicator Feb. 2007

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