| PEF focuses on lawmakers PS&T talks still unproductive |
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| By Sherry Halbrook After a year at the bargaining table, PEF has still not received an acceptable contract offer from the governor's office. "Because the state still refuses to better its 3 percent delayed-pay-raise offer, we have been left talking about other contract issues," said PEF's PS&T Contract Chair Eric Miller. "But even these discussions are generally unfruitful." "Our proposals, including 5 percent annual raises with no delays, are completely reasonable given our years of going with no raises and of increased productivity," said PEF President Roger Benson. "The state can afford to meet our modest demands and is simply delaying in hopes of breaking our will. "We have already made a convincing statement of just how determined we are to be treated fairly," Benson said. "The governor and lawmakers saw tens of thousands of state workers come to the Capitol in January to demand a fair contract. Now, we need to carry that message home to them and keep reinforcing it." Benson and Miller called on members to turn the political heat up on state legislators, both at their district offices and in Albany, with letters, e-mails and phone calls demanding their support for the union's contract fight. "The message has to be: 'Treat us as fairly as you and the governor have treated yourselves and the Metropolitan Transit workers in New York City,' " Miller said. Contact them via PEF's internet home page or through the AFL-CIO toll-free number at 1-877-373-7920. "We must keep up our letters, rallies, phone calls and e-mails to the governor and the media, as well," Miller said. "By expanding our campaign to include the 211 state lawmakers who must stand for election this year, we will keep all of the Capitol's policymakers under siege until they realize that they cannot break us. They must give us the fairness and the respect we deserve." |
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