Scroll down to read member's letters.
To the Editor:
At PEF Division 219 at the state Transportation Department in Buffalo, we have been successful through the Health and Safety Committee in getting management to perform baseline and follow-up hearing tests for our members who work in program areas with a risk for hearing loss.
We want to remind all PEF members and recent retirees that NYS Workers’ Compensation Law gives retirees two years from their date of retirement to file a claim for job-related loss or diminishment of hearing.
If you are a PEF member and feel you need a hearing test, request it through your agency’s safety program director and follow through with your PEF steward, if necessary.
WENDY L. JOHNSTON
Buffalo
To the Editor:
Do the majority of PEF members want this amount of time, energy, and resources spent on fighting “clock watching”?
In the nursing profession, we are bound by our ethics and patient needs, to arrive at the worksite promptly, take only our allotted breaks, and stay on duty for the duration of our shift.
I believe other departments in state service are bound by the same ethics and wouldn't have a problem with an honest system of “clock watching”.
It seems that safeguards are in place to deal with those few who are habitually tardy or use excessive unscheduled absence.
Shouldn't the membership vote for the necessity of this issue, before an exhaustive campaign is undertaken?
Dale Wells
Ogdensburg
To the Editor:
Question: How many of you took a bath of red ink in the Deferred Compensation Program's growth funds this past year? I did.
The New York State Deferred Compensation Program offers a large variety of funds and it brags about that fact. However, two kinds of funds are missing: Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) and hedge funds.
And guess what? My REIT was up 34 percent this past year. Some hedge funds did well also. Too bad, I didn't know enough to put a lot more money in the REIT.
I have been saying for a number of years that the Deferred Compensation Plan needs a REIT in the mix. What is the Deferred Compensation Board waiting for?
Hedge funds are a special case. Whereas I'm sure the Deferred Compensation Board can offer an REIT anytime it wants, I know that it is powerless to offer a hedge fund. That's because Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decided a long time ago that hedge funds are only suitable for wealthy investors.
The logic behind what Congress did utterly escapes me. Hedge funds simply let professional managers do what any small investor with a margin account can do: buy and sell options known as “put” and “call” options.
In “bearish” stock markets, which we had this past year, smart investors were making bundles of money betting against stocks.
What's wrong with that? Some people in Congress seem to think it isn't patriotic for the managers of mutual funds to bet against stocks. Yet any politician will tell you that making money legally is as American as apple pie. So why don't we change the law to let professional money mangers do what they're trained to do?
ROBERT FISHER
Albany
The
Communicator welcomes letters to the editor about
union issues and events relevant to PEF's diverse
membership.
All letters are subject to editing for space, fairness
and good taste.
Please keep them brief (up to one page, double-spaced or
a maximum of 250 words), and please include your name and
phone number for verification.
Send letters to:
The
Communicator
Public Employees Federation
P.O. Box 12414
Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414
or email Denyce Duncan
Lacy, Executive Editor The Communicator - Director of
Public Relations dduncanlacy@pef.org
or Sherry Halbrook, Editor of The
Communicator- shalbrook@pef.org