Union
mobilizes to fight cuts
PEF fires back
against proposed budget
By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY
PEF leaders quickly mobilized to protect the biggest
targets of the proposed state budget ax in early
February, rallying members, designing and placing
newspaper ads and giving testimony to state lawmakers.
Led by PEF President Roger Benson, Vice President Pat
Baker and Executive Board Member Nithiananda Chatterjie,
a research scientist at the Institute for Basic Research
(IBR), the fight back efforts began February 6 with a
rally outside IBR.
The governor’s budget would close that
state-of-the-art facility on Staten Island, ending vital
research, diagnosis and treatment of developmental
disabilities and putting more than 200 jobs at risk.
“IBR performs ground-breaking research into
devastating conditions such as Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s disease, autism and Down syndrome, among
others,” Benson said. “To close the institute
would kill the hope of individuals who suffer from these
diseases and their families who are looking for
cures”.
Benson was joined at the rally by state Assembly Members
Michael Cusick and Robert Straniere, New York City
Council Member Mike McMahon and many of the 218 staff
members and researchers who will lose their jobs starting
in July if the governor’s proposal goes into effect.
PEF also created full-page newspaper ads warning the
public of the loss of the services to the community, if
IBR is closed. The union created similar ads protesting
the planned closures of the Elmira, Hutchings and
Middletown psychiatric centers. Bearing the headlines
“Closing doors, killing hope,” each ad features
a tombstone with the name of the local facility, followed
by the dates it was opened and the date it would close:
July 1, 2003. The ads end with a call to action to
readers to tell state lawmakers to keep the facilities
open and “…keep hope alive.”
Budget needs
overhaul
In his testimony before a joint legislative committee
hearing in Albany last month, PEF President Roger Benson
blasted the proposed Executive Budget for the “wrong
choices” it makes regarding the state’s duty to
serve the public and protect New York’s economy.
And Benson called on state lawmakers to reject the budget
proposals to slash services, hike health care costs and
cause layoffs.
“This budget will not be fixed by minor tinkering.
It doesn’t need a tune-up; this budget needs a major
engine overhaul,” Benson testified.
“Instead of asking all New Yorkers to share in the
pain caused by our fiscal crisis, this budget walks away
from its responsibility to provide services to the
mentally ill, developmentally disabled, and troubled
youth.
“It walks away from its responsibility to maintain
publicly-funded teaching hospitals. The proposal to
increase the health insurance premiums paid by retirees
is just plain cold-hearted. This is particularly true in
light of the fact that the wealthiest New Yorkers and New
York’s businesses are not asked to bear their fair
share of our state’s budget crisis,” the union
leader said.
No job-killing
layoffs
“Our first priority is to avoid layoffs,”
Benson continued. “Almost 1,800 state workers face
layoffs under the Executive Budget. We will not be able
to avoid layoffs this year if we close three psychiatric
centers, the Institute for Basic Research, and cut back
the operations of the Nathan Kline and NY Psychiatric
Institutes. ‘Job-killing’ layoffs not only hurt
state employees and their families, they hurt our
economy, and they result in the loss of services
essential to many New Yorkers, particularly the mentally
ill.”
The union leader urged the legislators to restore funding
to keep the Institute for Basic Research and the Elmira,
Hutchings and Middletown Psychiatric Centers open, and to
reject the governor’s proposal to consolidate the
Nathan Kline and NY Psychiatric Institutes.
Benson said PEF also opposes the proposal to privatize
the Youth Facilities program in the Office of Children
and Family Services, calling it “the first step
toward an abandonment of state responsibility for these
services and our troubled youth.”
Share benefits,
burdens
Instead of making those harsh budget cuts, Benson said
lawmakers should pass legislation closing corporate tax
loopholes and imposing a two-year income tax surcharge on
the wealthiest New Yorkers to raise the revenues.
“The governor has said this budget is about jobs and
taxes,” Benson said.
“The real choice is what taxes are going to be
raised and who is going to pay those taxes. It is time
for everyone to pitch in to help New York out of this
budget crisis.
“It is often said that the state Constitution
requires a balanced budget, and it should. But balance
should mean more than debits and credits. It should also
mean a fair budget where we all share the benefits and we
all share the burdens.”
See related budget links below:
• Office of Mental Health
(OMH)
• Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities (OMRDD)
• Office of Children and
Family Services (OCFS)
• Transportation Department (DOT)
• Office of General Services (OGS)
• Department of Environmental
Conservation (ENCON)
• Education Department (SED)
• Vocational Education Services to Individuals with
Disabilities (VESID)
• Health Department (DOH)
• Department of Corrections
Services
• Division of Parole (DOP)
• Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV)
|
