GIVE US A CONTRACT — PEF Region 1 Coordinator Joyce Degenhardt, left, leads members at a May picket and rally in Buffalo in calling on Gov. George Pataki to offer them a fair contract. — Photos by J. Caroline Esposito
PEF members picket Gov, GOP  demand fair contract

By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY
In an effort to jump start their stalled contract talks with the state, nearly 200 PEF members and supporters from other labor groups picketed an appearance by Gov. George Pataki here last month, demanding he get his contract negotiators to treat the union fairly. 

PEF President Roger E. Benson and Region 1 Coordinator Joyce Degenhardt led the demonstrators outside the Statler Towers on Delaware Avenue, where the governor was attending a reception hosted by the Erie County Republican Committee.

No blank checks
“We are here today because the governor’s bargaining team has set up a roadblock in our negotiations,” Benson said.

“They are demanding we agree to changes in our health care benefits, but they will not identify how and when the changes will be implemented, and will not continue negotiating with us on any other parts of the contract until we have accepted their changes. 

“That would be like signing a blank check and telling them to write down any amount they want. We will not sign any blank checks on our contract.”

After marching around the meeting site, the picketers walked across the street to Niagara Square for a rally. 

The late afternoon demonstration drew strong support from local labor groups, Degenhardt said.

“John Kaczorowski, the president of the AFL-CIO Buffalo Labor Council worked closely with us in pulling this all together, and we are also grateful for the support of members of several other unions, including Buffalo Professional Firefighters Local 282, SEIU, IUOE and AFSME,” she said.

Fair is fair
Benson told protestors and news reporters covering the pickets and rally the state had settled contract talks with two other public employee unions, but has not offered PEF the same deal. The contracts with the other unions — the Civil Service Employees Association and United University Professions — provide raises of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent in their contracts, plus two bonuses of $800 in two years of the contract. 

PEF has been offered only a $200 “bonus” in the first year of the contract, and raises of 1.5 percent in each of the next two years.

“We are not asking for more than any other state workers’ union — we’re asking to be treated as fairly as the governor’s negotiators treated those unions,” Benson added.

PEF has been negotiating with the state for 16 months. Contract talks came to a halt on April 6, when negotiators from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations refused to answer specific questions about their proposed changes to employee health benefits, and walked away from the bargaining table. Negotiations resumed May 18.