Delegates from both agencies thanked the union for protecting these small constituencies.
“PEF is helping us and we are confident our agency will continue to exist under direct loans,” said Debra Samuels of HESC. “Thank, God, for PEF.”
PEF Executive Board member Jeff Janiszewski, who was honored for leading the fight against privatization of DED, told his fellow delegates, “It was a collective effort. We’re the smallest department in state government. With only 120 PEF members, there’s no way we could win it alone.” (See related article.)
National issues strike home
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first speaker to address the delegates, outlining some of the serious challenges facing the state and the nation, how she is working to address them and the need for all PEF delegates and members to become involved.
Gillibrand explained how President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan that focuses on creating jobs and rebuilding the economy by investing in infrastructure and green technology can benefit New York.
The investment in creating a high-speed rail corridor across the state and bringing broadband access to the state’s rural communities could open the door for a much stronger economic future, she said.
New York is well positioned, Gillibrand said, to take advantage of stimulus funding to become a national and world leader in green technologies and energy.
The struggle to protect existing jobs recently focused, she said, on saving jobs at tire makers in western New York when China dumped cheap tires on the American market. Working with the United Steelworkers, Gillibrand helped persuade Obama to take the rare step of instituting a tariff on the Chinese tires to stop the attack on US companies and workers.
Gillibrand said she also was able to help block the outsourcing of jobs at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport to a Spanish company.
The senator said she supports enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act to help workers form unions with less risk of retaliation.
She also is seeking ways to: improve “pension fund stability” nationwide; ensure equal pay for equal work; improve child health and development; and reduce gang violence.
“It’s very important for this union to help create future generations who are interested in public service,” Gillibrand told the members.
Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster welcomed the delegates to the city and told
them how hard the community is working to build its economy.The community is the site of “the world’s first environmental treaty to create clean hydro power in Niagara Falls and Ontario,” he said.
Dyster also cited efforts to open a plant in the city that would use one megawatt (MW) of clean hydro power to manufacture poly-silicone for panels that create 15 MW of clean solar power.
Dyster said he dreams of making Niagara Falls “the greenest city in New York.”
Both Gillibrand and Dyster told the delegates PEF’s activism had been key factors in their elections.
“Thank you for your activism,” Gillibrand said. “PEF made all the difference in my 2006 and 2008 campaigns.”
“When nobody thought Niagara Falls could come back,” Dyster said, “PEF was the first to endorse me. I especially want to thank (PEF Region 1 Coordinator) Kevin Hintz and (PEF board member and delegate) Dave Chudy. With your help, I won 80 percent of the vote.”
It comes down to you
With two-minute, wide-screen film-clip collages that mixed movie stars in famous scenes with PEF activists to inspire them every day of the convention, the delegates got the message: Take action. You can make a difference in your life, in your union and in your community.
PEF President Ken Brynien set the bar high, making the reduction of state contracting PEF’s top goal for the next 12 months.
He repeatedly called on the delegates to share their ideas, their information and their energy. (See related article.)
“Our history has shown when we work together, we can be successful,” Brynien told them.
“I want each of you to write down at least one example of how the state is wasting money where you work, and turn it in when you leave,” Brynien said.
More than 100 delegates were “takers” when Brynien asked them to submit their names and contact info if they would be willing to accept the state’s $20,000 severance offer if it were made to them. The president said he would turn that information and their comments on wasteful spending over to Gov. David Paterson who is looking for more ways to cut state spending. (See related article.)
If you want to take the severance or are interested in the Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule, but haven’t been given the opportunity, go online to www.pef.org and click on the crawl message.
Brynien also asked everyone “to sign a petition on getting the union included in the decision-making process at the state Office for Children and Family Services.”
Brynien challenged each delegate to submit slogans to “brand” PEF ads, posters and other communications. Vicki Schultz from Region 1, won with slogan: “PEF – Working for NY, Working for You.”
PEF Secretary-Treasurer Arlea Igoe told delegates the union must try to save money for its contingency fund to protect members’ jobs.
“The unknown is what we must look out for,” Igoe warned. (See related article.)
PEF Vice President Joe Fox, as convention chair, had urged delegates to pre-register for the convention online.
Delegates also were challenged by Vice Presidents Pat Baker and Tom Comanzo, chairs of the Committee on Political Education (COPE), to enroll as many contributors as possible before the convention. They added 82 contributors to the rolls and Region 11 was awarded the COPE trophy for garnering the most new enrollees. (See here for more information.)
The delegates also responded to a request from PEF Region 1, which hosted the convention, contributing groceries and $1,200 in cash to the local Community Mission’s soup kitchen and shelter.
It was a voice from the past that sent out the most urgent challenge.
In a fiery address to the delegates, former PEF President Roger Benson showed them headlines and political cartoons from newspapers attacking public employees and their pensions.
Benson called on PEF to create “a steady drum beat to counter the garbage and propaganda.”
“I propose a call to arms,” Benson said. “Get out into the streets, get in the newspapers, and on the radio, TV and Internet and counter this anti-union message.
“Unless our message is heard, it just doesn’t exist,” Benson said.
“Take some leadership and raise some real union hell!
