PEF members take budget issues to venues statewide
TOUGH QUESTIONS — PEF Region 5 members question Gov. Paterson on
proposed budget cuts at his meeting on the budget at Broome Community
College in February. — Photo by Mark Lippolis
STOP WASTEFUL CONTRACTING — PEF Vice President Joe Fox tells
reporters in March, as they await the governor’s arrival in Buffalo, the
state could save millions of dollars if it stopped paying contractors to do
work that could be done better and for less money by state employees. —
Photo by Caroline Esposito
By SHERRY HALBROOK
Wherever Gov. David Paterson goes on his “town-hall-meetings” tour of the state
to build support for his budget proposals he finds PEF members ready to tell
their side of the issues.
Not only did members confront Paterson with their call for budget fairness at
his meeting sites in Buffalo and Binghamton, they joined March 5 rallies
throughout the state, including one on the Capitol Steps in Albany, and others
in New York and in Rochester.
State legislators also heard from members who visited them in their district
offices and buttonholed them at the annual conference of the Black, Puerto Rican
and Asian Legislators Association in Albany.
Several PEF regions also held legislative breakfasts or receptions to discuss
why PEF feels the state has better options for balancing the budget than cutting
important services, laying off employees, lagging pay, reneging on contractual
pay raises and other measures in the Executive Budget proposal. The union’s top
recommendations include stopping the state’s expensive outsourcing to private
consultants, and raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.
“PEF members have been working very hard to educate our lawmakers about how
these budget proposals will affect the public,” said PEF President Ken Brynien.
“Unfortunately, in some cases, the ax is already falling.”
For instance, the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services did not
wait until the end of the state fiscal year, March 31, to close the Manhattan
Addiction Treatment Center. (See related story)
Brynien has been traveling the state to meet with members whose jobs are in
jeopardy.
The union also has been campaigning hard to save its members at NDRI (National
Development and Research Inc.) in New York city. Proposed state budget cuts
would eliminate the grant funding to support NDRI’s Aids Outreach Program that
employs more than 20 PEF members. They have no civil service status or
protections.
The program helps drug addicts understand the risks of substance abuse and HIV,
and guides them toward treatment and rehabilitation services.
At the opposite end of the state, PEF learned last month that Roswell Park
Cancer Institute in Buffalo abruptly laid off all of its research associates.
While intended to cut costs, this is not directly related to state budget cuts.
The institute handed the 24 associates letters giving them three weeks’ notice,
but did not allow them to stay on the job for that time. Instead, managers
escorted them out of the building.
PEF immediately began a public relations and ad campaign to get the Roswell
members reinstated. (See related story)
