By DEBORAH A. MILES
The 950 delegates who attended PEF’s 31st Annual Convention in Niagara Falls walked away knowing they must make wise choices as far as union spending goes.

PEF Secretary-Treasurer Arlea Igoe’s report on the union’s financial state painted a picture of caution, saying the union may lose approximately $180,000 in dues in 2010 because of job abolishments and the severance buyouts.

“In December 2008, the governor called for 584 programmatic layoffs of PEF members.

Only 36 members were laid off out of the original 584 programmatic cuts.

“We expect this trend may continue as the economy in New York continues to have record deficits, high unemployment rates and no creation of new state jobs. As a union, we need to focus on what is most important and that is to save our members’ jobs,” Igoe said.

“We are preparing for fightback campaigns in anticipation of more members facing the threat of layoffs. That takes money and making the right choices.”

PEF saved money on fightback campaigns during 2009 by partnering with the Civil Service Employees Association on ad campaigns and rallies. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) gave PEF $125,000 for activities.

PEF is a local, belonging to AFT and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“We split the PEF membership fifty-fifty and send dues accordingly,” Igoe said.

At SEIU’s convention last year, it did not increase dues, but passed a resolution requiring its locals to contribute $20 per member to SEIU’s American Dream Fund. For PEF, that totals $551,000. It’s used to advocate for better wages, the right to unionize, national health insurance and other issues.

“Vice President Joe Fox and I met with SEIU and settled on giving SEIU $300,000 this year from our general fund with no promise of being able to pay the rest of the money next year. This was accepted and we will meet sometime in 2010 to see where PEF is with this debt,” Igoe said.

The 2009-2010 PEF budget is $33,164,155. That includes union leave, salaries, taxes and benefits, money for divisions, dues to SEIU and AFT, auto and staff-related expenses, and committees.

“It is crucial all leaders in PEF be conscious of the seriousness of the instability of our economy and act accordingly. How we spend our money and on what will become even more important in the future.

“PEF will concentrate on saving members’ jobs and valuable state services. Our goal is to have a future that is better than today. That will be determined by the choices we make, including how we spend our money. I hope we will be ready for any crisis we may face in the future. But that will be your choice,” Igoe told the delegates.

State of the Union 
Pres. Brynien lists challenges accomplishments, priorities

By DARCY WELLS
PEF President Ken Brynien laid out a list of priorities for the coming year, outlined the many challenges ahead and rattled off a list of PEF’s accomplishments as he addressed delegates at PEF’s 31st Annual Convention held in Niagara Falls September 13-16.

“This has been a roller-coaster year with many ups and downs,” Brynien said. “Yet, considering the state of economic affairs nationally and at the state level, we’ve done fairly well.”

Brynien gave delegates examples of massive layoffs and furloughs of public employees in other parts of the country and pointed out the serious threats to job security and benefits of PEF members.

“In the end, we had a few dozen layoffs, no lag to our pay, no furloughs for the state workforce and, so far, no Tier 5. We got our raises and fought off the proposed move of the state food lab and data center. In fact, new facilities are being built.”

Brynien highlighted PEF’s victory in blocking a move by the state Department of Civil Service to switch state medical job titles to non-competitive and celebrated a recently negotiated settlement to provide monetary relief for certain employees of the Labor Department’s now closed Manhattan-based telephone claims center.

“But more battles lie ahead,” Brynien said.
“We are concerned about compliance with the workplace violence law and implementation of the law ending mandatory overtime. We are opposed to the mandatory flu vaccine for our members who work at health care facilities. In 2011, the federal stimulus money will expire as we begin negotiating a new contract with the state. And our pensions are under attack.”

Brynien told delegates the union will launch a new image campaign in which they will have a role, and he talked about his recent meeting with the governor and what he is asking of the union (See story)

To prepare for the battle ahead, Brynien set PEF’s top priority; reducing the state’s reliance on costly private consultants.

He also set a goal of mobilizing 100 percent of PEF’s divisions to better communicate and share in the work that lies ahead. Brynien made a commitment to increase the COPE contributions
(See related story) and providing ethics training for all elected leaders in the union. He named Vice President Tom Comanzo chair of the new PEF Leadership Institute.

“The institute is an essential tool to train the future leaders of PEF,” Brynien said.

The president ended his speech by asking if delegates were ready to face the challenges ahead and got a resounding “yes” when he asked if they were ready to win.