By SHERRY HALBROOK
When it comes to legislation, what are PEF's top six priorities?
They are:

1 Ensuring quality public services;
2 Protecting public-employee rights;
3 Maintaining a stable public workforce;
4 Reforming state and federal labor laws;
5 Improving working conditions and benefits; and
6 Providing for a well-deserved retirement.

Every year, delegates to PEF's annual convention review these priorities and the union's legislative agenda, which sets forth the union's specific concerns and positions relating to each of the six general priorities.

"These general priorities have remained constant for some time," said PEF Vice President Ken Brynien, who chairs the union's Political Action Committee. "But some of the specific issues and concerns associated with them change from year to year, and we want to make sure our delegates carefully review them."

Up to PEF PALs to deliver

Those legislative priorities are presented every year to state legislators and to New York's representatives in Congress by PEF's political action liaisons (PALs).

"Our cadre of PEF activists who serve as PALs deliver copies of the union's Legislative Agenda personally to individual lawmakers. That is part of how they establish a good one-on-one relationship with their assigned legislators," Brynien said. "The Legislative Agenda is a handy reference for both the legislators and our PALS and other activists to evaluate how new legislative proposals will be viewed from our perspective."

Delegates fine tune positions

This year, delegates made only a few minor changes to the Legislative Agenda, which had already been updated by the PEF Executive Board pending convention approval.

Among the most important new points introduced in the Legislative Agenda for Year 2000 is the union's deep dissatisfaction with the effect of certain recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

They seriously impede or even preclude lawsuits against the state in either state or federal court to enforce provisions of some federal laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes the right to overtime pay.

PEF convention delegates voted to add language to the Legislative Agenda stating that "It is imperative that state employees enjoy the benefits promised by the Fair Labor Standards Act." When those benefits are denied, the delegates said, employees should be able to seek redress in court.

The delegates also added language emphasizing the high priority PEF puts on eliminating the 3 percent pension contribution required from members of the state pension plan in Tiers 3 and 4.

Union honors 24 of the best

"We depend on our PEF PALs to deliver these messages to lawmakers, not just at the beginning of the session, but throughout," Brynien said. "That's why the union honored the top 24 PALs at the convention for their outstanding efforts in the last session of the state Legislature - one of the two longest on record."

The PALs, who were presented with special jackets bearing their names, each met with their assigned legislator at least three times throughout the legislative session, reporting the results of those meetings to PEF's legislative office in Albany.

"We asked the PALs to meet with their legislators in January to present and go over the Legislative Agenda with them," Brynien said. "We asked them to go back in March to discuss our budget concerns with their lawmakers and then to make at least one more trip in May to discuss pension-reform and contract issues."

It's very helpful, Brynien added, to have a member from the legislator's district, who is well versed on all of these issues, make regular contacts with the legislator.

"Pretty soon the legislator recognizes their PEF PAL and feels comfortable contacting them for information about the union's positions on issues and to notify us about coming legislative issues that may affect the union," Brynien said. "At the same time, the PAL and the reports we get from the PAL are helping the union to sort out its true friends and foes. And that's information we need at election time."

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