Help pass early retirement bill
To the Editor:
It has come to my attention that Bill S.4006/A.5193A (early retirement at age 55 with at least 25 years of service without penalties) was introduced into the 2004 NYS legislative session. This bill, which has not been voted on and affects many state employees, is making its way through our Legislature unnoticed by us.
Employees in pension Tiers 2, 3 and 4 would benefit from the passage of this bill, as they will be able to retire at age 55 and, with the completion of at least 25 years of service, without penalties which run as high as 27 percent.
I urge members to contact their legislators today and voice their endorsement of this important legislation.
OSVALDO PRIOTTI
Schenectady
Editor’s note: PEF worked with state lawmakers to get this bill introduced in the 2004 legislative session. It is unlikely the Legislature will vote on it this year. If it is not passed this year, PEF will ask the sponsors to reintroduce it in 2005, but it will then have new bill numbers. The NYS Retirement System estimated it would cost the state and local governments $73 million if this bill were enacted this year. This estimate must be revised annually.
Protect members from strokes
To the Editor:
In a front-page article on September 24th, The Wall Street Journal reported on two simple tests that can help prevent stroke, but that few people get. The cost of these tests, according to the article, is as little as $45, a pittance for something that can prevent a tragic loss of health or even save your life.
What is especially disturbing in the article is the claim that few people at risk of stroke know about the tests, few insurers pay for them as a preventive measure, and doctors rarely mention them to patients in their routine physical exams because “stroke is a disease without a fixed home in the medical profession.”
Given the state workforce is aging and stressed by mounting workloads and staff attrition, isn’t it about time PEF did something to promote awareness of the need for such testing and even encouraged the state to help reimburse the cost of this testing?
Stroke is an increasing problem in America that now claims the lives of more than 160,000 people a year, making it third behind heart disease and cancers as a killer.
ROBERT FISHER
Albany
Should have covered 9/11
To the Editor:
It’s a shame that in the September issue of The Communicator you found no place to describe what happened September 11, 2001.
Forty members of the Manhattan District Office of the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance were lost, but you had not an inch to salute them?
You found no space to describe how field tax auditors who survived the World Trade Center disaster walked from lower Manhattan streets through the bridges to Brooklyn and Queens carrying laptop computers and taxpayers’ files.
No file and no computer was lost, despite horrible conditions.
The whole September issue was used to describe the “great” contract PS&T PEF member got.
But what did New York City members get?
They got the highest rents in the U.S. They got a 25 percent increase in real estate taxes. They got the highest home prices. They got the highest auto insurance. They got the highest local income tax. And in the PS&T contract, they got pre-tax transportation benefits.
Shame on you!
ELY YULMAN and 46 others
New York
The Communicator
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The
Communicator November 04
Inside This Issue
Features
Union
rallies to save Bushwick
Retirees' bill vetoed by Gov.
Members
getting out the vote
Supporting candidates
PEF endorses 4 candidates
Engineers show solidarity
Departments
President's Message
Member's Mailbag
Health and Safety
Stronger Contracts
Health Notes
Nurses
Retirees In Action
PEF Membership Benefits &Travel
Union Matters
Back Cover Ad: VOTE
Making NYS diverse
PEF PR is looking for shutterbugs
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