Thousands protest unpaid furloughs

By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF members turned out by the thousands May 10 at more than a dozen rallies spanning New York state to protest the governor’s plan to force them to lose a day of work and pay each week until a state budget is passed.

Although state lawmakers passed the governor’s emergency spending bill May 10 that included the furloughs, PEF convinced federal District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn to block the furloughs with a temporary restraining order issued May 12.

Kahn also ordered Gov. David Paterson to start paying PEF members and other state employees the raises required in their contracts. The governor had been withholding the raises, saying the state can’t afford to pay them.

Kahn set May 26 to hear the state’s arguments for why he should not issue a preliminary injunction against the furloughs and withholding of the raises.

“We are very pleased Judge Kahn granted our motion for the temporary restraining order, and that Gov. Paterson has complied with it,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. “Our members are entitled to receive the benefits guaranteed them in the PS&T contract. If the state budget is not passed, that’s not our members’ fault. And if the state has cash flow problems, that’s not our fault either. We believe the governor has far better options for resolving those issues, than picking our pockets.”

Brynien also noted the governor has kept public attention focused on the $250 million he wants state employees to contribute toward closing the state’s $9.2 billion budget gap, instead of the $9 billion that’s needed.

“The state’s employees are working as hard as they can to maintain services to the public in this very difficult time,” Brynien said. “It’s unfair and disingenuous to make them scapegoats for the far deeper and more fundamental budgetary issues at play here. Attacking our members is just an effort to distract New Yorkers from the real lack of leadership that plagues our state.”

Brynien praised the thousands of PEF members who turned out for lunchtime rallies May 10 on just four days notice, and the additional hundreds of members in Manhattan who rallied again May 13 across the street from the governor’s New York City offices.

Rallies were held in Hauppauge, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Binghamton, White Plains, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Plattsburg, Utica, Watertown, Syracuse, Hornell, Rochester, Elmira and Buffalo.

Two rallies were held April 30 in Endicott and in Niagara Falls.

“PEF members also have flooded their state legislators with calls, letters and e-mails on these issues,” Brynien added, “and we are watching closely to see who stands up for us and who does not. The entire state Legislature is up for re-election in November and they will be asking for our support.”

Several members of the state Assembly spoke at the May 10 PEF rally in Capitol Park. North Country Republican Teresa Sayward joined Capital District Democrats Bob Reilly, Tim Gordon and Jack McEneny in expressing their support for state employees.

McEneny, who later that day voted for the spending bill that included the furloughs, led a bi-partisan group of Assembly members a few days later on a gambit to get into Paterson’s ceremonial “Red Room” and demand a meeting to discuss the budget and the politically difficult position he had put them in with his furloughs proposal.

Although the legislators emerged from that meeting saying it was cordial and productive, no budget agreement was forthcoming.

Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Albany, voted for the furloughs, but then introduced a resolution saying he and other lawmakers had no choice because to defeat the furloughs, which they saw as illegal, would have cut off emergency funding to keep state services going.

The resolution was passed unanimously by the Senate, and Judge Kahn quoted it in issuing the temporary restraining order.

Forced to pay employees their raises and forgo the furloughs, Paterson turned to threats of layoffs, a move that would violate yet another written agreement he made last year with the union.

(For updates on the May 26 hearing and other events, check the PEF website at www.pef.org.)