Members brave perilous roads, to call for budget fairness

By SHERRY HALBROOK
“What do we want? Fairness! When do we want it? Now!”

PEF members on Long Island and Buffalo got up long before dawn to board buses for Albany at 5:30 a.m. They were among 7,000 members, retirees and other state workers who struggled through heavy rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow to get there.

Bundled in yellow PEF hats, scarves and mittens, they crowded outside the Capitol to shout that heartfelt protest as Gov. David A. Paterson delivered his first State of the State Message to the Legislature January 7.

They were indignant. They were angry. They couldn’t understand why they were being singled out for punishment.

They just wanted some justice.

Don’t take what we earned
Teachers Phyllis March and Diana Dantuono made the long, dangerous trip from Long Island, where they work at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. They were very clear about why they gave up a day of vacation leave to be in Albany for the “March for Main St.,” as the event was called.

“I’ve worked for the state for 30 years,” March said. “This is the first decent contract we’ve had, and we shouldn’t have to give it back.”

She was referring to Paterson’s budget proposal to take back the 3 percent pay raises due to PEF and other state employees in April under their contracts. He would also lag their pay by five days and cut back other benefits related to retirement and health care. (See story.)

“We live on Long Island, which is a very high cost area,”

Dantuono said. “We work straight through the summers, but we make half of what other Long Island teachers make.”

Mark Davies, an engineer for the state Transportation Department in Albany, said he is sick of always being expected to sacrifice more than other New Yorkers.

“Every time they have a state budget crisis, they want to balance it on the backs of state workers,” Davies said. “The last time the state lagged our pay, we sued and won, but that took years and meanwhile they had our money. Now, they want to do it again.”

Share the burden fairly
George Varghese, council leader of PEF Division 241 at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center led a group of nurses and other members who climbed on board their bus at 7 a.m. in Brooklyn.

The message they brought to Paterson: “As state employees we are doing our best to ensure our work is done, in spite of the budget cuts. But don’t put all the burden on us. Let the burden be shared. Be fair.”

PEF Region 9 members who came up from the lower Hudson Valley fought some of the worst weather conditions to get to the rally.

Barbara Webber, a retired nurse from Hudson Valley Developmental Disabilities Services Office, made the trip with many of her former co-workers.

Among them, Bob Montalbano said, “We’re here to tell the governor and the legislators not to close the budget gap on our backs.”

“State workers have sacrificed a lot,” said Denny Escarpeta, an environmental engineer from Middletown. “The state pays contractors more than it pays us. Why don’t they cut that waste?”

Respect us, the work we do
A group of parole officers also came up from Region 9.

Officer Mercedes Rosas of New Rochelle said, “I want the governor to know we’ve earned our pay.”

“We’re getting the raw end of the deal,” said officer Florence Horne. “I work hard in a dangerous job.”

“Yes,” said officer Marilyn Rollins. “We work hard to keep our communities safe. We deserve our raises.”

Region 4 member Ed Callahan, a parole officer who works at Willard Correctional Facility, had a message for the governor that was straight to the point: “Honor your agreement.”

Punishing the wrong people
Region 1 member George Davis climbed on board his bus to Albany in Buffalo. A network administrator at Lakeview Correctional Facility, Davis said the security of his job is his biggest worry. The budget calls for the Department of Correctional Services to shed more employees than any other agency.

“The budget isn’t fair,” Davis said. “The governor is hurting the wrong people and he’s cutting jobs when too many people are already unemployed.”

That’s how parole revocation specialist John Benson saw it too. Driving the middle class and state workers to their knees financially, while rewarding the millionaires who created the economic crisis makes no sense to him.

“What the governor’s doing to us would take at least half a billion dollars out of the state’s economy,” said Benson, a Region 2 member who works throughout New York’s “Southern Tier.” “We put our money back into our communities. The millionaires on Wall St. stole the money. They should pay it back.”

Region 3 member Randi DiAntonio also shared that view.
“He’s not only hurting us, but the people we serve,’” DiAntonio said.

This is the time, said Region 3 member Henry Woitscheck, when the state and the country should focus on the needs of Main St. and their own working people.

“Bring the money home,” Woitscheck urged.