LISTEN UP, GOVERNOR
- (Left), PEF
Executive Board member Greg Case travelled from Utica to
join members Linda Gaydushek and Deborah Boardwell in
leading a whistle-blowing, slogan-chanting rally for
contract justice outside the Rainbow Restaurant in
Johnstown last month. Gov. Pataki slipped past the
protestors to attend a GOP-sponsored dinner inside. -
Photo by John Connery
CONTRACT CONFRONTATION - PEF members confront state Assembly Minority Leader John Faso outside the Fort Orange Club in downtown Albany in late January, where he was scheduled to attend a GOP fund-raiser. On January 5, the minority leader instructed his members not to show their support for state employees by wearing red and yellow ribbons during the governor's "State of the State" speech. This demonstration was designed to remind Faso that union members expect advocacy from their elected representatives. - Photo by John Epting
Members shadow Pataki, demand contract justice
PEF Division 218
Council Leader Dave Murphy of the Tryon Residential
Center led nearly 150 unionized state workers in a rally
for contract justice on February 7 outside the Rainbow
Restaurant on Main Street in Johnstown, where Gov. George
Pataki was addressing Fulton County Republicans.
Most of the demonstrators were professional employees who
work in Fulton and Montgomery counties, but some came
from as far away as Utica to tell the governor they are
angry over the lack of progress on contract negotiations
with the state.
The Johnstown demonstration was one of several that took
place around the state last month. PEF members also held
rallies on Feb. 9 in Long Island City, Feb. 10 on Staten
Island and Feb. 14 at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in
Buffalo.
- Denyce Duncan Lacy