By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF has approximately 55 new members who work for Allegany County in PEF Region 2.
The new bargaining unit is one of several groups of non-state employees PEF represents, such as those at the Albany Housing Authority, and the Albany County Probation Department.
The group of Allegany County employees who are joining PEF are mostly in supervisory, professional and technical positions.
They have titles such as county engineer, director of patient services, supervising public health nurse, probation supervisor, senior engineering technician, accountant and principal social welfare examiner, to name a few.
“We’re delighted to welcome these new members to PEF,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. “It’s important to extend the opportunity to bargain collectively for their terms and conditions of employment to employees who want and deserve that opportunity. They will be stronger and so will PEF.”
“We
are looking for job security and to secure our benefits,” said Pam Cockle, an
accountant for the Allegany County Health Department. She said the workers knew they needed a union when management pointed out it could take away their benefits “with the swipe of a pen.”
Pam Cockle addresses the PEF Executive Board in November. — Photo by Richard Dilllard
“They reached out to another union first,” said PEF Region 2 Coordinator Dan Connors, “but then they contacted us. We checked with the other union and was told it didn’t object if we organized them.”
PEF sent Margaret Messer, PEF’s director of member mobilizing, and Tom Privitere, director of field services in western New York, to talk to the employees.
Cockle said the employees chose PEF because, “We were impressed with everything they said. Margaret and Tom were so very honest about what PEF could and could not do for us. We really appreciated that.”
Most of the employees signed cards selecting PEF as their preferred bargaining agent, and in October the county Legislature voted to voluntarily recognize PEF as the bargaining agent.
PEF has sent the county a request to begin contract negotiations.
Among the issues the new members want to include are securing the right to continue their existing benefits such as vacation and sick leave and the right to sell unused leave back to the county. They also want to establish protections for discipline and layoffs, and address the compression of their salaries with those of lower level positions.
Meanwhile, Messer said she will work with the new members to help them organize a PEF division, develop bylaws and hold elections.
