PEF Public Sector Pride
Reg. 9 activist honored for activism
By M.K.FOTTREll
It’s not difficult to see why PEF member Vivian Street was named a “2001 Woman of Distinction” by the state Legislature.

State Sen. Thomas Morahan, a Republican from New City who nominated Street for the honor, called her “one who will shine in excellence in working for the betterment of her community.”

Street, a developmental disabilities program specialist at the Hudson Valley Developmental Disabilities Services Office, is an activist in PEF Region 9. She is a steward in Division 276, has been an elected delegate at numerous PEF conventions, and serves as vice president of the Mid-State Chapter of the Black Caucus of PEF.

Street has been a PEF member since its inception and believes activism is key to the union’s success.

“Being active in PEF gives you a voice,” she says. “So that we can get better and better contracts.”

Street is also president of the Spring Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which she says, “is an advocacy group for social justice. I deal with issues that impact everyone.”

She calls her commitment to PEF and the NAACP, “a natural marriage.”

Street, who is married with one son and three grandchildren, considers her involvement with the First Baptist Church of Spring Valley her “spiritual anchor.”

She is on the church’s Board of Trustees, and is active in several of its auxiliaries.

She encourages other PEF members to get involved in the union. “You must be concerned with your rights as a state worker,” she says. “Take your talents and volunteer in the union.”

PEF member receives Nurse of Distinction award at BPC

PEF member Isabel Molina, an intensive case manager at Buffalo Psychiatric Center, received the center’s “Nurse of Distinction” award during a ceremony at the facility’s Nurse Recognition Luncheon in May.

It was at the award ceremony that Molina learned she had received the most nominations in the history of the award.

When asked why that might be so, Molina is thoughtful.

“It’s co-workers who do the nominating. I think my co-workers feel comfortable coming to me whenever they have questions,” she says. “I help out with concerns about medications and and other medical issues.”

It may also be because Molina, a member of PEF Division 180 in Region 1, has worked in several different positions at BPC since her start there 23 years ago. She began in admissions, moved into secured care (for the most difficult patients — some acutely psychotic) and then into intensive case management.

Molina does home visits with patients to assess their status and provides services or linkage to services according to the patient’s needs.

“We do it all,” she says with a laugh.

But on a sober note, she adds that safety on the job is a priority. After the 1999 murder of co-worker and PEF member Judi Scanlon — murdered by a patient during a home visit — Molina sat on a safety committee that developed new safety policies and procedures for case managers. Those policies are currently in place.

“We always have to be cautious,” Molina says. “Judi’s death taught us that no home visit is routine.”

Molina also recently completed her Master’s degree and has nearly reached her next goal — to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. — M.K. Fottrell

PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran, who is also a Rochester City Councilman, won praise and a certificate of appreciation from the city’s living Wage Committee in May for his role in gaining passage of the Rochester Living Wage Ordinance.
— Photo by Tom Privitere

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 SERVICE WITH A SMILE — PEF Executive Board member Bob Harms beams as he accepts the AFT special Service Award from George Springer, Regional Director of the Northeast Region of AFT. — AFT photo

FT honors Harms
Every organization has its core of members that it can always count on to get the unglamorous, nitty-gritty work done that everyone else takes for granted.

Such inconspicuous heroes are nearly always unsung and under-appreciated. That’s why, Bob Harms was taken aback in May when he was honored with a Special Service Award by PEF’s international affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers at its Federation of Public Employees Convention in Detroit.

If the nomination included only half of Harms’ many efforts on behalf of his fellow PEF members, it would have been plenty to merit the honor.

As PEF Executive Board member, he represents his co-workers at the state Transportation Department’s regional office in Albany.

Harms went to work for DOT in August 1969, after serving two terms in Vietnam in the Sea Bees.

“I started at DOT as an engineering technician and I worked my way up to civil engineer, the hard way,” he says. Harms has been acting assistant regional geotechnical engineer for about 14 years.

“I’ve held just about every job in PEF Division 258,” Harms says. “I’ve been a steward since 1981. I was assistant council leader, and then council leader. When I was elected to the PEF Executive Board in 1981, I gave up being council leader and was elected secretary-treasurer.”

Harms still handles most of the disciplinary grievances in his division and represents it on the statewide DOT Labor-Management Committee.

He has represented the members at all but PEF’s first two conventions. And he has represented PEF at four AFT national conventions, as well as several FPE conventions.

As if that weren’t enough, Harms volunteers for countless chores, from preparing holiday baskets for parolees’ families to chairing the Region 8 golf outing and serving on the region’s Financial Oversight Committee.

— Sherry Halbrook