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program To the Editor: The state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities’ (OMRDD) Youth Opportunity Program provides academically underprepared youths with part-time employment opportunities in OMRDD and the state Office of Mental Health (OMH) by exposing them to various disciplines within health related careers. Despite the continued success of the program since its inception in 1967, YOP has been abolished, reduced or omitted from state budgets by past and present governors. The struggle to ensure the program’s success falls on the shoulders of program supervisors dedicated to assuring that each student sets realistic goals, reaches full potential and works to graduate from high school. These hard working state employees help the students understand they are advocates for people with learning and/or developmental disabilities and mental illness and that the students can make a difference in their communities. The program’s survival has been the result of extensive letter-writing campaigns and meetings with elected officials who have recognized the program provides meaningful job training opportunities in a structured environment. PEF has been instrumental in helping YOP spread the word of how the work done by these students benefits those less fortunate. The efforts of PEF leaders such as Gregory Case, who has been instrumental in guiding us through these difficult and stressful times, plus the help of Communicator reporter Deborah Miles in spotlighting the program have made it less painstaking for the rest of us. As a result, YOP staff have gained confidence in knowing that together we are helping to build a quality foundation for our future work force. Upon serving as YOP coordinator for 27 years, I will retire in September. I trust the program will continue to thrive with the support of people such as you at PEF who care about the issues and concerns of the state workforce in responsibilities of employment and citizenship. I commend PEF on its dedication to helping young adults be the best that they can be. NORMA R. TALAVERA YOP coordinator Raise state’s minimum wage To the Editor: Here in upstate New York, the minimum wage is falling down on the job. It is supposed to protect workers and their families by ensuring they make at least enough to make ends meet. But for the past two years, the minimum wage has been fixed at $5.15 an hour while the cost of living has gone up, eroding the minimum wage’s real value. The need for a higher minimum wage is obvious. In Rochester, the cost of living for a family of four is about $39,000 a year, or $3,250 a month, leaving the family to decide what to sacrifice — the rent, the heat, the car payment, or do you convince your daughter her 2-year-old shoes still fit? By those standards, the choice before the state Senate and Gov. George Pataki — whether or not to enact a minimum wage increase — is an easy one. With 612,000 New Yorkers and their families set to benefit, including 30,000 people in Monroe County, the real question is, “Why is Pataki hinting he might not sign it?” Among US cities, Rochester has the highest rate of child poverty. That has to change. If the state Senate and Pataki act on the minimum wage in a special session, it will. FRANK BESSER PEF Region 3 coordinator PAUL SHUH UAW Local 1097 Editor’s note: An expanded version of this letter ran in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle as a guest editorial. Feels article was ‘one-sided’ To the Editor: An article in the July-August issue of The Communicator titled “Immigrants’ values shape life of public service” gives only one side of the serious problem of out-of-control legal and illegal immigration to our state and country. Growing population pressures, homeland-security issues and burdens on public services are just some of the problems that immigration can bring. Issues raised in this article that should concern PEF and other unions are: • Use of the term “undocumented” to refer to illegal aliens (using soft language to cover up something); • Promotion of illegal aliens, although employers may hire them to undercut minimum wages or benefits; and • A one-sided approach to partisan politics and advocacy groups which promote very specific concerns, rather than the greater good. Many other immigration policy issues can be raised, such as the damage to other countries when their educated and politically active citizens leave. Both the pros and cons of immigration and how it affects PEF members should be presented in The Communicator. VIRGINIA LEWANDOWSKI Lagrangeville The Communicator Letters policy We welcome 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 email Denyce Duncan Lacy, Executive Editor The Communicator - Director of Public Relations dduncanlacy@pef.org Sherry Halbrook, Editor of The Communicator- shalbrook@pef.org |
