By SHERRY HALBROOK
More than 800 delegates attending the 25th Annual PEF Convention in September established clear priorities and goals for the union over the next 12 months.

Topping the list: Defeating President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004, protecting public services and jobs from budget cuts and privatization, and achieving a fair contract.

The delegates approved a special order of business committing the union to work with its international affiliates on a campaign to “show Bush the door in 2004.”

Delegates, participating in a “cyber rally,” blitzed Gov. George Pataki’s office with nearly 600 faxes calling on him to “Cut state waste, not state workers.”

The governor and state leaders can expect to hear a lot more from PEF on that subject, because many of the delegates attended workshops on how to identify and expose the way tax dollars are being wasted and quality lost at their agencies when public services are handed off to the private sector.

A video on the union’s first 25 years evoked a strong sense of accomplishment among the delegates.

Harkening to impassioned calls from some PEF activists to “cherish” and preserve the things that set PEF apart from other unions, the delegates turned down proposed amendments to PEF’s constitution and bylaws that would have changed the titles and constituencies of some regional and statewide offices.

They also dealt with 57 proposed resolutions, and approved PEF’s agenda of legislative issues for 2004.

The annual convention luncheons hosted by the PEF Veterans Committee and the PEF Nurses Committee were well attended.

The veterans were alerted to federal budget cuts that threaten to close three of the 12 Veterans’ Administration hospitals in New York state.

And Candice Owley, who chairs the American Federation of Teachers Division of Health Care, told PEF nurses how privatization of public hospitals is destroying the quality and availability of health care throughout the United States.

FOLLOWING DEBATE — Region 8 delegates from the state Ed. Dept. listen to debate. — Photos by John Epting

James Clancy, national president of Canada’s second-largest labor union, the National Union of Public and General Employees, welcomed the delegates to Montreal.

Clancy said his union’s 330,000 members are facing many of the same problems as their brothers and sisters in the United States.

“I really want to tell you how much we respect you and the work you do as public-service workers and especially as public-service unionists,” Clancy told the delegates.

“It’s critical to mobilize our members and to go into the public arena and debate policy. ...We can’t leave the question of public policy just to the politicians,” the Canadian labor leader said. “We need to harness our resources, not simply by buttonholing legislators, but by going community, to community to make sure the public realizes that public services are what make those communities good places to live.”

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Inside This Issue
Features
Convention: wrap:
Delegates set top PEF Priorities
Resolutions focus on benefits, work...
PEF ready for many challenges ahead
Union remains financially sound...
Delegates reject constitution changes

Departments
President's Message: Delegates lead
You Said It: Member's letters this month
PS&T Contract Update: Patience, timing
Members' take on contract talks
Member Mobilization: Workshop keys
Members Highlights
Nurses' Station: Fight for public health..
Legislative Update: Gov. vetoes bills
Health Benefits: Enrollees’ costs rising
PEF Membership Benefits & Travel Corp

Union Matters
We will never forget...9-11-01
The Trustees Report '03 Convention
Financial Statements & Information
DOCS members Privatization Buster
Phipps wins 2003 DeBow scholarship
Nurses respond to blackout
Closings of VA hospitals spur action
Taking the state workforce pulse
Nominees needed for Region 4
MVP to serve 3 more counties in ’04
Convention Photo Gallery

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