Scroll down to read this
month's member's letters.
What’s
location pay Geographic pay?
To the Editor:
Can you please explain the following to me and also who is
entitled and why
• Location pay;
• Geographic Area differential?
Are there different amounts of money for these?
Many of us need to understand these benefits.
Robert Pratt
Long Island
Editor’s
note: Location pay is a negotiated item which adds to pay for
employees who work (and usually also live) in areas of the state,
currently the lower Hudson, New York City and Long Island
regions, where the cost of living is substantially higher than in
other areas. The location pay adjustment is stated in the
contract and usually applies to all unit members in those areas
of the state, regardless of their job title.
Under Article 7 of the tentative PS&T agreement, the
location-pay adjustment for members downstate would increase to
$1,000 retroactive to April 2000. It would go up by another $100
in April 2001 and again in April 2002.
If the contract is ratified, PEF and the state will also discuss
extending the location pay to other suburban counties downstate.
Geographic differentials are not a negotiated item. The state
Department of Civil Service decides on requests from state
agencies to establish these differentials for specific titles in
specific areas of the state.Geographic differentials also add to
employees’ pay, but they are title specific and are meant to
help the state overcome recruitment and retention problems in
these titles when the regular pay for them is not competitive in
a particular part of the state. The areas of the state selected
to receive geographic differentials may or may not overlap with
those that are also designated for location pay.
If the contract is ratified, the state has agreed to request an
amendment to state Civil Service Law that would authorize the
state director of classification and compensation at the
Department of Civil Service to establish geographic differentials
for New York State employees assigned to work outside the state.
VP’s
death inspires poetic tribute
To the Editor:
In memory of Jean DeBow
Ruby tear falling to Earth’s purple sleeps
Amidst emerald, gold and silvered hues,
Russets to dark repose, in silence creeps,
As day descends to ebonies and blues.
Fainting rays blaze across the azure sky
Call once more before her final embers
The passion that it gave once to the day
In last light asking us to remember;
So as to give to every ending day
A place for each to honor memory
Time to recreate colors of a life
That I shall always hold in mind of thee.
Now as each day is lost to me each night
So shall I keep your memory in sight.
Victor Batorsky
Albany
Just got
MPA; thanks to PEF
To the Editor:
I received my master’s degree in public administration from
Marist College on May 20.
Without the PEF Voucher Program, I would never have made it.
I wish to thank PEF. And I urge members to take advantage of this
worthwhile program.
CHARLES SCHWARZ
Middletown
Editor’s
note: It is too soon to be certain what form the education
programs would take under the new PS&T tentative agreement.
The education programs are under the Article 15 committee and
those committee members will make the decisions about how to
spend the money.
However, PEF did negotiate four full years of funding for the
committee and increased the amount in each year, as well.
Letters policy
The Communicator welcomes
letters to the editor about union issues and events relevant to
PEF's diverse membership.
All letters are subject to editing for space, fairness and good
taste.
Please keep them brief (up to one page, double-spaced or a
maximum of 250 words), and please include your name and phone
number for verification.
Send letters to:
The
Communicator
Public Employees Federation
P.O. Box 12414
Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414
or email Denyce Duncan Lacy,
Executive Editor The Communicator - Director of Public Relations mailto:dlacy@pef.org
or Sherry Halbrook, Editor of The Communicator- shalbrook@pef.org