The rallies were two weeks apart in two different locations, but had one message; it’s time for cost-of-living (COLA) pay increases that keep pace with high-cost areas of the state.
Engineers, accountants, health care providers and others from PEF, the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and the United University Professions (UUP) gathered outside the Hauppauge State Office Building on October 17 and again in City Hall Park in Manhattan on October 30.
PEF Vice President Joe Fox revved up the crowd in Hauppauge, getting the hundreds in attendance to raise their fists in the air, shouting, “COLA! COLA! COLA!”
They spent their lunch break shouting, sharing stories and making demands.
“We need, we demand, we deserve recognition of the fact that the cost of living down here is far greater than upstate,” said PEF President Ken Brynien.
“We need our salaries to reflect that and we need that COLA now.”
Contract issue
Locality pay has been a key issue in contract talks between PEF and the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER), according to PEF Vice President and Contract Chair Lou Matrazzo who also noted the importance of having the three unions — PEF, CSEA and UUP — united in the fight.
“Cost-of-living pay increases simply have not kept pace with high housing and other costs, forcing many of our members to consider abandoning their communities in search of more favorable economic climates elsewhere,” Matrazzo said.
“It’s imperative that economic relief is included in our next contract.”
David
Fitzgerald works for the state Department of Taxation and Finance and is
Division 186 council leader and Region 12 treasurer.He recently refinanced his home in order to send his daughter to college.
“I’m born and raised on Long Island,” Fitzgerald said.
“I’ve been working for the state 31 years and it gets more and more difficult every year.”
Region 12 Coordinator Doris Dodson told the crowd, “We cannot afford to buy homes.”
Just seven years ago, 60 percent of the homes sold on Long Island could be classified as affordable for families with incomes of up to $100,000 per year.
Last year, that figure dwindled to just 2 percent.
“State employees are being crushed by economic conditions and costs beyond their control,” Dodson said.
“The vast majority of state employees living in this region earn far less than $100,000, making the goal of home ownership even more elusive,” she added.
Ditto in Manhattan
At the Manhattan rally, PEF Region 11 Coordinator Jemma Marie-Hanson shouted to the hundreds who gathered that the current locality pay system doesn’t work.
“The federal model is the better solution,” she said.
“We need the federal COLA because it’s an objective pay system that accounts for regional cost-of-living differences in New York state.”
PEF Region 10 Coordinator Vernetta Chesimard fired up the crowd telling them they work hard for their money and they deserve a COLA.
“It’s a proven fact, living downstate is more expensive and our members are struggling, now more than ever, trying to make ends meet,” she said.
PEF Vice President Pat Baker told those gathered, “I don’t have to tell you what the cost-of-living is in Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan, and the Bronx. You’re living it.”
Gladys
Francis, a social worker assistant 2 at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in
Brooklyn, said, for her, the American dream of owning a home is still just that,
a dream.“In the past year, I attempted to buy a home and was very disappointed that after working for the state for 25 years and being a resident of Brooklyn for 30 years, I could not afford to buy a house in the area in which I work.”
“In fact, it’s a struggle just to rent a two-bedroom apartment,” she added.
City Councilman Bob Jackson and New York Central Labor Council President Edward Ott also spoke at the Manhattan rally.
Answering a question from a Long Island television reporter on how confident PEF is it will get a COLA, Brynien looked directly into the camera and replied, “There will be something done in our contract. We are convinced of that.
