RETIREES IN ACTION A message from PEF Retirees President Jim Carr Unprecedented attack on health benefits Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done what no other New York governor has ever done. Effective October 1, he unilaterally raised the NYS Health Insurance Program premium-contribution rates 2 percent for people who retired as early as January 1, 1983, from state services. If it’s not stopped, we will be fair game for more cost shifts, rate hikes and benefit cuts. I agree with the Retired Public Employees Association (RPEA) which contends, “there is significant legal and historical precedent which negates the authority to impose such premium cost shifts for NYSHIP health insurance on current retirees and this administrative action is contrary to law.” The governor claims the cost shift was authorized by language in the CSEA pay bill that passed and was signed by him. If true, it’s abandoning a long-standing legislative policy to protect public employees who are already retired from drastic cost increases or reductions in benefits. Contact your state legislators and tell them how you feel about their passing the legislation with this language in it. Tell them the vast majority of retirees remain in New York and we spend our pension incomes in our communities. Retirees and beneficiaries are responsible for $9.5 billion in economic activity in New York state and some 55,000 jobs. We pay $194 million in sales tax to local governments and $1.3 billion in real property taxes. Your PEF Retirees leaders have taken the following actions in response to the cost shifts announced in August: • September 1, 2011– Sent a letter of protest to the governor, with copies to the acting president of the state Civil Service Commission and the state director of employee relations; • September 23, 2011– Sent letters to all NYS senators and Assembly members asking them for their support; and • PEF Retirees chapter presidents are directly contacting the state legislators in their regions. We’re told these changes are part of a collective-bargaining agreement that’s being extended to retirees and vestees of NYS government and their enrolled dependents. We aren’t part of the collective-bargaining process and if the state can raise our rates 2 percent, what stops it from raising them 100 percent? Call your legislators. Do it today. Retiring? Join PEF Retirees now! Membership equals benefits. Contact PEF Retirees at 800-342-4306 x 289 PEFRetirees@pef.org

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 thecommunicator@pef.org: The Communicator Public Employees Federation P.O. Box 12414 Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414 Email to Sherry Halbrook, Editor or Darcy Wells, Editor-In Chief