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To the Editor:
I’d like to respond to the letter in the March issue titled: “Don’t fight clock watching.”
I applaud PEF’s efforts in fighting clock watching. Obviously, the writer doesn’t really understand what clock watching means or has never had an unscrupulous supervisor who has watched whether his or her time was second and minute perfect or used it as a form of harassment.
I have, and it is degrading and humiliating. I am just as bound by my professional ethics and should be treated as a professional. I am not bound by the clock, but by my responsibilities.
It’s not about whether you are on the job one minute more or less. It’s the quality and quantity of work performed. If PEF members are bound by the clock, then all employees should be, including supervisors.
Many employees whose time and attendance is perfect sit and talk on the phone and to others at the job, read the paper, play on the computer, or smoke cigarettes outside. They do no work, but their attendance is perfect.
In addition, obviously the writer has never depended on public transportation.
Therefore, PEF: please continue to use whatever resources are necessary to fight clock watching and protect members against those who would abuse watching the clock.
DENISE DRECHSLER
Brooklyn
To the Editor:
This letter is to provide PEF members with information regarding loss of hearing caused by an on-the-job exposure and in response to a letter printed in the March issue of The Communicator.
The rule of thumb for loss-of-hearing claims under Workers’ Compensation is for the worker to have been removed from injurious exposure — loud or damaging noises — for a minimum period of 90 days.
Thereafter, the claim must be filed within two years from when the person knew or should have known the loss of hearing was caused by on-the-job exposure. You don’t have to retire before you file your claim.
Loss-of-hearing claims are complicated and it’s advisable to have the potential claim reviewed by an attorney who practices Workers’ Compensation Law or a NYS Workers’ Compensation licensed representative. In the first instance, the PEF field representative or a trained PEF “Navigator” could be consulted.
BERNARD P. KAHN
Staten Island
To the Editor:
In February’s Communicator, a letter appeared from former PEF member George Burton who wrote in support of an Assembly bill that would allow retired veterans to retroactively buy back the time they spent in the armed forces. Thanks in large part to the work of the PEF Veterans’ Committee (and its co-chair Dave Krobe), legislation passed last year that made the purchase of such service credit affordable to many current state workers who served in the nation’s military service.
We need to expand the ranks to include veterans, even those who have retired, who did not have an opportunity to purchase the credit years ago.
Although too modest to report it in his letter, George Burton survived the Marine’s bloodiest battle of WWII. A medical corpsman on Iwo Jima, he saved the lives of many of his fellow Marines while enduring an experience so horrifying that only those who were there could ever begin to comprehend it.
Veterans such as George Burton should be allowed by the state to buy back their service credit. If anybody ever earned the credit, such men did.
THOMAS GRACE
Amherst
The
Communicator welcomes 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:
The
Communicator
Public Employees Federation
P.O. Box 12414
Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414
or email Denyce Duncan
Lacy, Executive Editor The Communicator - Director of
Public Relations dduncanlacy@pef.org
or Sherry Halbrook, Editor of The
Communicator- shalbrook@pef.org