STATE ECONOMY RALLYING? — State Comptroller H. Carl McCall talks with PEF Secretary-Treasurer Jane Hallum and President Roger Benson about state finances at PEF’s legislative reception in Albany in February. — Photo by Fred Moody Union presses state lawmakers to pass pension, health care, labor reforms By SHERRY HALBROOK PEF is hard at work making sure its members’ interests and public services are considered on a wide variety of budget and other legislative issues. In addition to testifying at legislative hearings on these issues as they arise, PEF leaders and staff have been talking with lawmakers at legislative receptions, breakfasts, conferences and other occasions. For instance, the union was well represented at the annual conference of Black and Puerto Rican legislators in February. This month, PEF activists will be front and center for the annual Somos El Futuro conference of the Legislature’s Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force. Pension reforms Among the union’s top legislative concerns is “25/55” tier-reform legislation, S2945B/A5558B, that would allow public employees with just 25 years of service to retire without penalty at age 55, instead of requiring a minimum of 30 years of service. According to PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran, it would eliminate the early retirement penalty for members of pension Tiers 2, 3 and 4 who automatically lose up to 27 percent of their pensions if they retire before age 62 with less than 30 years of service credit. And PEF has weighed in on the governor’s early retirement incentive (ERI) that would offer up to three years of extra service credits to employees as young as age 50 with at least 10 years of service credit. But additional penalties for retiring before age 55 are included in the proposal. As proposed, only employees in selected titles at selected agencies could apply for it, based on whose jobs the state is willing to eliminate. PEF urges the ERI be made available to any state employees who qualify, but without requiring that their positions be eliminated when they retire. Labor/Taylor Law reforms PEF is supporting several Taylor Law reforms including: • Binding Arbitration of PS&T Contract, S1254, (An Assembly companion bill is expected soon.) which would provide for binding arbitration of the state PS&T unit contract if PEF and the state cannot reach agreement; • Right of Representation, S5259-A/A8741-A, which would guarantee all public employees the right to have their union rep with them during disciplinary interviews; and • Remedy for Bad Faith Bargaining, S5899/A4085, would provide for an effective remedy when public employers refuse to bargain in good faith. PEF is also pushing to have legislation introduced that would make permanent existing Taylor Law provisions that have to be renewed every two years. These include agency-shop provisions, injunctive relief under improper practice charges, and binding arbitration for certain essential personnel. PEF is also supporting A6328 which would make it an unfair labor practice to replace striking workers with permanent replacements. While this would not affect public employees, it would go a long way toward leveling the playing field in the private sector, including bargaining units PEF represents at NDRI and Lockport Memorial Hospital. Life after veto The governor’s veto doesn’t always spell the end of the road for legislation. The Whistleblower Bill to protect nurses and other health-care workers from retaliation when they report poor patient care was vetoed last year. But a revised version has already passed both the state Assembly and Senate and this time the governor appears ready to sign it into law. Curran said the union is also working with legislators to redraft the Shadow Agency legislation that the governor vetoed. And a vetoed bill amending the state Civil Service Law to extend an injured employee’s job rights from one year to two has been rewritten and reintroduced with PEF support as S6422/A10353. Nursing/health care reforms A number of important bills are pending or in the works to improve conditions for health care workers and their patients. PEF nurses are coming to Albany April 23 to tell lawmakers why they should support this legislation.

PEF keeps sharp eye on state budget By SHERRY HALBROOK State legislative leaders and the governor appeared to be closer to agreement than usual for March in their estimates of how much money the state can afford to spend in the new fiscal year starting April 1. However, PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran cautioned that’s no guarantee of an early budget agreement. Probing budget depths Between the union’s number crunching and the probing efforts of its labor-management committees, PEF has turned up some additional details about how some state programs could be affected by the governor’s 2002-03 Executive Budget proposal. For instance, most of the reductions in patient capacity at state Office of Mental Health facilities budgeted for 2002-03, have already taken place. “All but 160-170 of the 395 bed reductions recommended for the new fiscal year, have already been made,” said PEF’s chief fiscal analyst, Tom Cetrino. “But while they closed beds faster than expected last year, there’s no anticipated increase in the total number of beds slated for elimination by April 2004,” he said. The union has also learned 20 of the 76 new positions proposed at the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) would be in the PS&T unit. And the budget calls for 39 new beds to open this year in the state’s NYS CARES program — the last of the 100 state-operated beds originally proposed in 1999. Two of the ways OMRDD plans to cut its expenses are through better management of overtime and by developing an automated employee time sheet system. “According to OMRDD, this initiative will not include swipe cards or any similar technology,” Cetrino said. “It will allow computer entry of information currently entered on paper time sheets and will allow payroll transactions to be generated electronically.” “None of the many technical amendments which the governor has presented to his original budget have a significant effect on PEF’s budget priorities,” Cetrino said, “but some programs would be affected.” At the state Health Department, for instance, the community health program would get an extra $500,000 in federal aid for rape prevention. And Helen Hayes Hospital would be able to carry over $4.5 million left over from last year. And the amendments clarify that the state expects to receive an additional $10 million in federal funds for the state Office of Disability Determinations. “It helps explain how they can avoid staff reductions at ODD while trimming $14.8 million in state funding,” Cetrino said. Federal aid estimates high Cetrino said his biggest worry is the growing deficits in the state general fund projected for the next few years. “The 2002-03 budget proposal depends on using reserves and other one-time revenues that won’t be available to cover expenses in the coming years,” he said. For instance, the 2002-03 budget proposal relies heavily on federal aid the state didn’t spend last year. “What will happen next year, if we have no federal funds left to roll over?” Cetrino questioned. The recently approved $20 billion in federal aid linked to the 2001 terrorist attack, doesn’t apply to regular state operating expenses, he said. And the economic-recovery package passed by Congress in mid-March includes three years of corporate tax breaks on depreciation that will cost the state and New York city a total of $2.7 billion in taxes. “What we gain on one hand, we may lose on the other,” Cetrino said.