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Members mobilize, work with other groups to block bad
budget proposals
By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF is waging a multi-level campaign to get state legislators to pass a more
“sensible” state budget for 2006-07 than the one proposed by the governor in his
Executive Budget.
The union is linking arms with groups of like-minded organizations calling for
better budget choices and opposing tax cuts that would benefit big corporations
and very wealthy New Yorkers at the expense of working families.
At its March meeting, the PEF Executive Board voted to contribute $25,000 to the
ad campaign sponsored by a coalition called Fiscal Fairness.
PEF has been running an ad campaign targeting some of the budget’s worst
proposals.
On March 1, PEF leaders and political activists from key agencies converged on
the Capitol in Albany to talk with legislative committee chairs and others about
the tax issue and many agency-related spending and program proposals in the
Executive Budget.
The PEF activists gave lawmakers agency-specific materials that spell out PEF’s
budget issues and concerns, such as staffing cuts and privatization proposals.
PEF political action liaisons (PALs) and other activists have been meeting with
their state legislators in their home district offices to discuss the budget
issues. And the union members have buttonholed lawmakers at regional legislative
receptions and the annual statewide PEF reception for lawmakers at the Black and
Puerto Rican Legislative Conference in February.
PEF President Roger Benson testified at a state legislative hearing on the
budget in February, and in March he testified before a state Assembly Committee
investigating maintenance problems with state bridges. He told committee members
the state Department of Transportation is wasting millions of dollars on
contracting out bridge inspections. If it did that work in-house, he said, the
money it saved could be used to maintain and repair bridges sooner.
In March, PEF mobilized members to e-mail their state legislators opposing the
Executive Budget proposal to create five-year temporary information technology
positions that would be shut out of the state pension system (and
collective-bargaining rights and protections) and forced into 401-K plans,
instead. PEF sees it as a “foot in the door” for eventually shifting all state
employees off of their defined-benefit pensions and into the risky
defined-contribution investment programs, such as 401-Ks.
The union also gave a green light to its activists and leaders at the state
Transportation Department for an intensive mobilization to fight Executive
Budget proposals that favor big private contractors, waste millions of tax
dollars and undermine quality control and accountability.
For more information about how you can help shape state budget policy, contact
your regional coordinator or sign up for the AIM e-news at the PEF Action Center
on the PEF Web site at www.pef.org.
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The Communicator April 2006
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