PEF President Brynien's Message

By KENNETH BRYNIEN
In November, the governor announced proposals to address the state’s fiscal crisis and eliminate the deficit for the current year as well as next year.

Among those proposals were four that would affect PEF members, including reopening the state’s collective bargaining agreement to eliminate the April 2009 salary increase to defer five days’ worth of salary. The governor also proposed modifying state retirees’ contributions for health care based on years of service and requiring state employees and retirees to contribute to the Medicare Part B premiums.

I will restate PEF’s position regarding the budget – We will fight to protect the job security of our members. We will not reopen contract negotiations, and we will fight legislation that would change contributions to retirees’ health care and require payment for Medicare Part B premiums.

Our opposition to givebacks has been portrayed by some as selfishness and an unwillingness to share the burden of the state’s fiscal crisis. The truth is we are already shouldering nearly $1.2 billion of the $1.6 billion in cuts already implemented, facing a hiring freeze and doing more with less.

Though the proposals appear modest considering the magnitude of the deficit, they are painful and costly to our members. They entail long-term ramifications that few consider; just the elimination of the April 2009 pay raise would cost our members on average nearly $70,000 in salary over their 30-year career. Add in the long term costs of the other proposals and the potential impact nears $80,000.

We have offered ways to cut spending and increase revenue for the state by more than $10 billion without severe cuts to state services. There are ways to further increase savings using existing contract language by doing such things as increasing incentives for voluntary reduction in work schedules (VRWS), expanding programs such as the Over40 Comp pilot program that allows members to bank overtime payments, just to name a few.

We remain prepared to work with the governor, to continue offering suggestions to reduce costs and are willing to share the state’s fiscal burden. However, before the governor proposes any more cuts to the state work force and the vital services we provide, we will demand the elimination of wasteful contracting out and extravagant spending, and call for increased revenue through taxes on those most able to afford it.

We were there, when the Legislature was in session last month, to make sure our message regarding budget cuts was heard, and we will be there January 7th when the new legislative session begins. We will continue to take this message to the streets and will need your support to make sure the governor understands he has better options for closing the state’s budget deficit.