Sharing Knowledge — Ken Brynien addresses
delegates at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention in
Washington, DC in June.
Member unity faced down givebacks,
layoff threats
The national economy is in a severe
recession, all but two states face deficits, many have been forced to lay off or
furlough employees, others have cut pay and benefits of current employees and
some have done all of these.
New York state’s fiscal condition is no different. In fact, New York’s deficit
is only second in magnitude to California’s. Despite this, we have been able to
thwart proposals that would have forced us to reopen our contract or face
massive layoffs.
Over the past year, the governor has called for a hard hiring freeze, lagging
our pay, eliminating a pay raise, requiring new retirees to pay a greater
portion of their health care costs, contributing to the Medicare Part B
premiums, and the creation of a new retirement tier that would have all but
eliminated the gains we made in reducing inequities among the state’s retirement
tiers.
We fought these proposals by offering solutions of our own that would provide
cost savings without adversely affecting the state work force.
We successfully beat back nearly all of the governor’s proposals. Most
importantly, despite significant pressure to do so, we did not reopen our
contract and we did not accept higher health care costs for our members or
retirees. This was accomplished with your help, through rallies, lobbying and
other membership action.
With your help, we were able to whittle down the governor’s demands to just one,
a new retirement tier. There will be times when, no matter what the choice, we
face consequences that have potentially negative effects upon our members. We
chose to maintain the job security of our members and maintain the sanctity of
our contract by accepting a new retirement tier in exchange for the elimination
of 8,700 proposed layoffs and a pledge from the governor of no layoffs for the
next two years. While not a complete victory, it is the best available outcome
for our current members.
My commitment and the commitment of PEF to retirement reform remains. While we
have suffered a setback, we will continue to work to address inequities in the
retirement tiers that have been forced upon us.
I am confident with your help, once the fiscal crisis is over, we can again work
to restore past gains and continue to eliminate inequities among the retirement
tiers.
By KENNETH BRYNIEN
PEF recently concluded its triennial elections. I would like to congratulate
those elected as well as thank those who participated in the elections.
Elections provide our members a voice in the direction of the union as well as
affirm the policies of their elected leaders. For my administration this has
meant job security, better contracts and retirement reform. These are the goals
which we strive to achieve, and use as the measure of success for PEF.
